Sohyun An – författare

Asian American voices and experiences are largely absent from elementary curricula.

Asian Americans are an extraordinarily diverse group of people, yet are often viewed through stereotypical lenses: as Chinese or Japanese only, as recent immigrants who do not speak English, as exotic foreigners, or as a “model minority” who do well in school. This fundamental misperception of who Asian Americans are begins with young learners―often from what they learn, or do not learn, in school.

This book sets out to amend the superficial treatment of Asian American histories in U.S. textbooks and curriculum by providing elementary teachers with a more nuanced, thematically driven account. In chapters focusing on the complexity of Asian American identity, major moments in Asian immigration, war and displacement, issues of citizenship, and Asian American activism, the authors include suggestions across content areas for guided class discussions, ideas for broader units, and recommendations for children’s literature as well as primary sources.

Asian American voices and experiences are largely absent from elementary curricula.

Asian Americans are an extraordinarily diverse group of people, yet are often viewed through stereotypical lenses: as Chinese or Japanese only, as recent immigrants who do not speak English, as exotic foreigners, or as a “model minority” who do well in school. This fundamental misperception of who Asian Americans are begins with young learners―often from what they learn, or do not learn, in school.

This book sets out to amend the superficial treatment of Asian American histories in U.S. textbooks and curriculum by providing elementary teachers with a more nuanced, thematically driven account. In chapters focusing on the complexity of Asian American identity, major moments in Asian immigration, war and displacement, issues of citizenship, and Asian American activism, the authors include suggestions across content areas for guided class discussions, ideas for broader units, and recommendations for children’s literature as well as primary sources.

This edited book captures Asian American grassroot organizing in Georgia through counterstorytelling. Rooted in Critical Race Theory and traditions of narrative inquiry, counterstorytelling in educational research seeks to challenge dominant narratives by centering marginalized communities’ experiences and perspectives as sources of valuable knowledge. By employing AsianCrit, global citizenship education, human rights, and liberatory postcolonial education as theoretical lenses, the editors of this book interrupt essentialized portrayals of Asian Americans by featuring stories of Asian American students, parents, and educators who are fighting for Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies in K-12 schools in Georgia. Their stories capture common as well as divergent experiences of being Asian American in the South and illuminate possibilities, challenges, and complexity of grassroots organizing for Asian American studies and ethnic studies in the South.