Visibility, Solidarity, and Power: Duoethnography of Asian/Asian American Teachers and Teacher Educators

• In Event: Visions of a Racially Just Teacher Education Professoriate: Future Dreaming for Meaningful Change

Abstract

Objectives
Given the current global migration movement and the rise of anti-Asian racism, the role of teachers who share the identities of Asian immigrant students has become more imperative than ever (Kim & Hsieh, 2022). In the U.S., Asian/Asian Americans are the nation’s fastest growing group of immigrants (Hanna & Batalova, 2021); yet, the number of Asian/Asian American teachers is among the lowest in the teaching force (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020). Consequently, research on the voices, (counter)stories, and experiences of Asian/Asian American educators have been few.

Perspectives, Methods, and Data Sources
Resisting this silence in the literature, we, Asian/Asian American educators from different countries of origins, designed a duoethnographic study (Norris et al., 2012) to examine our own journeys of becoming teacher educators. We come together to have kitchen table conversations within the Sister Circle (Dunmeyer et al., 2022) as a space that engenders healing and friendship for the purpose of practicing freedom in education (hooks, 1994). Using Asian Critical Race Theory (Museus & Iftikar, 2013), we analyze the transcripts of our conversations and weave our (counter)stories together to “speak ourselves into visibility, solidarity, and power” (Author, 2022).

Results and Scholarly Significance
Our findings underscored the (in)visibility of Asian/Asian American educators, the importance of solidarity in educational spaces as a site of resistance (Author, 2010), and the need to critique and speak out on issues of power. Our study has implications for how schools, teacher preparation programs and policymakers can reimagine ways to recruit and retain Asian/Asian American teachers by creating spaces for belonging and solidarity.

Authors

• A. Lin Goodwin, Boston College

• Seung Eun McDevitt, Rowan University

• Crystal Chen Lee, North Carolina State University