What Is the "Truth" About Asian Americans? Interrogating Representations of Asian Americans in Literacies Research

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium inquires into the representations and perspectives of Asian American individuals and communities through language and literacy studies. Literacy scholars share five different research projects on/with/for Asian Americans, including Indonesian American girls, Chinese immigrant parents, Korean American adolescents, and Southeast Asian Americans. Working across projects from diverse contexts and populations, panelists examine how educators and researchers can interrogate our understanding of Asian Americans and what support we could offer for these underrepresented populations against racism and stereotypes. In particular, this symposium asks: What do we know about Asian Americans’ language and literacy practices? How could researchers and practitioners support diverse Asian individuals and communities? The symposium highlights the importance of working with Asian Americans in literacy studies.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Writing and Literacies

Chair

• Jin Kyeong Jung, Texas Tech University

Papers

• Selves, Texts, Landscapes: Indonesian American Girls Inscribe Civic Trajectories in a Critical Civic Education Community - Ankhi Guha Thakurta, Boston College

• "I'm Not a White Kid": Korean American Adolescents' Identity Expression Through Literacy Practices - Jin Kyeong Jung, Texas Tech University

• Efforts and Dilemmas: Chinese Immigrant Parents' Perspectives on Maintaining Heritage Language in the Southern United States - Wenyang Sun, University of Utah

• Representations of Asian Americans in Children's Literature - Victoria Gill, Lesley University

• Asian/Asian American Feminist Youth-Led Coalition: Working at an Intersection of Asian and Female Identities - Rabani Garg, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

• Betina Hsieh, University of Washington