Civic Engagement of Asian American Student Leaders

(Hardback)

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Civic Engagement of Asian American Student Leaders delves into the civic lives of Asian American youth, and analyzes their civic engagement through in-depth interviews with 15 student leaders from a Tier One university in Southeast Texas. The book provides a counter-narrative to the portrayal of Asian Americans as apolitical and less interested in civic matters. Such depictions arise from the characterization of Asian Americans as model minority who mainly focus on economic success and are socially and economically integrated in American society. However, the stories of the student leaders, cultivated by Wui and White, illustrate that their challenging racialized experiences inspired their civic involvement.

Their civic engagement creates empowerment in terms of asserting their ethnic identity, imbibing leadership qualities, long-term commitment to civic engagement, and subverting stereotypes against Asian Americans. The book paints a more varied picture of Asian American youth civic engagement that is not entirely anchored in ethnic identity or non-political involvement, contrary to articulations of existing studies. Wui and White hope that the student leaders narratives shed better light on the civic commitments of Asian Americans to American society especially in these times when there is increased bias and racial prejudice in the current atmosphere and culture.

Reviews

Not since Ronald Takaki gave us a glimpse into a Different Mirror has a book spoken with clarity and consciousness about Asian American experiences as students and citizens in our schools and communities. Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui and Cameron S. White's book is a much-needed voice of civic vision, values, and indeed virtues articulated through the lived stories of Asian Americans whose contributions to economic, social/cultural, political, and environmental issues have too often been marginalized in the telling of the American story past and present. Without a doubt, Civic Engagement of Asian American Student Leaders is a book that will illuminate our future understanding of the important impact of individual and collective Asian American contributions to the foundations of our local and global civic institutions.

This book is the best kind of investigation. It shows how an idea-seed flourished to produce a volume that shares knowledge and experiences about a population of which the general citizenry knows little. More than that, it discusses civic engagement, a topic that must urgently need our attention.

Author Bio

Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui is assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ateneo de Manila University.

Cameron White, PhD, is an independent scholar.