Asian American Pedagogy

Connecting History and People's Lives

First, Asian American pedagogy enables people to discover the intersection between their lives and history. In U.S. schools, children typically learn that history is separated from their lives. Students write autobiographies and they write papers about history, but they seldom learn how their lives are linked to history. As a result, they regard history and current events as happening outside of themselves and have difficulty understanding how important forces such as race affect their lives. In contrast, practitioners of Asian American pedagogy emphasize the integral relationship between history and people's lives. Thus, a common assignment in Asian American studies classes is having students conduct family oral histories to connect book knowledge with lived experiences. Through this assignment, students learn how large historical events, such as wars and immigration policy, affected their families. Learning about history enables people to learn about themselves—or as summarized in a well-known proverb in the Filipino American community: “No history no self; know history know self.” Moreover, helping people to discover the intersection between history and their lives is crucial for transforming people into active agents who can make their own history.

Using Knowledge to Help the Community

Second, Asian American pedagogy enables people to use what they learn to help their communities. Similar to freedom schools of the civil rights movement, classes and community workshops organized around Asian American pedagogy instill a sense of responsibility within people to acquire knowledge and skills to address needs facing their communities. One example is a school founded in 2005 in Philadelphia's Chinatown by Asian American activists. The Folk Arts–Cultural Treasures Charter School is a multiracial school that focuses on folk arts as vehicles for learning basic skills such as reading, writing, and math and applying this knowledge to change conditions in Chinatown. In addition, youth develop leadership skills by learning how to analyze neighborhood needs and mobilize around important issues, such as housing and jobs. Similarly, through college classes, students have taken up campaigns for immigrant rights, worker rights, environmental justice, and sustainable community development. To raise awareness around critical issues, students have also created videos, books, magazines, comic books, and websites and have used poetry, music, and performance art. In short, Asian American pedagogy emphasizes the connection between awareness and action, between knowing and doing.

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