Poster #42 - Indigenous young adults’ experiences with racial microaggression in Taiwan

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

This study examined Indigenous young adults’ experiences with racial microaggression in Taiwanese schools and universities. Indigenous young adults (N=21) who were currently enrolled in four-year universities were interviewed about their retrospective recall of school-based racial microaggressions in school and university. The author identified four distinct themes that represented Indigenous young adults’ experiences with school-based racial microaggressions: 1) Microinsults and microinvalidations were two common forms of microaggressions Indigenous young adults reported, and Indigenous young adults experienced school-based racial microaggressions from peers and teachers in everyday life, 2) Microinsults came from non-Indigenous peers believed Indigenous cultures was stuck in the past, and Indigenous young adults encountered perceptions of primitiveness and negative stereotypes, such as Indigenous cultures were linked to alcoholism, 3) Indigenous young adults experienced jealous accusations of receiving unfair advantages in education, which minimized Indigenous young adults’ efforts and performance in school and university, and 4) After entering college, school-based racial microaggressions from peers decreased, but Indigenous young adults continued to experience microinsults and microinvalidations from faculty on campus. For example, Indigenous young adults reported that most non-Indigenous faculty thought Indigenous young adults were academically inferior and drug dependent. Finally, the common coping strategies for racial microaggression included ignoring racial microaggressions from peers or teachers, and making fun of themselves. Indigenous young adults also reported the feeling of loneliness and helplessness in school and university. This study indicated microinsults and microinvalidations were common forms of school-based racial microaggressions among Indigenous young adults. Indigenous young adults’ experiences with racial microaggression might come from non-Indigenous people’s misunderstanding of Indigenous cultures and Indigenous education policies.

Author

• Wei-Lin Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University
  Presenting Author