Being Asian American Faculty Members Against Invisibility and Silence to/by/in Higher Education

• In Event: Re/searching Response-ability in the Wake of Anti-Asian Hate Crime: A Wrestle of Korean American Educators

Abstract

Culturally and historically, influenced by Confucian values, Asians are raised to work hard, be compliant, especially to their authorities, and sacrifice themselves for the greater good (Luo et al., 2013; Park & Chesla, 2007). In the United States, Asian Americans are politically trained by the model minority stereotypes, according to which they should “keep [their] heads down and work hard, believing that [their] diligence will reward [them] with [their] dignity” (Hong, 2020, p. 78). Higher education is as susceptible to the model minority myth as any other context (Seo & Hinton, 2009). Higher education institutions, which are powerful entities that work with current/future educators, have done a minimal job of addressing racial inequity and injustice. We, Asian faculty members in four state universities, have struggled to care for our own trauma and minoritization from systemic racism and the recent hate crimes against Asians/Asian Americans.

With a growing sense of anxiety, despair, anger, and many unexplainable emotions, we connected with each other through bi-weekly virtual suda [수다] sessions (Authors, 2021) to engage in collaborative autoethnographic reflections. Suda [수다] is derived from our Korean feminist cultural perspectives/assets (Oh, 2005). Its close translation is intensive and extensive chatting (oftentimes by women), although it is impossible to translate it perfectly from Korean to English. Being with our sister scholars allowed us to engage in suda [수다], and it became our theoretical foundation. As we realized that our individual experiences are not completely individual (Rhee, 2021) but historically embodied over generations, this paper presents our collective sense-making process from multiple intersecting--personal, political, cultural, historical, and academic-- perspectives.

In addition, we re-memorized many layers of systematic rules and expectations governing academia. Our academic trainings, starting in U.S. graduate schools, emphasized neo-liberal values such as how seamlessly and productively we should blend in and meet the higher education institutions’ norms, especially when trying to earn tenure at those institutions (Authors, 2020; Authors, 2021; Hernandez, et al., 2015; Skachkova, 2007). Academic training often limits our ways of thinking and seeing by valuing certain theoretical and pragmatic mindsets (Authors, 2021; Bhattacharya, 2016; Rhee, 2021). We have been frequently encouraged/asked/forced to use Western scholars’ theories in our academic training/careers. However, we argue that suda [수다] is more authentic to us and that it could truly enable our connectivity with our sister scholars’ knowledge. Suda [수다] is now our onto-epistemology against our invisibility and silence to/by/in higher education. Being able to raise our voices, and doing so in solidarity, is what we are un/learning from existing traditions in higher education.

It is significant to scrutinize what is binding us and what needs to be seen and heard by others. When we remain quiet about our pain or trauma, people may think that we are all content about what is happening around/to us (Hong, 2020). This paper is our effort “to speak, to make it verbal, and to share, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood” (Lorde, 1980, p. 19 as cited in Rhee, 2021, p. 55).

Authors

• Sophia Han, University of South Florida

• Jinhee Kim, Kennesaw State University

• Sohyun Meacham, University of Northern Iowa

• Su-Jeong Wee, California State University - Los Angeles