Abstract

The dearth of research on Filipino/a/x American (FilAm) community college students perpetuates the narrative that they are regarded as “invisible,” receiving limited academic and social support. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) has exacerbated the already distressing academic and racialized experiences of FilAm students. In this qualitative study, ten FilAm students who attended a rural community college in the Western United States participated in an online photovoice project which visualized their personal reflections and specific academic needs through digital photos and written narratives. Findings from this study indicated that there were hidden factors besides a racialized campus climate which notably affected their community college experiences.

 

Purpose

            The purpose of this study was to examine FilAm community college student responses to racialized trauma and what systems of institutional support were needed to be implemented at their community college campus to validate their identities and affirm their experiences in a COVID-era. FilAm community college students is an under-researched and under-represented minority (Hernandez, 2016). Tumale (2016) urged that the educational trajectories of FilAm community college students are adversely affected by racial ideologies perpetuated at the interpersonal level and the racialization of education affects identity development in terms of identity dissonance, community cultural wealth, and deficit frameworks. Additionally, the “invisibility of Filipino Americans in the educational curriculum influences how these students construct knowledge” (Andresen, 2013, p. 70).This study set the stage for community college institutions to consider what cultural, academic or mental health resources could be provided for FilAm students in a COVID-era.
 

Theoretical Framework

Education scholars developed Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework that interrogated the ways in which White supremacy shaped the experiences of People of Color as it challenged the dominant discourse on race and racism in education by examining how educational theory, policy, and practice have been used to subordinate certain racial and ethnic groups (Solórzano, 1998).  Racism in the American education system is manifested in different ways and has the ability to create a disconnect between institutions of power and access to educational success for Students of Color  (Bonilla-Silva, 2015, p. 1360).

The stereotype that all AAPI are seen as high-achieving individuals masks the significant racial, social and economic disparities that exist within this ethnically diverse community (Museus et al., 2021). The proliferation of ongoing discrimination of all racial, ethnic, and marginalized groups during the COVID-19 pandemic is representative of a more insidious form of societal sickness (Litam, 2020 p. 151). Additionally, Bonus and Maramba (2013) assert that FilAm students experience many life challenges that are often unrecognized or become silenced to educational research.

Thus, education scholars have relied on the CRT tradition of counterstory to contextualize the educational experiences of underrepresented AAPI (Buenavista et al., 2009). In response to the institutional dynamics of racism in education, Solórzano (1998) proposed five tenets of CRT which include: (a) the centrality and intersectionality of race and racism, (b) the existence and need to challenge dominant ideology, (c) the role of social justice in using such a framework, (d) the necessity and validity of using the experiential knowledge of People of Color, and (e) the utility of interdisciplinary perspectives t holistically understand the experiences of Students of Color within historical and contemporary contexts.

Ocampo (2016) illustrates that FilAm racial identity for college students is fluid because it is determined by their social and institutional context. Also, identity-based claims by students in higher education related to their race and/or ethnicity have critical implications for the formation of their social identities in educational settings (Johnston-Guerrero & Pizzolato, 2016).  Additionally, Teranishi (2002) argued that racial climates in schools is determined by acknowledging that students learn in distinct racial contexts. Buenavista (2010) further posited that using a CRT approach is critical in understanding and centralizing the voices of FilAm students in educational research as it moves away from the Model Minority Myth into discourse surrounding family dynamics, culturally-affirming educational experiences and the sociohistorical context of FilAm students.

 This study adds to the CRT literature by examining how community college FilAm students navigate their racial identities and academic resilience within the sociohistorical context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, two research questions were posed:

 

1. How have FilAm community college students been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?

2. What systems of support can community colleges create to help FilAm community college students during a COVID-era?

 

Methodology

The research for this study was conducted using a photovoice methodology where the participants were co-constructors of knowledge to help influence social change through visualizing intangible concepts by means of photography. This process is accompanied by a narrative, caption or story to give more context and meaning to the photographs. Photovoice works in concert with the Critical Race Theory (CRT) tenant of creating counterstories to elevate minority voices, experiences and realities in challenging traditional narratives of minoritized populations. Photovoice has three anticipated outcomes: (a) action and advocacy to affect policy change (b) increased understandings of community needs and assets; and (c) individual empowerment (Latz, 2017, p. 43).

 

Data Sources: Participants, Procedure and Data Analysis

Participants: This photovoice project featured original photos and written narratives by ten self-identifying first and second-generation FilAm community college students who attended a rural community college in The Western United States. Prospective participants were selected based on their responses from a recruitment email describing the study sent from their institution’s office of student engagement. I then secured informed consent from all participating students.

Procedure: This study was conducted as a two-week online self-paced asynchronous online photovoice project. I collected data in the form of digital photos taken by the participants and their written narratives describing the photos the first week. This project asked participants to submit photos of their own experiences in their daily lives. Participant responses were collected on the Google Forms sheet which also included the photos they uploaded from their smart devices. In the second week, I collected written reflections on their experience participating in this project. Four emergent themes resulted from the open coding phase: family dynamics, impact of culture, systems of support and space.