From “How are you doing?” to “Have you eaten?”: Understanding the daily lived experiences of Asians in America during the COVID-19 pandemic

Peggy Kong,Anuradha Sachdev,Xiaoran Yu,Xinwei Zhang,Nino Dzotsenidze

doi:10.18820/2519593x/pie.v39.i1.6

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of shelter-in-place orders for families, their homes simultaneously became a school, work and social activity space. The physical spaces available to families shrunk considerably. These series of events have quickly changed the daily lives of those living, residing and learning in the United States. We used the photovoice methodology to share the COVID-19 experiences of seven Asian families. We follow how Asian parents address their children’s educational needs as they adapt to the compression and expansion of the physical boundaries of their homes. We found that the family space became a multipurpose site, a place where multiple activities happened simultaneously to include school, workplace, social and extracurricular activities. The compression of space is an opportunity to examine how Asian parents are involved in their children’s schooling, outside of the school walls. We found that Asian parents are involved in their children’s schooling and hold a broader conception of education that is less focused on academic learning. Asian families adapt to the disruptions in daily life due to COVID-19 by strategically engaging resources and addressing the stress related to changes in their schooling environment.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyday life across the globe
Asians and Asian Americans perspectives are often overlooked and our study is based on an emic perspective to listen to how Asians in America are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that families adapted to the changing physical home and school community space by reimagining the family space where the boundaries between the home, school and community disappeared

Summary

Introduction

During this time, families, schools and communities, all witnessed change in their daily operations and lives. This study is aimed at giving voice to Asian families in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic to tell their own stories of the changes they have experienced in their homes, schools and communities. In the Chinese culture, “Have you eaten?” is equivalent to “How are you doing?” To highlight Asian voices, we draw on what anthropologists call the emic perspective of the participants, the insider’s perspective, instead of the etic perspective of the observer, the outsider’s perspective. Asians and Asian Americans perspectives are often overlooked and our study is based on an emic perspective to listen to how Asians in America are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion