Triple Threat: Asian American, Women-Identified, and First-Generation

• In Event: First-Generation Women of Color Professionals: An Examination of the Intersectional Experiences in Higher Education

Abstract

Triple Threat: Asian-American, Women-Identified, & First-Generation (WC: 455/500)

Objectives or purposes: Through an autoethnographic account of my experience as an Asian American, woman-identified, first-generation tenured instructor at a community college, I seek to bring awareness to the plight of first-generation graduates and faculty members as they continue to face obstacles related to education generational status as they continue into their teaching tenure because the lack of socioeconomic capital versus that of their continuing-generation counterparts.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework:
The theoretical framework aims to understand my lived experiences through Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Intersectionality. Together, CRT and Intersectionality help reveal issues of inequity by showing how race and racism impact the structures, practices, and discourses within higher education for this population (Solorzano & Yosso, 2009). Three CRT tenets discussed here examine liberalism, intersectionality, and permanence of racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001; Winkle-Wagner, Lee-Johnson, & Gaskew, 2019).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry: Autoethnography challenges the traditional research method, by conducting research and “representing others and treats research as a political, socially-just and socially-conscious act,” to highlight counterstories, in order to establish social advocacy and change. Ellis, et al. (2011) explains that autoethnography is a process and product of 1) the description of systematic analysis (graphy), 2) personal experience (auto), and 3) to better comprehend cultural experiences (ethno).

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials:
In my autoethnography, I explore how my first-generation identity was impacted by the history of my immigrant parents, and influenced my academic journey, and professional endeavors. As such, I reveal the intersectionality of my first-generation faculty status with my identity as a young, Asian American, and woman-identified person.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view:
This results in potentially experiencing unique anxieties, dislocation, and cultural/social/academic transitions (Pascarella et. al, 2004, p. 250), in addition to the difficulties of an average college professor. Ultimately, I argue that institutions of higher education need to have more faculty members to reflect their student demographics as a mechanism to increase representation, student success, and student retention.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work:
When examining female Asian-American instructors, they are often underrepresented, racially discriminated with stereotypes, “generally occupy the junior ranks and have one of the lowest tenure rates in the academy” (Li & Beckett, 2006, 2). Buenavista (2013) stated that “Asian Americans have been perceived as perpetual outsiders to the dominant white society regardless of the historical and contemporary narratives of their migration, settlement, and continued presence in the United States” (p. 104). Coupled with the first generation identity, female Asian-American instructors continue to face similar challenges as first generation students. Female Asian-American instructors belong to the academic community on the surface yet, simultaneously, they do not belong (Buenavista, 2013).

Author

• Cindy Nhung Phu, Pasadena City College