How Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) Initiatives Respond to Institutional Racism

Abstract

In this study, authors conduct a qualitative inquiry grounded in a critical paradigm to understand how AANAPISI initiatives transcend their programmatic spaces to respond to racism within their respective institutional contexts. Analysis of 67 qualitative individual face-to-face interviews with faculty, administrators, and staff at five AANAPISI initiatives shed light on how these initiatives encounter institutional racism. The inquiry also details the ways in which such initiatives complicate data use practices and center Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices to challenge model minority misconceptions, work with educators to construct more culturally relevant environments to address the racial marginalization and exclusion of AAPIs, and educate people about AANAPISI initiatives to diffuse racialized forms of resistance to AANAPISI efforts. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.