Interrogating (Proximity to) Whiteness: Asian(American) Women in Autoethnographic Sister Circles

Abstract

Against the backdrop of historical and present-day anti-Asian racism, we remember, retell, and reflect on the formative experiences in the development of our critical perspectives on our racialization as Asian(American) women. In this article, we theoretically lean into Asian Critical Theory and proximity to whiteness. Methodologically, we use Autoethnographic Sister Circles to engage in a continual discursive process of individual and collaborative (counter)storytelling. We present our “findings” in the form of a dialogic spiral that embodies the messy conversations, spirit, wisdom, and care present in our sister circles. Through our work, we call on institutions and spaces of power to make a concerted effort in establishing dialogic spaces, physically and virtually, for individuals with marginalized identities. We also invite other Women of Color scholars to be in community and conversation with us through doing autoethnographic research that is authentic to them using various modal, cultural, linguistic, and land/location/time-specific methods/methodologies.