On the Utility of a Radical Asian American Studies Pedagogy

• In Event: Redefining Asian American Success: Kuwentos of Radical Filipinx Pedagogies

Abstract

Objectives & Research Question
Recent displays of anti-Asian violence connect ongoing histories of violence and structures of invidious power that demonstrate the disorienting and enervating toll pressed upon Asian Americans for centuries. At the same time assaults on public education are taking place, approximately twenty states have supported Ethnic Studies policies, including bills signed into law in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to teach Asian American Studies (AAS) in K-12 schools with growing debate over how and who will implement this curriculum, how to operationalize “Asian American” without flattening difference and tensions between groups, and the necessary skepticism of representational legislation without material impact. In light of these ongoing attacks and simultaneous support for AAS, this conceptual paper asks: what constitutes the purpose of AAS pedagogy? Is it to advocate for an AAS lens that informs curriculum and instruction, especially given the influx of K-12 Ethnic Studies in public schools? We collectively and unapologetically say yes and take to task what a Radical Asian American Studies Pedagogy (RAASP) can offer: more exacting analyses of power, structures, and systems.

Theory
Our conceptual paper extends Radical Asian American Studies Pedagogy (Sacramento et al., 2023) that “seeks to fortify the tools, strategies, and practices necessary to meet the alarming increase of racialized and gendered violence” (p. 208). We propose an AAS pedagogical praxis with a radical approach, not as a means to delimit the field, but rather, as commitments that make clear how acts of teaching, analysis, reflection, and joy constitute the education we demand are intimately tied to the elimination of heteropatriarchy, colonialisms, empire, and white supremacy. In doing so, we demonstrate how we might better recognize the utility and application of RAASP in education research, especially for those committed to better serving Asian Americans and their communities.

Methods/Sources
Following sociologist and Asian Americanist Valerie Francisco-Menchavez’s (2014) elaboration of kuwentohan or talk story which “incorporates other people’s experiences as an individual conveys one’s own story “ (p. 81) we present our collective story of the ways RAASP can be engaged for education research. Our collective story focuses on RAASP across disciplines including teacher education, Asian American Studies, and Ethnic Studies revealing the possibilities of an incisive interdisciplinary approach toward just education. More specifically, we connect pedagogical exemplars and share the ways Filipina/x/o Americans experience and engage with RAASP in and outside of the classroom.

Findings & Significance
This study documents a pedagogical discourse and concrete examples and reflections on how Radical Asian American Studies Pedagogy is being practiced and ways it informs research praxis. Findings highlight the ways RAASP can provide critical perspectives on the impact of the current institutionalization of Ethnic Studies in California; the ways counternarratives allow students to critically historicize and analyze the multiple ways racialization and resistance, dehumanization, and liberation are found across Asian America; and finally how RAASP opens up space to cultivate solidarities with and alongside Black, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color.

Authors

• Edward R. Curammeng, California State University - Dominguez Hills

• Jocyl Sacramento, California State University - East Bay

• Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, San Francisco State University