Engaging in critical conversations with secondary school Asian American and Pacific Islander girls in an AAPI young adult book club
Creators: name: Lindo, Tasha Adrienne
Publisher: name: University of Iowa
Year: 2027
Subjects: AAPI
book club
conversations
critical
girl

description: Research in literacy and English language arts (ELA) education has found that when engaged in innovative reading, writing, and literacy practices, girls of color explore their racial and gender identities and experiences in ways that help them develop perspectives on their worlds and communities (e.g. Butler, 2016; Campano &amp; Player, 2015; Muhammad, 2015; Player, 2021; Player, 2022; Smith, 2022; Trites, 2018). Yet, little research has focused specifically on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) girls’ identities and literacy experiences. Outside of literacy scholarship, studies suggest that AAPI girls sometimes experience gender and racespecific tensions between cultural expectations of home and school (Lee, 2009). Taken as a whole, this body of scholarship suggests a need to better understand how engagement with literacy practices might serve as a space for AAPI girls to critically explore their race and gender identities.
description: This critical qualitative study (Merriam &amp; Tisdell, 2016) is theoretically grounded in Reader Response Theory (RRT) - a theory focused on the significance of the role of the reader in constructing textual meaning (Bakhtin, 1981; Brooks, 2007; Iser, 1972; Rosenblatt, 1978, 1995) and AsianCrit - a theoretical branch from Critical Race Theory (CRT) that focuses on issues that are unique to Asian Americans (Iftikar &amp; Museus, 2018; Han, 2019). Drawing on recent research and scholarship, this study provides analysis of AAPI girls reading AAPI young adult literature (YAL) that is oftentimes overlooked (Lee, 2009; Player, 2019; 2021; 2022; Tokunga, 2016; 2018). I considered the following research question:
description: 1. How do high school self-identified AAPI girls respond to critical topics in AAPI young adult literature in an afterschool book club facilitated by a biracial Filipina educator?
description: In this study, AAPI girls explored representations of identity in AAPI YAL and with each other as they responded to critical conversation questions and engage in book club conversations. The book club was an affinity space that was an act of resistance as the girls’ unique voices and identities were centered and made known to each other. One of the tenets of AsianCrit, (Re)constructive history, is that Asian Americans are often seen as voiceless and invisible. By showcasing the girls’ responses to literature, the girls defied this stereotype. I took a qualitative approach to data collection, and I used qualitative and discourse analytic methods to analyze across multiple data sources, including video and audio recordings, transcriptions, book club artifacts (e.g. students writing, artwork, and reader responses), memos, and field notes. In response to my research question, I report that the AAPI girls in our afterschool book club often brought with them the voices of their families, as they shared sociocultural knowledge and considered critical conversation questions in relation to the AAPI YAL texts that we read. They looked both backward and forward as they explored sociocultural issues and considered AAPI families’ beliefs, attitudes, and stances. The girls often chose to respond to the AAPI literature by talking about race and racism. The AAPI girls' literacy responses demonstrated that AAPI girls offer their individual and collective voices and stories, in addition to their families’ voices and stories, as a wealth of cultural knowledge they often draw from to understand and navigate sociocultural issues.
description: In addition to the importance of AAPI youth having access to AAPI texts in schools, my study’s findings illustrated that there is significant value in providing youth opportunities to read and work in groups that are identity focused. Affinity groups can offer collective agency. Learning about students’ responses to multicultural literature in affinity groups can provide scholars with rich data that can foster a reimagination of the ELA classroom, ELA teacher pedagogy, and school systems.
description: Further, the findings in my study revealed that AAPI students desired to be in community with each other as well as have their voices heard as they respond to literature. ELA teachers can listen to their AAPI students talk about their friends, families, and communities and learn about AAPI students’ backgrounds. Further, ELA teachers can gain trust from their AAPI students by validating their students’ experiences as well as their sociocultural knowledge on topics such as race and racism.
description: AsianCrit and reader response frameworks are distinct and can work in relation to one another. As the girls responded to the literature, their voices as AAPI girls emphasized some of the tenets of AsianCrit. For example, Asianization refers to racism that is specific to Asian and Asian Americans. It is grounded in the reality that people within the U.S. only become ‘Asian’ due to white supremacy and the racialization process it engenders. When the girls discussed their connections to the AAPI characters’ experiences and race and racism, they revealed similar experiences of racialization that are specific to Asianization.
description: My findings also illustrated that the girls each had their own sociocultural knowledge (Brown, 2013) to share and that this was deeply rooted in their cultural ways of knowing and being (Rosenblatt, 1995). As a result of my study, I understand that when AAPI youth were together and shared their responses to AAPI texts, they often brought their families’ voices with them. My study confirmed some of the cultural norms of collective family.