Being Asian American in Southern Appalachia: Counternarratives of Race and Space in Higher Education

The experiences of Asians and Asian Americans in the South and Appalachia have been historically overshadowed by the imagined bifurcated Black/white racial landscape of the South and the imagined homogenous white racial landscape of Appalachia. Students were interviewed through a semi-structured and dialogic approach and engaged through photovoice submissions. By examining college students’ experiences through guiding questions of how the geographic contexts of the South and Appalachia and the spatial context of a predominantly white institution (PWI) affect their experiences and perceptions of racial and cultural identity development, as well as how being Asian American affects their daily life at their PWI, it illuminates how geography, regionality, and race affects students’ identity and daily lives. This paper responds to a call by Asian American scholars to investigate the racialized experiences of Asian Americans east of California, particularly those of college students.