EDI Dialogue and Learning – Unpacking the Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Assumption

How does the Model Minority Myth and Perpetual Foreigner Assumption play out in our classes, lab, and academic life?

This is a summary of the discussion facilitated by Dr. Amori Mikami – a Professor in UBC’s Department of Psychology and EDI Associate Head – and June Brown – the EDI Program Assistant of the Department of Psychology.

INTRODUCTION

Racism starts at the cultural level. It is deeply ingrained in it, leading to widespread beliefs and schemas in our society that then trickle down to influence institutional and personal levels of racism. Institutions that we interact with in our everyday lives such as higher education, the law, and the police, can all promote and perpetuate racism. This event will focus on the institutional context of higher education, academia, and UBC as it is relevant to us.

In settler, colonial societies like Canada, we are influenced by cultural and institutional racism. It is impossible to not be. Picture it this way, racism in our society is similar to the air we breathe – it is omnipresent, and weaved into the fabric of our way of life.

This is a nonjudgemental space, where we can honestly reflect on and simply engage in dialogue about how these factors play out in our lives.

MODEL MINORITY MYTH

We viewed the video below to introduce ourselves to the stories of different Asian Canadians and their opinions on the Model Minority Myth. You can also view the video here.

Dr. Mikami shared some reflections about the video and how she has seen the Model Minority Myth play out at UBC and in higher education. She highlighted some things she saw as the main points of the video and the key problems of this myth.

Increasing stigma and difficulty for Asian students to seek help, or for others to recognize when Asian students need help.
Discouraging Asian-Canadian members of the UBC community to challenge the establishment or call out structural racism or injustices in our own university or department.
Assuming that all Asians are the same and ignoring differences between ethnicities, life experiences, etc..
Disrupting solidarity between Asian-Canadians and other racialized and marginalized communities in Canada.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Reflect on this video, and how you see the Model Minority Myth play out in classrooms, labs, mentorship settings, and everyday interpersonal social interactions around campus amongst students, faculty, and staff.

PERPETUAL FOREIGNER ASSUMPTION

We viewed the video below to introduce ourselves to the Perpetual Foreigner Assumption. (Trigger and Content Warning: This video contains depictions of violence and racism which some viewers may prefer to not see.)

You can also view the video here.

June shared some reflections about this video and how she has observed the Perpetual Foreigner Assumption in her personal life, and in academic settings. She also shared her positive experience with taking the UBC course ACAM 300: Dis/Orienting Asian Canada which covers some of the topics in this discussion.

REFLECTION QUESTION: Reflect on the video, and how you see the Perpetual Foreigner Assumption play out in classrooms, labs, mentorship settings, and everyday interpersonal social interactions around campus amongst students, faculty, and staff.

LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you see similarities between your discussion of the Model Minority Myth and the Perpetual Foreigner Myth – in academia? What are you personally taking from this event/discussion into your work going forward?

Attendees shared some themes discussed in their groups and some personal reflections. Some themes related to understanding the issues faced by Asian students, and how the Myth and Assumption have contributed to these issues. Some attendees reflected on things in their outlook or behaviors that might be different going forward.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

Racism operates on a cultural, institutional, and individual level. Examples of cultural racism include the model minority and perpetual foreigner myths, which can impact institutions like UBC that we personally interact with on a day-to-day basis.
The Asian experience in Canada and at UBC is not a monolith. Asian folks in our community are diverse in language, culture, history, and experience.
Tropes like model minority and perpetual foreigner are harmful as they disrupt solidarity between the Asian community and other marginalized groups.
Institutions like UBC must provide more support resources for Asian folks in the community, particularly mental health resources.