Racialized Experiences of Asian American Teachers

• In Event: AsianCrit in Teacher Education Research and Practice

Abstract

While Asian Americans (AsAms) are the fastest growing racial minority group in the United States (Lopéz et al., 2017), AsAms’ experiences continue to be under-researched and misunderstood, particularly in K-12 education. The experiences of AsAms, as both teachers and students, are often either left out of educational conversations or are essentialized in ways that minimize their unique and diverse experiences in US classrooms and overlook the impact of white supremacy on their personal and educational trajectories. Our paper examines the racialized experiences of AsAm teachers through two tenets of AsianCrit: Asianization and Commitment to Social Justice, to provide a more nuanced understanding of how AsAm teachers are positioned by others (i.e. experience and resist marginalization related to specific forms of racial stereotyping) and how they position themselves as people of color in solidarity with other communities in the struggle for social justice.
The paper draws from data collected as part of a national study of Asian American teachers (N=42) spanning different ethnicities, teaching levels, regions, levels of expertise, and contexts. Data was analyzed using qualitative, thematic analysis through multiple cycles of coding. Cycle 1 was an open, individual cycle where both researchers coded all transcripts to look for common themes using theoretical memoing then came together for discussion of emergent codes. A second cycle was an individual a priori coding cycle using the elements of AsianCrit. Finally, a third collective cycle of collaborative axial coding allowed for a refinement of themes.
For this paper we highlight themes related to Asianiztion and Commitment to Social Justice (Iftikar & Museus, 2018). Asianization refers to racism (and nativism) as pervasive aspects of American society, and focuses on the distinct ways that society racializes Asian Americans. Commitment to Social Justice highlights how AsAms can use critical theory to advocate for the end of all forms of oppression. Related to Asianization, the paper explores historical and contemporary AsAm racialized archetypes and how these archetypes create polarizing binaries that shape AsAm teacher experiences. Using our data, we highlight several of these archetypes and binaries including: the Model Minority and Forever Foreigner myths, otherness and hypervisibility v. erasure and invisibility; assimilation v. unassimilable foreignness; submissiveness (for acceptance) v. isolation (and pushout). In terms of Commitment to Social Justice, the paper draws from Osajima’s (2007) framework on AsAm conscientization (Freire, 1996), highlighting historical and contemporary erasure of AsAms from social justice movements which makes conscientization more challenging for Asian American teachers. We then draw from our data to examine how teachers navigate stages of conscientization and activism: from developing their own sense of critical awareness, through engaging in justice-work on an individual level through self-advocacy, enacting justice-focused curriculum in their classrooms, serving as role models for students of color, and advocating for cross-racial social justice movements in their schools and districts.
Through better understanding the racialized experiences of AsAm teachers, we hope our paper can contribute to broader conversations to dismantle racial injustice and construct educational possibilities, particularly for AsAm teachers and the students they serve.

Authors

• Betina Hsieh, University of Washington

• Jung E. Kim, Lewis University