This paper examines how rituals contribute to developing pedagogical relationships among Asian American youth and their teacher in a kathak dance program. The research draws from ethnographic data collected at a community-based organization. It is driven by the following research question: How do pedagogical relationships with immigrant youth in a…

Background/Context: Community-based youth theater programs afford youth opportunities to explore and "author" new identities by "performing writing." Yet, we know much less about the ways in which immigrant youth are exploring struggles and changes within their families and ethnic community. We particularly lack research about…

This article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with two queer Hmong immigrant youth to explore experiences of family care, support, and acceptance. It offers an alternative to discourses of family rejection. It illustrates the ways in which Hmong youth are constructing queer identities while maintaining close relationships to blood family.…

In this article, I engage critical discourse analysis of in-depth, semistructured interviews with 4 Hmong community leaders to illumine their perspectives on the role of subtractive schooling in the struggles of Hmong students, parents, and the ethnic community as a whole. I reveal their understanding of the exclusionary practices of school that…

This article illustrates the culture consciousness of Hmong immigrant community leaders as they made sense of the educational experiences of Hmong American children and families. It draws on the work of scholars who have theorized "critical" essentialism to suggest that Hmong leaders are critically aware of the role and import of…

In this article, we draw on research with Hmong American community members to contribute to a more complex understanding of Hmong culture. Specifically, in a critical discourse analysis of interviews with 3 influential Hmong American politicians, we highlight the divergent perspectives on early marriage, Hmong gender norms, and the struggles of…

In her ethnographic study of Lao American students at an urban, public high school, Bic Ngo shows how simplistic accounts of these students smooth over unfinished, precarious identities and contested social relations. Exploring the ways that immigrant youth identities are shaped by dominant discourses that simplify and confine their experiences…

In this article, I examine how students, teachers and staff understood and addressed cultural difference at an urban, public high school in the United States. My research reveals that the school's multicultural practices contradictorily sustained and exacerbated problems and made teachers resistant to multicultural education. Simultaneously, my…

In this article, the author elucidates the identity work of Lao American urban, immigrant students, highlighting ambivalent identities that do not fit into notions of bicultural or binary identities. It examines the various discourses and practices that inform and shape the experiences and identities of urban, Lao American high school students. It…

This article addresses the ways in which the experiences of immigrant youth and families in U.S. schools and society have been conceptualized primarily as conflicts between immigrant cultures and dominant U.S. culture. Exemplified by the discourse of culture clash or of immigrants being torn between two worlds, this prevalent understanding…

Similar to other Asian American students, Southeast Asian American students are often stereotyped by the popular press as hardworking and high-achieving model minorities. On the other hand, Southeast Asian American youth are also depicted as low-achieving high school dropouts involved in gangs. The realities of academic performance and persistence…

Investigated the meaning of early marriage among Hmong American female college students. Interview and observation data attested to the complexity of the meaning of early marriage in the Hmong American community. Results refuted explanations of cultural difference as underlying early marriage and indicated that early marriage was an expression of…

This article explicates the diversity within the Asian American community by focusing on Southeast and South Asian American students. Focusing on these two groups is important given their recent migration (relative to other groups) and tenuous position within Asian American research, discourse, and representation. In particular, this article…

In this article, I draw on poststructuralist work on "citationality" to elucidate an urban high school's student culture and intervention efforts with regard to LGBQ issues. I contend that the language, ideas and practices of LGBQ issues and awareness among students and staff "cite" or draw on broader (and often competing) discourses of normalcy,…