An Asian American Perspective on Race, Gender, and Activism
By Tracy Zhu ('08), Mount Holyoke College

The purpose of this project is to create my intellectual memoir that explains the ideology, scholarship, and personal experiences that has informed my activism in college. My website documents and “maps” the ideological journey I take to achieve progressive activism. Through a gendered lens and an Asian American lens, I analyze the roles of white-dominated institution, students of color, and student activism, while developing my "critical consciousness" of identity and activism. I discuss how my social positioning as an Asian American in the United States has been complicated by the ideas of Orientalism, multiculturalism, colonialism, and the role of gender. In order to create effective forms of activism as a form of resistance, I critically engage with these ideas of oppression and transform them into a polycultural, panethnic, and redistributive vision. My goal is to develop a more critical understanding of colleges as a site of “cultural production” through which the educated elite are socialized, thus inspiring progressive student activism and other forms of resistance.

The basic outline of my website details the personal experiences that has shaped my critical analysis in developing a vision towards a more progressive academic institution, that is Mount Holyoke College. At any point in the site, you can click on the site map link in the navigation bar above to see a visual outline of this website. Click on red bolded words and phrases to read more on that topic. Red unbolded links will redirect you to pages outside of this website. Read more about the purpose of this website. ~ ~ ~ Begin with my personal experiences Continue on this journey on race, gender, and activism through an Asian American perspective. To provide some background, my intellectual memoir describes some of my childhood experiences. My college years have been critical in developing my sense of self and my ongoing questioning of an Asian American identity.