Understanding U.S. Indigenous History through Cultural-Historical Activity Theory: Insights from Asian American Students

• In Event: Assessing How Historical Content is Learned: Research on Student Thinking and Understanding

Abstract

This study examines how Asian American students with diverse educational trajectories interpret U.S. Indigenous histories. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the analysis explores how students negotiate dominant and alternative narratives encountered across U.S. and non-U.S. contexts. Findings reveal that students’ understandings span a spectrum—from full endorsement of revised narratives to partial blending with dominant accounts—reflecting the layered and historically contingent nature of historical discourse. The study extends CHAT by theorizing narrative interpretation as shaped by shifting geopolitical and historical contexts. It also complicates the conventional division of master and counter-narratives by showing how specific narratives can collide with, align with, or reinforce other nation-states’ ideological projects, which highlights the political work of historical narratives across borders.

Author

• Yubing Liu, University of Wisconsin - Madison