Georgina Liu ASA 002 A03 Week 5

According to this week’s reading, it explains the power of Asian American when fighting the injustice in academia. Shannon Deloso, the author of the “Precariously Positioned,” wrote down how minority people, especially women, fight for the unreasonable slashed budget for College of Ethnic Studies in SFSU. At first, they chose to negotiate with school and have representation in public, hoping members of the administration will withdraw their decision. However, the administration continued to ignore their need. Minority people were forced to take drastic action: the hunger strike. They succeeded, and Deloso realized the power Asian American women had. Besides, according to “An Offering,” written by Cindy Nhi Huynh, it described the severe diseases faced by Huynh in graduate school and how she recovered day by day. She provided three pieces of advice for students to consistently progress in their academic endeavors while supporting and keeping them intact.

During the reading process, I noticed Deloso’s psychological changes. According to Deloso, “with these expectations and experiences, my life as Filipina American female has shaped the way I interact with others, and I became passive-aggressive and submissive.” Filipino girls should always respect their elderly males, and they live under patriarchy. But colleges taught her imperialism, sexism racism, and so on. From a shy girl to an activist student who can fight with the president for injustice, Deloso overgrew. Being submissive is not a unique culture in the Philippines. Most Asian women are under patriarchy like China, Japan, and South Korea. The traditional culture in Asian countries is that women need to take care of their families and listen to their husbands and fathers. Nowadays, in most Asian countries, racial discrimination and women's status in families are serious problems. Elders people in Asian countries always said that women should get married instead of researching in school. If women violate their fathers or husbands in families, they may face violence.

From my perspective, I appreciate that Deloso could represent Asian American women to fight for injustice in academia. Asian American women should catch their opportunities to be educated and fight for the outrage caused by hierarchy and patriarchy.  They need to break their stereotypes and disadvantaged statuses no matter in academia or daily life.

Question: Why the administration always ignore students’ appeals without drastic action?

Reference:

Deloso, S. (2019). Precariously Positioned: Asian American Women Students’ Negotiating Power in Academia. Fight the Tower. United States: Rutgers University Press

Wang, F. (2016). Agreement Reached in San Francisco Hunger Strike to Fund Ethnic Studies. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/agreement-reached-sfsu-hunger-strike-save-ethnic-studies-n572736