Mission-Centered Engagement with Asian American Student Veterans

Peter Nien-Chu Kiang,Shirley Suet-Ling Tang,Matthew M Seto

doi:10.21061/jvs.v4i2.95

Abstract

This article draws qualitatively on the experiences, reflections, and expressions of Asian American student veterans through Asian American Studies courses and activities the authors have led in the decade between 2006 and 2016, at an urban public research university that is federally designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution, and recognized annually among four-year universities as “best for vets.” Beginning with a brief introduction to Asian American military service historically and currently, we note the lack of research and resource materials available nationally that is informed by or responsive to the backgrounds, perspectives, and needs of Asian American student veterans in college. We then provide a synthesis of rich documentary evidence based on Asian American student veterans’ voices, to illustrate the value of Asian American Studies curricular strategies and pedagogical approaches, particularly through digital storytelling, that create integrative contexts for their holistic connections and contributions as Asian Americans, as veterans, and as university students. Beyond the classroom and campus, we also offer concrete examples of community-centered connections through Asian American Studies that enable Asian American student veterans to engage with public sites and local civic organizations that share significant legacies of Asian American veterans’ leadership and service across generations.

Highlights

In the blustery wake of the summer 2016 national Republican and Democratic party conventions, which nominated their respective candidates for president and foreshadowed dramatic nationalist shifts in the U.S political landscape, the life and loss of Pakistani American Army Captain Humayan Khan—posthumous recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart—briefly came into sharp focus for the country
By introducing distinctive voices of individual Asian American student veterans, and by documenting their connections to specific classroom, curriculum, campus, and community contexts that align with their backgrounds as both Asian Americans and Post-9/11 veterans, we are intently urging veterans studies-oriented researchers, teachers, program leaders, service providers, and advocates in higher education settings to recognize the Asian American veterans within their own domains of interest and to connect with them in meaningful, mission-centered ways. This is a relevant challenge for the veterans studies field to address because, as we briefly show below, so little Asian American content is available through existing educational research and policy reports, or online resources that have been developed or disseminated nationally in order to present faces, voices, experiences, and issues of current-generation student veterans
Themes of high school disengagement, family communication gaps, family histories with war, racism in the military, intentions to be in college, and processing of war experiences are clear in these examples, and may resonate for other Asian American and Pacific Islander student veterans as well

Summary

Introduction

In the blustery wake of the summer 2016 national Republican and Democratic party conventions, which nominated their respective candidates for president and foreshadowed dramatic nationalist shifts in the U.S political landscape, the life and loss of Pakistani American Army Captain Humayan Khan—posthumous recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart—briefly came into sharp focus for the country. Beyond service coordination, our case shows that Asian American Studies curricular and pedagogical engagements, can represent a uniquely powerful, mission-centered model of practice for Asian American and Pacific Islander student veterans within AANAPISIs and, perhaps, more broadly throughout higher education.

Results

Conclusion