Model Minority Myth Busters: The Identity Construction of Punished Asian Girls

• In Event: Asian Girls at the Center: Identity, Politics, and Critical Consciousness

Abstract

OBJECTIVES. This paper explores the experiences and identity construction of Asian adolescent girls from poor/working-class families who have been disciplined in school. We pay attention to instances when Asian girls resist what is expected of them according to the model minority myth (Chou & Feagin, 2015; Lee, 2008, 2015) and gendered anti-Asian notions that they be docile and not misbehave. We examine the unique forms of punishment these students face when resisting these anti-Asian standards as well as the ways in which they perceive their identity being constructed by others and how these constructions shape the ways they are punished.

FRAMEWORKS. In this analysis, we employ Crenshaw’s intersectionality (1989) along with Asian feminisms and epistemologies (Chow, 1987; Yee, 2009) to explore the identity construction of Asian girls who experienced school punishment. Asian women epistemologies center the feminist consciousness of Asian femmes to understand the oppressive forces affecting Asian women as well as “their location in society and social experiences” (Chow, 1987, p. 285), which helps account for the unique ways that Asian girls experience oppression.

METHODS. We will utilize poetic inquiry, which is a form of arts-based research that uses poetry as inquiry (Faulkner, 2018) with an aim to “articulate the rich contextual and affective realities of participants’ lives in meaningful, emotive, and creative ways” (van Rooyen & d’Abdon, 2020, p. 2). This research method is conducive to centering the silenced or unheard stories of marginalized and oppressed groups, such as Asian girls.

DATA SOURCES. Data for this analysis come from the Lavender Girls Project, a national research project about the academic experiences of Girls of Color who have been punished in school and tracked to low-level courses. Data were collected between 2015 and 2018. Students (N=35) participated in focus group interviews and completed diagramming activities such as creative writing, mapping, and word association. Three Asian participants, who reported experiencing anti-Asian sexism, were selected for this analysis.

FINDINGS. We find that the Asianness of the girls in our analysis are centered when they are punished because they are presumed to be able to defend themselves as opposed to their White counterparts whom they view as protected because of presumptions of White innocence. Relatedly, just as they are made hyper-visible by their race and gender, they are also targeted because they do not fit in the Black/White racial binary. Not fitting into this binary and not conforming to the model minority standard of being meek and passive, the girls describe themselves as loud and unafraid to express their opinions or stand up for themselves. Thus, their Asianness and courage to be true to themselves mark them as targets for violence and punishment.

SIGNIFICANCE. This analysis further expands the landscape of education for Asian students, particularly girls from poor-/working-class families. Examining the identity construction of Asian girls is timely given the current sociopolitical contexts of gendered anti-Asian violence and contributes to a nuanced understanding of the Asian diaspora.

Authors

• Shena Sanchez, University of Alabama
  Presenting Author

• Sun Gu, University of Alabama
  Presenting Author