Exploration of Learning, Healing, and Belonging Journeys of Asian American and Migrant Youth

• In Event: Co-Constructing Counternarratives with Asian and Asian American Youth and Communities

Proposal

Throughout their K–12 education, Asian and Asian American students have little opportunity to learn about the histories they belong to. Evidence from prior studies indicates that the curriculum, textbooks, and teaching in K-12 education often fail to adequately portray Asian and Asian American populations, along with their lives, experiences, and viewpoints (Author, 2016; Author, 2023; Author, 2019). Asian and Asian American students in suburban and rural areas have even less opportunity to learn about their histories and experiences due to the prevailing whiteness that dominate the teacher forces, student population, and educational institutions (Author, 2022).
Situated in AsianCrit, the present qualitative study, conducted in AsianCrit, centers on the experiences of Asian American and migrant youth who took part in an ethnic studies-informed summer camp in the suburban Midwest and explores their learning journeys to understand the histories of the communities they belong to, which are often marginalized in their predominantly white schools. AsianCrit aims to analyze the influence of the structure and ideas around whiteness on the racial experiences of Asian and Asian Americans. AsianCrit, as defined by Museus and Iftikar (2013), is “a perspective that outlines a unique set of tenets that are designed to provide a useful analytic framework for examining and understanding the ways that racism affects Asian Americans in the United States” (p. 23).
The study participants included six Asian American and migrant youth who took part in a summer camp in the suburbs of the Midwest during the summer of 2024. This summer camp, informed by ethnic studies, aimed to provide Asian and Asian American students in the Midwest suburban area with rigorous, engaging, and hands-on learning opportunities where they explore historical events and movements significant to Asian and Asian American communities, as well as their roles in shaping American histories and societies. Among the participants, five individuals self-identified as Korean Americans or migrants, whereas one student identified as a Chinese American. An individual, semi-structured interview and student-generated artifacts, including writing, drawings, and other work produced during their participation in the summer camp program, serve as the primary data sources for this research. The data analysis used Saldaña's (2016) open, focused, and theoretical coding approaches.
This study sheds light on the complex ways that Asian American and migrant youth confront, navigate, resist, and/or embrace both the prevailing white-centric history that they have been taught throughout their education and the Asian American history that they are newly exposed to. The study also demonstrates roles of the ethnic studies-informed summer camp in providing students with spaces and time to reflect on, share, and heal their wounds created by their past and current racialized experiences, build solidarity and connections with other Asian students, and reaffirm their sense of belonging in the predominantly white Midwest suburbs. This study will have important ramifications for future research and pedagogical approaches focused on attaining racial equity and empowering Asian and Asian American students.

Author

• Yeji Kim, University of Missouri - Columbia