Keywords

Korean American students, identity, education, Bakhtin

Abstract

Korean American students experience invisibility and silence as their culture and presence remain outwardly invisible in the mainstream culture of US high schools. This is further exacerbated by the silent response of the dominant population of the school towards these issues. Yet, to an extent, Korean American students find a sense of comfort within that invisibility; less visibility allows more silence and thus more privacy. This qualitative in-depth interview study focuses on developing understandings of Korean American students’ perceptions and negotiations of education in suburban American schools, specifically through the perceptions of two Korean American female students. When viewed through Bakhtinian perspectives of silence, this invisibility becomes prominent, lending insight into the ways invisibility and silence are both seen as problematic and openly cultivated by these students.

Original Publication Citation

“A Silence That Wants to be Heard: Korean American Students in Dialogue with Invisibility.” Race, Ethnicity and Education 17.2 (2014): 1-22. (with Hye Young Park and Bob Fecho; first published online in 2013)

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2014

Publisher

Race, Ethnicity and Education

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

English

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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