Filipino/a/x Americans Navigating Predominantly White Campus Climates (Poster 4)

• In Event: Friday Poster Session 4:55
  In Invited Poster Session: 2024 AERA Undergraduate Fellows Research Poster Fair

Abstract

To further our understanding of how Filipino/a/x American students navigate predominantly campus climates, this study examines the stories and experiences of 9 Filipino/a/x Americans perspectives at a predominantly white campus climate. The study finds that the participants lacked a sense of belonging due to a lack of diversity and culturally specific resources. Their university’s failure to meet the needs of the Filipino/a/x Americans forced the students to assimilate, join a community by membership, or isolate to cope with the realities of a predominantly white campus culture. These findings are similar to the research on students of color's experiences on predominantly white campuses. This study shows that in the culture of predominantly white campus culture, these Filipino/a/x Americans (n = 9) feel a sense of “otherness” visually, within their intersecting identities, and/or within the Filipino community on campus. The findings of this study are consistent with the literature on minorities navigating predominantly white institutions. This study is framed by the seven tenets of Asian American Critical Race Theory to contextualize the impact of the White Supremacist narrative of Asian Americans in American history. The next steps for this study are to polish the findings and expand the discussion section to prepare for journal submission.

Author

• Myra Dayrit, Chapman University