Asian American as a political–racial identity: implications for teacher education

Abstract

In this article, I consider the emergence of the term Asian American as a political and racial identifier in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s and survey the meanings that are associated with the term today. Through the analysis of in-depth interviews, I examine how Asian American prospective teachers, who were enrolled in a master's and credential program that had an explicit focus on social justice and on teaching in urban communities of color, appropriated and challenged these multiple meanings. The interview data highlight the relationship between these teachers' understandings of their racial identity and the responsibilities and challenges they anticipated for themselves as Asian American teachers of other students of color. I conclude the article by exploring the implications of these findings for teacher education programs, particularly programs that enroll high proportions of Asian Americans.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• Asian American
• race
• urban schools
• social justice

Notes

1. From 2010 US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html

2. From 2010 US Census Bureau: http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn125.html

3. See Chan (1991), Daniels (1988), Pfaelzer (2007) and Takaki (1989) for an elaboration of the histories recounted in this paragraph.