Grassroots Organizing for K-12 Asian American Studies Stories from the Field

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.

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Part 1: History, Theory, and Research behind Make Us Visible GA.- Chapter 2. The long history of anti-Asian racism and violence in the US.- Chapter 3. Asian Americans in K-12 and teacher education.- Chapter 4. Theoretical frameworks for teaching Asian American history.- Part 2: Make Us Visible-GA Speaks!.- Chapter 5. Who Are We?.- Chapter 6. We Need to Do Something!.- Chapter 7. We Cannot Do This Alone: Coalition Building.- Chapter 8. Transnational Adoptees and Other Unheard Voices.- Chapter 9. Ethnic Studies is Not Enough!.- Chapter 10. I am the Only Asian American Teacher in My School. It’s Tough!.- Chapter 11. It’s Not Children, It’s the Adults Who Have Difficulty Learning Difficult History.- Chapter 12. School Teaches Nothing About US!.- Chapter 13. Student Activism.- Chapter 14. We Are Not Ok!.- Part 3: Conclusion.- Chapter 15. Learning from Our Stories, Looking to the Future.

Sohyun An is Professor of Social Studies Education at Kennesaw State University, USA. Her research and teaching centers on curriculum, pedagogy, and movement of K-12 Asian American studies and anti-racist social studies education. Before becoming a teacher educator, Sohyun was a middle and high school teacher in South Korea. 

Theresa Alviar-Martin is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Kennesaw State University, USA. Her scholarship examines civic education in culturally diverse societies  from comparative, human rights, and multicultural perspectives. Before joining academia, Theresa worked as an ESOL teacher at a refugee camp in Bataan, the Philippines, and as an international school teacher Bangkok and Hong Kong.