“Asian American and Pacific Islander Experiences in Higher Education: A Forum on Policies and the Model Minority Myth” takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Nov. 2, in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Dogwood Room.
“Given the importance of diversity education and advocacy that we value at IU, we think there is still a need for a symposium that will particularly address the issues and concerns facing a specific minority group that is often wrongfully labeled as the ‘model minority,’” said Melanie Castillo-Cullather, director of IU’s Asian Culture Center, in the release.
Part one of the symposium will feature a discussion of the policies and research regarding Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in higher education by Dina Okamoto, associate professor in the IU Department of Sociology and director of the Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society; Doug Nguyen, regional co-lead of the Great Lakes Regional Network of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Karen Su, clinical assistant professor of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Part two will feature a panel discussion of the model minority myth and the perpetual foreigner stereotype, as well as their implications for the identity and experiences of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in higher education.
Panelists include Victoria Loong, director of Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center at Purdue University and Y. Joel Wong, associate professor of counseling and educational psychology at IU.
The model minority myth is the perception that all Asian-American and Pacific Islander students are from affluent families and are bright, industrious and well-behaved, according to the release.
“The perpetual foreigner stereotype is the perception that Asian-Americans are foreigners or that they are closely connected to their ethnic cultures of origin and relatively unacculturated to (European) American culture,” Wong said in the release. “Two examples: Many U.S.-born Asian-Americans are often asked, ‘Where are you really from?’ the implication being that they are not perceived as ‘Americans.’”
Wong said in the release U.S.-born Asian-Americans are also often complimented for their good English.
It sounds like a compliment, but it betrays an expectation that Asian-Americans are immigrants who speak poor English, Wong said in the release.
“This collaborative workshop brings IU into a critical national conversation on the unique challenges that Asian-American and Pacific Islander students face in institutions of higher education,” said Jane McLeod, associate dean for graduate education and professor in the department of sociology in the IU-Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences, in the release. “The unique collaboration behind this workshop provides strong evidence of IU’s ongoing commitment to supporting and expanding diversity in our student population.”
The event is free and open to the public. Participants are asked to RSVP online prior to the event.
Alyson Malinger
