The permeable and impermeable wall of expectations

Abstract

This chapter presents an autoethnography of a Chinese American woman's twenty‐five years of experience in higher education at universities in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Her career is discussed in four stages: master's teaching assistant and student, part‐time instructor, doctoral teaching assistant and student, and professor.

Moving racial discussion forward: A counterstory of racialized dynamics between an Asian-woman faculty and white preservice teachers in traditional rural America.

“…Professorial authority and subject-matter credibility. Narrative research (e.g., Fong, 2007;Ford, 2011;Han, 2011aHan, , 2012Lin et al, 2006;McLean, 2007;Muhtaseb, 2007;Vargas, 1999) has reported that students, faculty, and administrators have shown difficulty accepting WFOC as credible experts and scholars in their academic fields. When WFOC teach race, social justice, or multicultural education, White students resist course content as if WFOC brought with them political agendas rather than academic content and global education (Han, 2013;Perry et al, 2009;Vargas, 1999).…”

“…As such, WFOC perceive that White students expect the "normal," prototype professor (i.e., [fe]male from a mainstream background with Euro American cultural capital, standard English speech patterns, white skin, Euro American attire, and interactional demeanor) for their college experience (Han, 2011a(Han, , 2012Ford, 2011;Vargas, 1999). When their professors happen to be Asian women, their professorial authority is undermined and credibility questioned, White students tend to avoid the courses offered by WFOC (Fong, 2007;Ford, 2011), and they complain to senior or other White faculty and administrators about WFOC's poor teaching and accents (Han, 2011a(Han, , 2012.…”

“…Within higher education settings, a WFOC from an Asian background often is stereotyped as a middle-class, "small Asian woman" (Han, 2012) having "petite physical figures and youthful appearance" (Fong, 2007) or as "exotic or dragon ladies" (Hune, 2006). White students mock their professors' atypical appearance and "broken English," naming them "model minorities" (Ford, 2011;Han, 2011aHan, , 2012McLean, 2007).…”