Xinyang Xu A02 Week 10

At this time, after reading almost the whole book, I can feel deeply how these Asian American women in academia are eager for a revolution. This book is not only about fight against bully, but about rebel the whole corrupted system. As stated in Kieu Linh, Caroline Valverde, and Wei Ming Dariotis’s article, “Conclusion: Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke”, “We must use it to rebel against the social engineering, rebel not only against the bullies but against the systematized culture of bullying in academia.” They are so brave that they speak up loudly in the form of this book, even though they face huge mental stress. 

The authors also mentioned a concept, “being woke”. Because the system sometimes gives Asian American woman a false impression that they are just not good enough to get the tenure. But, when they being woke, they realize the truth of structural and institutional oppression. They are now fighting back using their most powerful tool, speaking aloud their own story through literature. After the book published, I believe more people would be woke and be brave to speak up when they face oppression. That is the power of speaking up.

Question: What people do after speaking up? Is there any actual change of the system?

Reference:

Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.