How Asian American Female Teachers Experience Racial Microaggressions from Pre-service Preparation to Their Professional Careers

Microaggressions in Administrator Preparation Programs: How Black Female Participants Experienced Discussions of Identity, Discrimination, and Leadership

“…In addition, as Endo (2015) argued in a study of microaggressions and Asian preservice teachers, the absence of people of color and Black females as colleagues, instructors, and/or guest speakers likely served to reinforce White supremacy (and patriarchy), thus, harming all who were enrolled. As reported by participants, program leaders’ failure to explicitly name or address the program’s lack of diversity further normalized Whiteness and maleness in the space and in administration more broadly (Armstrong & McMahon, 2013; Blackmore, 2013).…”

“…Salient for this study, Lewis, Mendenhall, Harwood, and Huntt (2013) have explored how intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) and gendered racism (Essed, 1991) may create unique experiences of gendered racial microaggressions for Black women in various roles. And yet, despite growing research applying microaggressions in new ways (e.g., Willis, 2015) and in different educational contexts (e.g., Endo, 2015; Lewis & Neville, 2015), in our review of the administrator preparation literature, we were unable to find empirical studies applying this framework to administrator preparation. Therefore, as called for by Osanloo et al (2016), we see this study as a step to address this gap and push those who lead and work in administrator preparation to reflect on current practices and whether they perpetuate or challenge discrimination.…”

Coalitional Resistance: Challenging Racialized and Gendered Oppression in Teacher Education

“…Research also indicates that AsAms who do choose teaching face racial microaggressions (Philip, 2014; Sue et al, 2007) throughout their careers (Endo, 2015) as they negotiate White-dominated education spaces. Microaggressions can be categorized in three forms: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations (Sue et al, 2007).…”

“…Given this study’s emphasis on our identities as AsAm female teacher educators, who transitioned from K-12 to TED contexts, we highlight studies focused on AsAm female educators. While this body of literature remains relatively scarce, AsAm female educators, in both K-12 and TED contexts, report experiences of tokenization, sexualization, cultural essentialism (e.g., being seen as spokespeople for their entire ethnic group or all Asian experiences), foreignization (e.g., being seen as not fully American because of language or immigrant generation), and being seen through the MMM lens (Choi, 2018; Endo, 2015; Hune, 2006; Lin et al, 2006; Morita-Mullaney & Greene, 2015). AsAm female educators who used their heritage languages, in both K-12 and TED contexts, were positioned as “illegitimate” teachers or faculty members by colleagues and administrators (Lin et al, 2006; Nguyen, 2012).…”

“…In the face of microaggressions, several AsAm female educators communicated feelings of self-doubt (e.g., imposter syndrome) and internalized self-blame for the actions of those who perpetrated the microaggressions (Nguyen, 2012) showing the often hidden emotional costs of these interactions. Other AsAm female educators, who struggled with direct confrontation (Endo, 2015), navigated the hostile educational climates they faced by adopting humor and sarcasm as responses (Endo, 2015) and finding solidarity with other AsAm teachers from similar backgrounds (Nguyen, 2012). AsAm female educators also drew from individual strength and/or coalitional support to directly challenge the discourses placed upon them by those in positions of power (Loo & Ho, 2006; Nguyen, 2012).…”