Asian Graduate Students’ Experiences: Utilizing AsianCrit both as Theory and Methodology

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: AsianCrit in Action: Theory, Method, and Transformative Curriculum

Abstract

This empirical study explores how Asian international graduate students navigate race,
Whiteness, and oppression in U.S. higher education. Drawing on decolonial dialogic encounters as method, eight Asian
graduate students from diverse backgrounds participated in relational interviews that
foregrounded race, identity, and power. The study reveals that racialization often catalyzes
empathy, cognitively for East Asian students, and through critical transnational reflection for
Southeast Asian students. Empathy thus emerges as both an emotional and political response to
oppression, bridging personal experience and structural critique. Findings underscore the need to
theorize empathy as a critical tool in racial formation and suggest Asian international students
can be agents of social transformation, challenging dominant narratives within and beyond U.S.
institutions.

Authors

• Robert J. Lynn, Texas Tech University

• Ryuto Hashimoto, University of Missouri