Revealing White Emotionalities in the Innovative Leadership of Asian American Women Leaders

• In Event: Surviving to Thriving: Pathways Toward Renewal for Asian American and Pacific Islander K-20 Women Leaders

Abstract

Aligned with this year’s conference theme, this conceptual paper highlights the experience of two Asian American women (AAW) leaders to examine the role that white emotionalities play in their leadership. Essentially, this paper addresses “How do white emotionalities, per Matias (2016), thwart the racially just efforts of Asian American women P-20 school leaders?

When former U.S. President Obama called then Attorney General Kamala Harris, “by far the best-looking attorney general in the country” (Abcarian, 2013) he illustrated what many women of color, particularly, AAW, experience in leadership. That their credentials are inconsequential and attractiveness is. We argue that behind these microaggressions (Sue, 2007) are white emotionalities that, when become unfettered, are expressed onto AAW in uniquely raced and gendered ways. Just as Cheng (2001) argues how Asian American actresses experience grief in the expressions of whiteness in cinema, so too do AAW who engage in racial justice in the K-20 pipeline. This is better exemplified in Matias et al (2019) when they describe how white students’ resistance stole her magic. If we are ever to expand the racial and gender diversity of the almost 80-90% of cisgendered white men in academia and political leadership (Sue et al, 2007) we must first look into the lived experiences of AAW in leadership and how wider/whiter society reacts to their leadership.

To answer this inquiry we draw on the kuwentos (see Jocson, 2008) of two Asian American school leaders: one from K-12 administration and the other from higher education. Fortuitous is the methodological application of kuwentos (Filipino/Tagalog for stories) because it 1) “represent[s] a construction of reality” (p. 243) and 2) “encourages the active construction of newer understandings” (p. 244). Kuwentos is a method designed by a Pinay/Filipina and for Asian Americans, thus is befitting for this study.

In sharing these kuwentos the paper illustrates how white emotionalities impact AAW leaders in unique ways. To critically interpret the oft invisible operations of whiteness, we employ Allen’s (2021) critical race hermeneutics (CRH) because “interpreters are typically not conscious of their hermeneutical presuppositions” (p. 15). We need a methodological analysis that reveals that which has often been left to the subconscious. Respecting this study, the oft trope of evaluating a AAW’s aptitude and success based on her attractiveness is but one subconscious presupposition that is taken as natural. To reveal how these “seemingly natural” presumptions are, in actuality, not so natural or well-meaning, CRH must be used.

We cannot start to renew without naming how whiteness impacts AAW. In highlighting white emotionalities we then can sift through the barriers that whiteness presents and see the immense value and strength that AAW embody. Our kuwentos start the healing process of our resistance, paving the way for authentic renewal within our education systems.

Authors

• Jessica Wei Huang, University of San Diego

• Cheryl E. Matias, University of San Diego