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by Betina Hsieh (Editor), Roland Sintos Coloma (Editor), Kevin Kumashiro (Foreword by)
2026 SPE Outstanding Book Award Honorable Mention
Moments & Movements: Counterstories for Critical Asian American+ Studies in Education is a collection of counterstories born from community and shared commitments to challenge the ways diverse diasporas and experiences of people from the Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean are largely made invisible, silenced, and erased. By defying reductionist narratives, the collection highlights stories built upon generations of struggle, resistance, advocacy, and joy, that impart wisdom for the current moment and for Asian American+ movements in the future, particularly movements based in education. The book's topics, located at the nexus of multiple and interconnected fields, such as education, race/ethnic studies, policy and community studies, have broad appeal to a cross-section of university academics; P-12 teachers and leaders; and community educators and activists. Using the framing of Critical Asian American+ Studies, the chapters in this volume emphasize criticality as central to the work of educators committed to more just futures. The plus (+) symbol in "Asian American+" highlights the volume's efforts at diverse inclusion and openness to various groups under a broad umbrella geographic category, including voices of various Pasifika, Arab and Middle Eastern communities, without eliding their distinct histories, cultures, politics, and experiences or erasing the tensions within and across the broader category of Asian American studies. The book is organized thematically into four sections that reflect key moments in an ongoing movement. This organization acknowledges that readers may be at different points in their journeys towards developing more critical perspectives or knowledge of Asian American, Arab/Middle Eastern American, and Pasifika peoples' experiences in education. The first section, "The Moment We Begin", focuses on foundational beginnings, telling stories of how the authors made important first steps in creating the change they wished to see in their educational spheres. The second section, "Building an Inclusive Movement", examines how educators sustain and deepen their work within and outside of classrooms. The third section, "Extending the Movement", then looks at Critical Asian American+ Studies outside of classrooms and schools by attending to educational leadership, families and teacher identities, policy arenas, and educational, cultural, and community activism. Finally, in the fourth section, "Envisioning New Worlds", chapters attend to what justice-focused, future-oriented movements might look like for Critical Asian American+ Studies. All too often, critical community-grounded work can feel daunting. This collection pushes beyond prescribed borders that separate our communities and separate us into our own educational spheres (e.g. P-12, higher education, teacher education) and roles (professor, teacher, principal, student). As one of the few edited collections with such diverse perspectives, this collection provides multiple paths forward in Asian American, Arab/Middle Eastern American, and Pasifika Studies, inspires with its counterstories of struggle and success, and challenges readers to consider their own next steps. Perfect for courses such as: Asian Americans in Education; Critical Studies in Education; Multicultural Education/Sociocultural Foundations in Education; Ethnic Studies/Asian American Studies; Social Justice in Education; Critical Pedagogy and Education; Urban Education; Race, Ethnicity, and Education; Introduction to Education; School and SocietyAuthor Biography
Betina Hsieh (she/her) is the Boeing Endowed Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Washington (Seattle). Dr. Hsieh, a proud second generation Asian American MotherScholar and former urban middle school teacher, has published widely in peer reviewed journals and presented over 40 research papers on issues related to teaching, teacher education, teacher professional identity, teachers of color, and Asian American educators. Recent peer-reviewed publications include articles in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education; English Teaching: Practice and Critique; Literacy Research and Instruction; Journal of Diversity in Higher Education; the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; the Peabody Journal of Education; and the Journal of Teacher Education. Dr. Hsieh's work focuses on how who people are shapes what they do (and the choices they make) as educators. She believes in the importance of educational research that is accessible to teacher education practitioners, K-12 educators, community members and families in addition to impacting the field itself. To that end, she has published in K-12 focused journals and magazines like Educational Leadership; the English Journal; and Voices from the Middle, as well as being cited in the Atlantic. Additionally, she has given a TEDx talk, Learning from One Another: Lessons in (Educational) Excellence and appeared as a guest on multiple educational podcasts including the Black Gaze podcast and All of the Above. Her previous book, The Racialized Experiences of Asian American Teachers, co-authored with Dr. Jung Kim, is the first comprehensive research monograph focused on the experiences of Asian American teachers using the tenets of Asian Critical Race Theory.
