Nurturing Thriving Chinese American Male Identities in Mathematics (Poster 2)

• In Event: Everything Everywhere All at Once: Asian Math Ed Edition

Abstract

This poster invites participants to engage with four Chinese American male math educators who developed their identities while overcoming the challenges faced by Chinese American males. Stereotypes like the model minority and the emasculated Asian American male hinder Chinese American males’ ability to develop robust mathematical identities. This poster uses AsianCrit, Critical Race Theory, and Intersectionality to unpack the authors’ mathematics identity.

To describe Asian American male mathematics students, educational researchers consistently use the model minority, the racist construct that connects academic performance to Asian heritage and dismisses systemic racist constructs that academically depower them (Chang & Au, 2007; Hartlep, 2013). This stereotype fosters unrealistic expectations that promote self-oppression. The model minority affects male-identifying Asian American students much more than female-identifying students (Author, 2018). Emasculating stereotypes that depict Asian American males as passive or effeminate exacerbate these pressures. Researchers rarely explore the ways in which these stereotypes affect youths’ mathematical identity.

Our conversation uses three frameworks. AsianCrit (Museus & Iftikar, 2013) centers on the racialized experiences of Asian America. Critical Race Theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Ladson-Billings, 1998) unveils the ways racism is built into American society. Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) examines how oppressed identities reveal spaces of oppression.

Our dialogue involves four mathematics educators whose equity work connects to their Asian American male identities. Despite working in mathematics education and teacher education for decades, we have never spoken publicly about how our Asian American male experiences relate to our passion as mathematics educators.

Author 1 identifies as a 2.5-generation nondisabled cisgender male. He experienced the “Asians are good at mathematics” stereotype after being pushed into the advanced mathematics track when he returned to the United States from Taiwan in sixth grade. In his work, Theodore listens to stories about mathematics identity, particularly from Asian American youth voices often ignored in educational research.

Author 2, who identifies as a nondisabled cisgender male, has spent most of his life in the American Midwest. While his work focuses on advancing equity and social justice in mathematics education centering disabilities, this session will center on his perspectives as a professional, parent, and mathematics student, which give him unique insights on Asian American masculinity. He will focus on the experiences of him and his two sons, one of whom is disabled.

Author 3, who identifies as a nondisabled cisgender male, was not formally trained as an equity researcher. As the son of an engineer and a scientist in California, his lived experiences mirrored the “model minority” perception of Asian American students. After reflecting on his experiences as an Asian American mathematics educator, he has begun reexamining the focus of his quantitative work.

Author 4 is a second-generation cisgender non-disabled male. His life experience differs from the “model minority” Asian American. After attending the Bronx High School of Science, he earned two degrees in U.S. history. Bobson now teaches math at an ethnically diverse high school. He will focus on the challenge of defying stereotypes and finding community.

Authors

• Theodore Chao, California State University - Fullerton

• Paulo Tan, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Jeffrey C. Shih, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Bobson Wong, New York City Public Schools