Chinese American College Students’ Self-Meaning Making Through the Lens of Critical Whiteness Studies

Abstract

Chinese Americans are historically perceived as perpetual foreigners and honorary whites in American political, cultural, and racial discourses. Utilizing Critical Whiteness Studies as a theoretical framework and Critical Race Hermeneutics as an analytic tool, this article examines how Chinese American young adults construct who they are against whiteness as the norm, the epistemology of ignorance, and white emotionality. Instead of passive victims, Chinese American college students actively challenge this hegemony, privilege, and oppression in unique ways.