Invisibility, Hyper-visibility, and the Model Minority Stereotype: Hmong Americans Working Within and Around Racial Discourses


 Asian American Studies     Dec 13 2016 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Education 2001

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Invisibility, Hyper-visibility, and the Model Minority Stereotype: Hmong
Americans Working Within and Around Racial Discourses

Guest Lecture by Stacey J. Lee
Professor of Educational Policy Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education 
Tuesday, December 13th, 2016
12:00 – 1:00pm, Education 2001

Abstract: Whether framed as model minorities or used as evidence that not all Asian Americans
are successful, Hmong Americans and other Southeast Asians are constrained by the model
minority stereotype. As a disciplinary tool, the model minority stereotype controls Asian
American experiences and identities. This talk explores the complex and diverse ways that
Hmong Americans in a community in Wisconsin are making sense of and responding to the
model minority stereotype and the racial positioning of the Hmong American youth. Data 􀅝􀆐
drawn from an on-going ethnographic study of Hmong American youth in schools and in out-ofschool
spaces in a community marked by significant racial disparities in school achievement.

Bio: Stacey J. Lee is a professor in the Department of Educational Policies and a
faculty affiliate in the Asian American Studies Program at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Her research explores the role of schools in the
incorporation of immigrant youth into the US. She is the author of Unraveling the
Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth and Up Against
Whiteness: Race, Schools, and Immigrant Youth, both published by Teachers
College Press.