CHATogether: Using Interactive Theater to Talk about the Black Lives Matter Movement in Asian American Families.

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Background:
Yale Compassionate Home, Action Together (CHATogether) is a group focused on using theater to address emotional wellness in Asian American children and parents on stigmatized issues such as mental health, racism, and LGBTQIA+. In the wake of COVID-related racism against Asian Americans, as well as the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, CHATogether aims to use this method to specifically help Asian American children and parents discuss issues of racism.

Barriers for Asian Americans to talk to their parents about racism include the taboo of talking back to one’s elders (a sign of disrespect), the legacies of colonialism and the internalized notions of worth attached to skin color, and potential lack of parental understanding of anti-blackness in U.S. history. Current anti-racism resources exist, such as the WITS method (APA Division 45, 2020), Letters for Black Lives, and the Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit, but specific programs that target child-parent communication are limited. Using theatrical vignettes, we demonstrate techniques that promote emotional attunement and mentalization when disagreements on BLM between child and parent occur. Ultimately, we aim to increase equity in these unsettled times to work against the impact of structural racism in our families. By teaching skills that fight racism at the micro and personal level, this supports the overall fight against structural racism by creating an environment where racism is less acceptable.

Methods:
Adapting from Boal and Rohd’s work on Theater of the Oppressed (Boal A, 1985, Rohd M, 1998), CHATogether members 1) enact the role of parent or child in a live skit where there are differences in perspectives of BLM, 2) a moderator then steps in to reflect and offer guidance towards improved communication, and 3) the skit continues using the skills just learned. There are three videos in the series. The first video shows an interaction where the father denies institutionalized racism and discusses how Asian Americans are seen as model minorities. The second video depicts a child who wants to participate in the protests, but the father refuses due to safety concerns. The third video is a discussion about why, during the protests, the emphasis is on property damage instead of what the protests are about: the damage to Black bodies. With the help of the moderator in each video, both child and parent eventually come to respect each other’s viewpoint.

Results:
From preliminary feedback, audiences report our program helps develop a virtual support platform to discuss anti-racism topics, gain a new sense of agency in facing racism, and develop intercultural empathy and the ability to manage different viewpoints. Quantitative data on viewership from social media also reflects engagement of our audience; however, more longitudinal tracking is warranted.

Conclusions:
In the future, this model could be used as a form of community education to address a wide range of issues such as racism, parent-child conflict, etc. Our project awaits further validation on feasibility and efficacy. Possible psychological measures to consider include Asian American Racism-Related Stress Inventory (AARSI) to preliminarily assess viewers’ experiences of racism and potentially guide the creation of future content.

Group Authors

Yale CHATogether (Compassionate Home, Action Together)

Authors

• Max Su, Choate Rosemary Hall
  Presenting Author

• Nealie Ngo, University of Toledo, College of Medicine and Life Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hana Lee, Centre College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eunice Yuen, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author