The Racialization of Asian Americans in History in Picture Book Biographies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Analyses of Community, Memory, and Cultural Representation in Children's and Young Adult Literature

Abstract

This critical content analysis explores Asian American (in)visibility and representation in 19 picturebook biographies. Using Asian Critical Race Theory, this study investigates how these texts uphold or disrupt racialization of Asian Americans and how they (re)construct histories to acknowledge and value Asian American participation. Findings demonstrate that texts, while varied, racialized Asian Americans through exclusion, stereotypes, and omission. Biographized subjects were primarily East Asian American, contributing to an erasure of South Asian and South Asian American experiences and contributions, and the majority of texts conformed to model minority stereotypes through the use of themes such as overcoming discrimination, and achieving the American dream.

Author

• Joanne Yi, Indiana University