"This Book Is Not About Me": Korean American Children's Lived Experiences About Asian Americans Picture Books

• In Event: Transforming Linguistic and Cultural (Mis)Representations: Counterhegemonic Praxis and Principles for Research

Abstract

This study explores young Korean American children’s lived experiences of Asian American picturebooks. Originally rooted in Korean culture and defined as Korean women’s everyday conversations, suda was used as a theoretical framework and methodological tool for data collection and analysis. Through suda, the researchers, four transnational Korean American early childhood teacher educators, collected stories of their nine children relating to their experiences about Asian American picturebooks. Children felt they were invisible in the books, rarely finding protagonists similar to them or stories reflecting their daily lives. Most stories read at school were about new immigrants from Asia. Moreover, children showed unfavorable responses to multicultural books read at school that did not address the diversity issue properly.

Authors

• Su-Jeong Wee, California State University - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Jinhee Kim, Kennesaw State University
  Presenting Author

• Sohyun Meacham, University of Northern Iowa
  Presenting Author

• Sophia Han, University of South Florida
  Presenting Author