Navigating In the Shadows: (In)Visibly Racially Hostile Work Environments and Impacts on Asian American Teachers

• In Event: Roots, Thorns and Shoots: Cultivating Teacher Perspectives to Reimagine Teaching for Collective Liberation

Abstract

This poster presentation explores the racialized experiences of Asian American teachers in the secondary school setting; experiences that are often overlooked in broader conversations about race and equity in education. Asian American teachers maintain a nuanced racial positionality in U.S. society that is often misread, minimized, or invisibilized. Navigating an environment that is centered on Whiteness (Kohli et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2007), Asian Americans are faced with structural and often invisible forms of racism, and this invisibility results in visibly or invisibly hostile and tenuous racialized working conditions.
Theoretical frameworks: Using racial battle fatigue (Smith et al., 2011; Smith et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2020) and Asian critical race theory (Iftikar & Museus, 2018) as dual lenses of inquiry, this paper reveals how the nuanced and often disregarded forms of racism unique to Asian American teachers ultimately creates (in)visibly tenuous and racially hostile working environments. Coupling the two theoretical frameworks reveals the intricate web of racism unique to Asian American teachers. Viewing the two theories as a causal relationship lends a greater understanding of the complexity and nuance of the Asian American teacher experience. The unique racialized experiences of Asian American teachers result in the physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects evident in racial battle fatigue.
This research contributes to the conference theme by calling attention to the longstanding exclusion of Asian American voices in educational research and equity discourse. This presentation will encourage attendees to unforget the structural silence surrounding Asian American teachers while imagining futures where their experiences and voices are centered in policy, professional development, and systemic change.

Author

• Leslie A. Saito, Long Beach Unified School District