Problematizing Diversity Initiatives: Japanese American Youth Identities and the Politics of Representation With/In School Spaces

Abstract

This article reports on a case study that investigated how six Japanese American youth interpreted the effectiveness and relevance of extra-curricular diversity initiatives at their Midwestern middle and secondary public schools. These initiatives were intended to raise cultural awareness, but ultimately promoted cultural fetishism and racially derogatory understandings of “differences.” The findings suggest that the diversity-related extra-curricular initiatives produced a range of gendered, racialized, and sexualized stereotypes with/in school spaces that defined the participants and their peers of color in misleading and problematic ways. Recommendations call for more collaborative, critical, and integrated approaches to learning about “differences” with/in school spaces.