"Searching for Missing Puzzle Pieces”: Asian American and Migrant Youth’ Learning, Healing, and Belonging Journeys

• In Event: Centralizing Asian and Asian American Youth in AsianCrit

Abstract

Objectives
Throughout their K–12 education, Asian and Asian American students have little opportunity to learn about the histories they belong to. As previous research has shown, Asian and Asian American communities, as well as their lives, experiences, and perspectives, are frequently underrepresented in the curriculum, textbooks, and instruction in K-12 schooling (Author, 2016; Author, 2023; Author, 2019). Asian and Asian American students in suburban and rural areas have even less opportunity to learn about their histories and experiences because of the predominant whiteness that dominate the teacher forces, student bodies, and educational systems (Author, 2022). Situated in AsianCrit, the current qualitative study focuses on the experiences of Asian American and migrant youth who participated in ethnic studies-informed summer camp in the suburban Midwest as well as their learning journeys to delve into the histories and issues of the communities they are a part of—all of which are often marginalized in their predominantly white schools.

Theoretical Framework
To explore Asian American and migrant high school students’ learning experiences, this study adopts AsianCrit as a theoretical framework. AsianCrit aims to analyze the influence of the structure and ideas around whiteness on the racial experiences of Asian and Asian Americans. According to Museus and Iftikar (2013), AsianCrit refers to “a perspective that outlines a unique set of tenets that are designed to provide a useful analytic framework for examining and understanding the ways that racism affects Asian Americans in the United States” (p. 23).

Method
The study participants are six Asian American and migrant youth who participated in the summer camp in Midwest suburbs in summer 2024. This summer camp, informed by ethnic studies, sought to provide Asian and Asian American students in the Midwest suburban area with rigorous, engaging, and hands-on learning opportunities where they explore historical events and movements significant to Asian and Asian American communities, as well as their roles in shaping American histories and societies. Five participants self-identified as Korean Americans or migrants while one student identified as a Chinese American.
The main data source for this study consists of one individual, semi-structured interview as well as the student-generated artifacts such as their writing, drawings, and other work created during their participation in the summer camp program. The data analysis used Saldaña's (2016) open, focused, and theoretical coding approaches.

Results and Significance
This study sheds light on the complex ways that Asian American and migrant youth confront, navigate, resist, and/or embrace both the prevailing white-centric history that they have been taught throughout their education and the Asian American history that they are newly exposed to. The study also demonstrates roles of the ethnic studies-informed summer camp in providing students with spaces and time to reflect on, share, and heal their wounds created by their past and current racialized experiences, build solidarity and connections with other Asian students, and reaffirm their sense of belonging in the predominantly white Midwest suburbs. This study will have significant implications for future research and teaching practices aimed at achieving racial justice and empowering Asian and Asian American students.

Author

• Yeji Kim, University of Missouri