A Critical Review of the Model Minority Myth in Selected Literature on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Higher Education

Abstract

This article presents a critical review of 112 works of research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in higher education. It focuses on ways previous scholarship framed AAPIs in higher education, and specifically on how those works engaged in a sustained project of countering the model minority myth (MMM). Many publications on AAPIs in higher education mentioned the MMM and neglected to account for the original purpose of the MMM—to maintain anti-Black racism and White supremacy. We identified four key and interconnected limitations implicit in the counter-MMM framework that result from a lack of a critical recognition of the model minority as an instrument to maintain White dominance. Our analysis suggests that the well-established counter-MMM scholarly project is fundamentally flawed in its ability to humanistically reframe and advance research on AAPIs. Therefore, we call for a reframing of research on AAPIs in higher education.

Differences in Classroom Engagement of Asian American Engineering Students

“…Differences between Asian American subgroups, in terms of their classroom engagement and academic outcomes, are not surprising, given the diversity of immigrant pathways to the United States and experiences there (Ngo & Lee, ; Pang, Han, & Pang, ; Poon et al, ). Given these differences, our study contributes to a broader understanding of possible factors that influence achievement gaps between Asian American subgroups.…”

The Model Minority Maze: Hmong Americans Working Within and Around Racial Discourses

“…She recognizes that the model minority discourse is implicitly comparative in nature, and that there cannot be a model minority without a concomitant problematic minority (Lee, 2009;Poon et al, 2015). Mee and other Southeast Asian members of SHOUT have developed close relationships with low-income Black people through their work in SHOUT.…”

“…From the moment the stereotype emerged on the scene Asian American communities have been embroiled in debates over how to respond. Critical Asian American scholars have repeatedly argued that the model minority stereotype is a hegemonic tool that sustains the myth of meritocracy, silences charges of racial injustice, disciplines Black and Brown communities and masks the struggles faced by Asian American communities (Hartlep, 2013;Lee, 2009;Lee & Kumashiro, 2005;Leonardo, 2009;Osajima, 1988;Poon et al, 2015). Fifty years after the model minority stereotype first came to national prominence it continues to be used as a tool of White supremacy to justify the racial positioning and subjugation of Asian American, African American and Latinx (Armus, 2015) students and their communities.…”

“…A significant, but unintended, consequence of this line of scholarship is that Southeast Asian Americans have come to represent an exception to the model minority or a "failed" Asian American. As Poon and her colleagues argue, the focus on ethnically disaggregated data and the educational problems faced by some Southeast Asian American communities has contributed to the reproduction of deficit thinking and the reification of the model minority stereotype (Poon et al, 2015).…”

Complexities of Racial Identity Development for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) College Students

“…APIDAs are not absent from the racial landscape, however. The notion of Asian Americans as “model minorities,” for example, is a deliberate construction designed to maintain the oppression of Black and other communities of color (Poon et al., ). In addition, the framing of Desis/South Asians and Southeast Asians (men, in particular) as dangerous, delinquent, or threatening to national security (Chhuon, ; Iyer, ) further contributes to the racial marginalization of the APIDA population.…”