#EthnicStudiesNow! A Systematic Review of Asian Americans’ Developmental Experiences in Ethnic Studies Education

• In Event: The role of racial socialization and education in the development of anti-racism among diverse youth

Abstract

Background:
Ethnic Studies – defined as education that centers the histories and perspectives of racially minoritized groups in the United States (e.g., Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian Americans) with the goal of fostering students’ critical analysis of racism and colonialism and preparing them to engage in social transformation – has been linked to positive developmental outcomes for youth. However, little research in the psychological and developmental sciences has systematically explored these impacts among Asian American students, a demographic group whose histories of oppression and resistance are invisibilized in education and racial discourse despite their historical and contemporary advocacy for Ethnic Studies.

Objective:
The overarching goal of this paper is to create an entrypoint for psychologists and developmental scientists to engage in current movements for Ethnic Studies. We present a systematic review of the existing literature on Asian American students’ psychosocial experiences in Ethnic Studies education and critically examines the strengths, limitations, and current state of the research on Ethnic Studies as a context for Asian American students’ psychosocial development. We synthesize tenets of Asian Critical Race Theory (Museus & Iftikar, 2013) and stages of the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (Spencer, 2006) to offer an organizing framework to understand how Ethnic Studies education introduces new supports and challenges that Asian American students use to navigate the process of racialization in the United States.

Methods/Sources:
This paper presents a systematic review of published research on Asian American students’ psychosocial experiences in Ethnic Studies classes across schooling levels. Academic research databases, Asian American Studies journals, and specific reviews of Ethnic Studies research (i.e., Sleeter & Zavala, 2020) were systematically searched according to PRISMA 2020 guidelines (Page et al., 2020). The references cited by the identified records, and articles that referenced the identified records, were also searched. In total, 25 articles were included in the systematic review.

Findings:
Preliminary analyses reveal that outcomes of Ethnic Studies education on Asian American students include: a) changes in students’ ethnic-racial identity, b) increases in critical consciousness (encompassing critical reflection about racism, motivation, agency, and anti-racist activism), c) changes in students; relationships with family members, the school context, and communities, and d) changes in students’ psychological well-being. These outcomes were mediated by pedagogical approaches including service-learning, community-responsive and historically-responsive education, and emphasis on either ethnicity-specific content or general Asian American Studies.

Significance:
Ethnic Studies education is an important educational intervention for anti-racism on the individual level – to bolster Asian Americans’ protective factors amidst hypervisible anti-Asian racism onslaught by the COVID-19 pandemic – and society – through equipping youth with knowledge and tools to enact anti-racist social change. Sustaining such an important anti-racist intervention, especially amidst national debates over diversity and social justice-oriented education, requires support on various fronts, including continued research on the psychosocial benefits of Ethnic Studies education among Asian American students. This systematic review provides a basis upon which psychologists and developmental scientists can build upon the work of Asian American Studies and education scholars and support the fight for Ethnic Studies.

Authors

• Jean Abigail Saavedra, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Brandon Yoo, Arizona State University

• Jocyl Sacramento, California State University, East Bay

• Eleanor K Seaton, Arizona State University

• Masumi Iida, Arizona State University