University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

(In)visiblity in numbers: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander college students and their perspectives on Asian American Pacific Islander culture centers

(USC Thesis Other)

(In)visiblity in numbers: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander college students and their perspectives on Asian American Pacific Islander culture centers

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content Running head: NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 1

(IN)VISIBILITY IN NUMBERS: NATIVE HAWAIIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER
COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THEIR PERSPECTIVES ON ASIAN AMERICAN
PACIFIC ISLANDER CULTURE CENTERS

by
John Bacolores

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2019

Copyright 2019 John Bacolores

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 2

DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to the real Sasha, Alex, Shea, Ryan, James, and Pete. Thank
you all for giving me the opportunity to share your voices and knowledge about your experience
as being Pacific Islander/Pasifika that is truly and uniquely you. Especially for Sasha, this
dissertation and doctorate is also for yours to share as well, mahal na mahal kita. Had it not been
for any of you, I would have never had your collection of stories to complete this. Thank you so
much | Fa'afetai tele lava | mahalo nui loa | Dångkulu na si Yu’us ma’åse’ | Mālō 'aupito

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my dissertation
chair, Dr. Briana Hinga. As a first-generation, queer Pilipinx, it is affirming to know that there
are faculty such as you who recognize your privilege and are cognizant of taking up space in
conversation. I sincerely appreciate your patience, support, and guidance as I navigate this
process with my passion and drive. I must also thank my two committee members, Dr. Tracy
Tambascia and Dr. Michael Lanford, for providing their necessary support and perspectives.
The completion of my dissertation would not have been possible without the support and
knowledge of Sasha. Ever since we met at that API event, I knew that we were destined to be
lifelong friends. Your knowledge and love for the NHPI/Pasifika community has emboldened me
to advocate for you all. Cisa’s right, you and Alex were definitely meant for each other.
I'm deeply indebted to the support and love of the Trojans I’ve met. In the Ed.D. 2016
cohort, they are Erica C., Erica S., Tracy, Jesse, Quartney, Keyon, Natasha, Randee, and the rest
of the Hinga 14. I must also thank the following: LGBTRC including: Kelby, Michael, Adri,
Gabe, Andrew, Angel, and Jose Ricardo; Sweet Nectar Crew including: Xavier, Charlie, Roxy,
Susana, Isabel, Marilyn, Alexis, Cairo, Laura; USC Price including, but not limited to: Adrian,
Mundy, Miguel, Ryan, Hannah; and close friends Mark and Karina. Thanks to you all, I now
know what the Trojan family means.
I’m truly blessed to be a member of the Chapman community. I’d like to sincerely thank:
Erzsi, Zac, Robin, Michelle, Lana, Dominic, Michelle, Sarah, Quaylan, Michael, Hilary, Kelly,
LaNesha, Cisa, Emma, Jon, Erica, Erin, Elisa, and Heidi. Go Panthers!
I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to my “Grad Lounge” friends and
former colleagues at CPP: Adrian, Emily, Diana, and Celeste (shout out to Lara!). I cannot wait
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 4

until we all will be the movers and shakers in higher education, as both lifelong professional
colleagues and friends.
I’m also eternally grateful to Brian, Jeremy, Josh, Justine, Mona, Eugene, Marie, MJ,
Jacqui, Maddy, Sherelle, Marie, Laurice, Patty, Cesar, and the rest of my lovely Cal Pilipinx
20X. I’ll always bleed Blue and Gold. Go Bears!
I have so much love for my inspiring friends especially: Ally, Mirielle, and Joy. I’d also
like to thank Monica, Crystal, Sheila, Kenneth, Dan, and Esther as well.
I’m extremely grateful to the support of my family. For my Mom, I will never forget the
story of you telling me that I wanted to become “Dr. John Bacolores” when I was a kid. My
doctorate is as much yours as it is mine. For my siblings Jenn and Jun, thank you for keeping the
Munich, Germany, and New York City branches of Bacolores International, LLC thriving,
respectively. You will both be glad to know I will not be pursuing another degree, but maybe a
certificate? To the Bacolores, Villon, and Paino clans, I’m truly honored to be the first person in
our families who have a doctorate. Thank you for your support and understanding, I love you
all.
Finally, I’d like to express my thanks and love to my partner, Steven English: my yoga
buddy, Pokémon partner, ramen aficionado, and of course, cat daddy. Thank you for spending
those numerous weekends with me at Starbucks to keep me accountable. Most especially, thank
you for teaching me how to swim and feeding me Trader Joe’s Mango Sorbet in between breaks.
When I joke that we’re the future “Doctor and nurse” couple, know it’s because I’m walking into
the world dissertation first, with you by my side. I love you babe.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication 2
Acknowledgements 3
Abstract 7
Chapter One: Overview of the Study 8
Background of the Problem 9
NHPI at California’s Public Institutions of Higher Education 10
NHPI at University of Hawai’i and Private Non-Profit Universities 12
Statement of the Problem 14
Purpose of the Study 15
Research Questions 15
Overview of the Methodology 16
Significance of the Study 16
Definition of Terms 17
Organization of the Study 18
Chapter Two: Literature Review 20
Historical Framing of Topic 20
Theory: Tribal Critical Race (TribalCrit) Theory 22
Theory of Change 27
AAPI/API/APA Terms Group NHPI and AA College Students Together 28
NHPI Family Genealogy and Identity 30
Christianity and Colonization of NHPI Countries 35
NHPI Students’ Needs in Education 41
Psychological and Biological Impacts of Implicit Bias and Stereotypes of NHPI 43
Cultural Centers as Inclusive Learning and Living Spaces 47
Sense of Belonging in Higher Education 50
Conceptual Framework 52
Figure 1. Conceptual and theoretical framework. 54
Summary 54
Chapter Three: Methods 56
Methodology 56
Research Questions 58
Setting(s) 59
Participants 59
Data Collection and Instrument/Protocols 61
Interviews 62
Data Analysis 63
Limitations and Delimitations 65
Positionality 67
Credibility and Trustworthiness 71
Ethics 71
Chapter Four: Findings 73
Theoretical Framework and Research Question 73
Presentation of the Findings 74
Participant Sketches 75
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 6

Pacific Islander Ethnic Identity Development 79
AAPI/API/APA Terminology Renders PI Invisible 100
Ideal PI Spaces and Relationships With AAPI/API/APA Culture Center 110
Summary 122
Chapter Five: Discussion 124
Discussion of Findings 124
Research Sub-Question One 124
Research Sub-Question Two 126
Research Sub-Question Three 128
Implications for Practice 130
Future Research 132
Conclusion 134
References 136
Appendix: Interview Protocol and Interview Questions 157

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 7

ABSTRACT
This collection of stories applies Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) from the Critical Race
Theory literature to hear from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students
about their individual perspectives on the inclusivity of Asian American (and) Pacific Islander
(AAPI) culture centers (CC). Through the lens of TribalCrit, the purpose of this research was to
understand their opinions behind the terms AAPI/API/APA and the relationship between NHPI
student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA CC. Using testimonios, a qualitative research
method where students shared their experiences, six NHPI college students in Southern
California were interviewed, audio recorded with permission, and then had their interviews
transcribed. Then, students’ responses were analyzed via the Constant Comparative Method to
identify themes, which were eventually grouped into key topics. Findings from this study
mentioned how NHPI recognized differences in being multiethnic vs. having both parents
identify as NHPI, how the terms AAPI/API/APA make NHPI college students feel invisible, and
that there should be a relationship between AAPI/API/APA CC and NHPI student-led
organizations that focuses on advocacy and leadership. This study highlighted a significant focus
on NHPI in AAPI/API/APA spaces, especially in calling upon leaders, students, and members of
AAPI/API/APA organizations to use and effectively implement disaggregated data to be
intentional and cognizant of how they were being inclusive toward the NHPI community. By
doing so, NHPI can be included in discussions surrounding the challenges and successes of
education and let their voices be heard.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 8

CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
In higher education, ethnic culture centers provide solace for non-White college students
to embrace and develop their ethnic, cultural, and student identity (Liu, Cuyjet, & Lee, 2010;
Lozano, 2010; Patton, 2010; Shotton, Yellowfish, & Cintrón, 2010). Within Asian American and
Pacific Islander culture centers, students can speak their home languages, converse with students
who share their cultural upbringings, or simply study or relax with peers (Liu et al., 2010). The
history of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Asian Pacific Islander (API), and
Asian Pacific American (APA) culture centers began with the creation of ethnic culture centers.
Initially, culture centers came from the effort of African American, Native American, and
Chicanx/Latinx students who formed the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) at San Francisco
State University in 1968 and UC Berkeley in 1969 (Pak, 1995; Spickard, 2007). Simultaneously,
Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans, as well as smaller coalitions
of other Asian ethnic subgroups, were inspired by other non-White college students and joined
under the AA identity (Pak, 1995; Spickard, 2007). Over 30 years later, API was first coined by
a directive from the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB, 1997) to
split two categories, Asian and Native Hawaiian (NH)/Other PI, in the 2000 census.
Over time, AAPI/API/APA culture centers particularly emphasized AA while Native
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities became invisible (Camacho, 2011; Wright &
Spickard, 2002). In higher education, the collective AAPI/API/APA identity is an academically
successful ethnic group with high enrollment, retention, and graduation rates (Empowering
Pacific Islander Communities [EPIC] & Asian Americans Advancing Justice [AAAJ], 2014;
Wright & Spickard, 2002). Yet, disaggregating data by ethnic subgroups revealed AA are
excelling while their PI peers are not (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014; Wright & Spickard, 2002).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 9

This chapter provides background on PI in the U.S., PI and AA in higher education,
AAPI/API/APA culture centers, and PI college students. Next, the research problem and specific
research question and sub-questions guiding this study are detailed. Then, the significance of the
study is presented alongside potential implications on the perception of PI college students, both
in higher education and in society. Afterwards, a brief overview of the methodology is described,
and the researcher’s intentions are presented. The chapter concludes with definitions of key
terms used in the study.
Background of the Problem
This section explains the history and complexity of the terms NH and PI and the federal
mandates meant to highlight these communities. Next, the section presents the extent to which
California public universities, the University of Hawai’i system, and private non-profit colleges
and universities disaggregate enrollment, persistence, and graduation data. Finally, this section
examines AA and NHPI data disaggregation related to including AAPI/API/APA in both
communities.
The term NH describes people who were born in Hawai’i and are of native Hawaiian
ancestry while PI describes people who have family origins in Micronesia, Polynesia, and
Melanesia (Kauanui, 2008). Per the 2010 census, there were 1,225,195 monoethnic and
multiracial/multiethnic NHPI living in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014a). Among
the PI population, the six largest ethnic subgroups were: Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan,
Guamanian or Chamorro, Marshallese, and Fijian (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). The U.S. Census
Bureau (2018) estimated that in 2017, the NHPI population in the United States would be
1,532,027 and five ethnic groups contributed the largest numbers: Native Hawaiian, Samoan,
Guamanian or Chamorro, Fijian, and Tongan. The increase of PI migrating to the U.S. led to
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 10

higher rates of interracial marriages, and 56% of NHPI people identify as multiracial (EPIC &
AAAJ, 2014). In 2010, the two largest concentrations of NHPI in the United States were in
Hawai’i and California (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014b). At the federal government level, NHPI are
disaggregated from AA. This is the result of efforts to encourage federal mandates that make
NHPI more visible.
There have been directives to recognize the NHPI community. Federal agencies are
mandated to disaggregate NHPI data under the Office of Management and Budget’s Directive
No. 15 (OMB 15), while California’s state agencies must follow California Government Code
sections 8310.5 and 8310.7 (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). This has been useful in federal and state
institutions that disaggregate data recognizing the NHPI community. Yet, some higher education
institutions still group AA and NHPI communities together.
NHPI at California’s Public Institutions of Higher Education
As NHPI communities make up a small portion of California’s population, they are
disproportionately represented at institutions of higher education compared to their AA
counterparts. The University of California (UC) is the state’s primary academic research
institution (UC, 2019). The university disaggregated enrollment, retention, and graduation data,
and found 2,120 undergraduate and graduate NHPI students were enrolled for the Fall 2018
quarter/semester (UC, 2018). Among them were 764 Native Hawaiians, 609 Other PI, 334
Guamanian/Chamorros, 215 Fijians, 227 Samoans, 391 Hawaiian/Other PI, and 82 Tongans
(UC, 2018). Also, 1,403 of them were continuing students while 717 were new students (UC,
2018). In the 2017–2018 academic year, 387 earned bachelor’s degrees, 38 earned master’s
degrees, and 24 earned doctorate or terminal professional degrees (UC, 2018). Disaggregating
NHPI data is key as it is important to note that 31,504 AA students collectively received
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 11

bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate/professional degrees (UC, 2018). The UC deliberately
disaggregates AA and NHPI to make NHPI, who form 0.6% of UC graduates, more visible (UC,
2018).
The California State University (CSU) disaggregates AA and NHPI students to include
student persistence data. There are fewer NHPI college graduates from the CSU than the UC. In
Fall 2018, AA and PI data were disaggregated using the overall AA and PI terms: 1,378 PI
undergraduate and graduate students enrolled for the 2017–2018 academic year (CSU, 2018a).
Of those 1,378, 193 were first-time freshmen. In contrast to the UC, there is adequate data on PI
student persistence after one or two years. At the end of their first year, 154 enrolled for the Fall
2018 semester (CSU, 2018a). In that same term, 277 undergraduate and 40 graduate PI students
received degrees from the CSU (CSU, 2018b). In comparison to the UC, 13,258 AA received
bachelor’s degrees while 2,157 earned graduate degrees (CSU, 2018b). At 0.3%, NHPI CSU
graduates form a small community (CSU, 2018b). The largest enrollment of NHPI college
students are at California community colleges (CCC), almost five times the population at the UC.
The CCC provide transfer opportunities to 4-year universities and colleges, career
technical education, adult basic education, and noncredit enrichment courses for their community
(California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office [CCCCO], 2017). According to CCCCO
(2017), 9,505 NHPI students matriculated to a CCC during the 2016–2017 academic year. Of
those, only 979 enrolled in the next three consecutive academic terms and either completed a
certificate, received a degree, or transferred to a 4-year degree-granting institution within six
years of initial enrollment (CCCCO, 2017). On the other hand, 18,755 of AA peers completed
and/or graduated from the CCC (CCCCO, 2017). NHPI CCC students who complete any of the
three outcomes could enroll at the UC, CSU, or another institution to earn a bachelor’s degree.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 12

Across California public institutions of higher education, NHPI student success does not equal
that of their AA peers.
NHPI at University of Hawai’i and Private Non-Profit Universities
The University of Hawai’i (UH) mirrors the needs and representation of its NHPI
population in ethnic data collection. The UH offers an accessible and quality education with a
specific responsibility to support NH (UH, 2019c). The UH system has three 4-year universities
and seven community college (UH, 2019c). In the Spring 2019 semester, there were 4,722 NHPI
college students across the 4-year campuses and 7,234 community college students (UH, 2019b).
Of these 11,956 NHPI students, there were 105 Guamanian/Chamorros, 10,908 Native
Hawaiians, 321 Micronesians, 134 Mixed PI, 102 PI, 307 Samoans, and 79 Tongans (UH,
2019b). At the main campus at Mānoa, there were 6,822 AA students (UH, 2019b). For the
2017–2018 academic year, there were 11,215 degrees awarded (UH, 2019c). While UH does
disaggregate data, it did not disaggregate graduation and retention data across ethnicity/races.
Yet, it is important to note there are more NHPI enrolled in the UH system than at all three
California systems combined, even though California has a larger population of NHPI.
At private, nonprofit institutions of higher education across the United States, NHPI
students followed a smaller population trend as their peers who attended public institutions. In
Fall 2017, there were 10,297 PI undergraduate and graduate students while there were 258,337
AA undergraduate and graduate students (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Of those
10,297, there were 7,023 PI undergraduate students with 1,671 earning a degree at bachelor’s
level-only institutions, 3,930 at master’s degree-granting institutions, and 1,422 at
doctorate/professional degree-granting institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). At the
post-baccalaureate level, there were 2,662 PI graduate students of whom 63 earned degrees at
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 13

bachelor’s level-only institutions, 1,210 at master’s degree-granting institutions, and 927 at
doctorate/professional degree-granting institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). For
students who enrolled for the 2011–2012 academic year, 38.6% graduated from private,
nonprofit institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). In contrast to the UC and the UH,
the U.S. Department of Education did not disaggregate data for NHPI ethnic subgroups. Yet, the
higher percentage of NHPI graduates allude to the potential appeal of NHPI attending a private,
non-profit institution.
Disaggregating data can allow the NHPI community to be visible at their institutions
(EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). It can allow for conversations regarding equity and access, leading to
advocating for programming and resources for them to succeed in higher education (EPIC &
AAAJ, 2014). There are culture centers on campus to mobilize non-White college students in
their community and academic centers to promote their academic success and boost their
persistence and graduation (Patton, 2010). Even with these clearly defined differences in
enrollment, persistence, and graduation, NHPI students are grouped with AA through the
collective terms AAPI, API, and APA (Wright & Spickard, 2002). The practice of
disaggregating NHPI and AA data is inconsistent across public and private institutions.
Most 4-year universities and colleges do not have NHPI-specific cultural centers. Ethnic
culture centers allow students of color to see the college or university environment as a culturally
responsive space (Patton, 2010). The multiple uses of cultural centers include promoting cultural
ethnic studies and building collaboration among students, staff, and faculty (Liu et al., 2010). If
campuses do have these centers, they are usually housed together as AAPI/API/APA student
centers (Kauanui, 2008). Given the cultural and academic differences, AAPI/API/APA culture
centers should encourage the disaggregation of NHPI and AA data to provide resources and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 14

programming to ensure the success of NHPI students, especially if their name and mission
supports those communities.
Statement of the Problem
Even with the varying levels of data disaggregation to recognize NHPI college students at
their universities, they feel invisible and excluded at AAPI/API/APA culture centers as they are
grouped with resources and programming geared toward AA (Kauanui, 2008); Uehara, Chugen,
& Raatior, 2018). AAPI/API/APA culture center programming is focused specifically on the
issues and needs of AA communities (Liu et al., 2010). While some of these issues and needs
resonate with NHPI college students, their programming is still AA-focused. Since 1969, there
are 30 nationwide AA culture centers at 4-year institutions, with the most recent one established
in 2006 (Liu et al., 2010). Out of those 30, 10 are identified as having AAPI/API/APA in their
name (Liu et al., 2010). The gradual changes in data disaggregation call into question advocacy
for NHPI students.
While institutions of higher education group these two communities together, their
experiences are not identical in terms of culture, experience, or education (Kukahiko, 2017;
Saelua, Wright, Kukahiko, Thornton, & Aina, 2016; Wright & Spickard, 2002). In education,
AA are negatively affected by the model minority myth, which suggests AA are more successful
than other ethnic minorities because of their parents’ emphasis on diligence and academic
achievement (Lee et al., 2009; Yoo, Miller, & Yip, 2015). The myth implies other racial
minorities can be as successful while undermining racial inequalities among other Asian ethnic
subgroups. However, PI students do not relate to this narrative, even though they are consistently
grouped with AA (Aina, Thornton, Riesch, Saelua, & Folau, 2019; Labrador & Wright, 2011;
Wright & Spickard, 2002).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 15

In higher education, some NHPI college students feel invisible, which may account for
the lack of appropriate resources and representation to help them thrive (Diaz, 2004).
Collectively, AA and PI communities show high retention and graduation rates (EPIC & AAAJ,
2014). Yet, disaggregated data tell a different story. At AAPI/API/APA culture centers, there is
more attention on AAPI/API/APA and less on NHPI. To better serve NHPI students, their stories
and perspectives of these culture centers could also be included, as they are specifically
mentioned in the names of these centers.
Purpose of the Study
This dissertation sought individual NHPI college students’ perspectives on
AAPI/API/APA culture centers and how inclusive these are of their communities. Their
responses may foster critical conversation about the intention and degree of inclusivity of the
term AAPI in highlighting NHPI students. Specifically, participants discussed and
conceptualized how culture centers can be important spaces for inclusion, the specific needs
which should be centered, and how language matters in inclusivity. In these conversations, these
participants communicated how the AAPI collective identity shapes their perspectives and
presence in higher education.
Research Questions
One central research question and three sub-questions guided this study:
1. How is inclusivity enacted in the AAPI/APA/API cultural centers, from the perspective
of NHPI college students?
a. What experiences/people influenced and shaped their NHPI ethnic identity?
b. What are their reactions to and opinions of the terms AAPI/API/APA?
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 16

c. What is the relationship between NHPI student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA
culture centers?
Overview of the Methodology
This collection of stories consisted of testimonios, a research strategy consisting of
interviews which serve to verbalize participants’ experiences (Huber, 2010). Stories came from
six NHPI participants graduated from, or attended for a time, universities in California.
Participants answered questions regarding demographics and connection with the NHPI
community, including semesters attended; genealogy; family’s country of origin; education;
religion; culture; ethnic identity development; opinions about the terms AAPI, API, and APA;
perspectives of inclusion of AAPI/API/APA culture centers; and prospective/aspirational
relationships with those centers. Questions allowed participants to define and expand on their
Indigenous identity by creating an inclusive space using inclusive language.
Significance of the Study
This dissertation is unique in that it specifically examined NHPI students’ reflections on
collective AAPI/API/APA terminology in the context of culture centers. While quantitative
research is key for institutions to provide knowledge of effectiveness, these participants students
and their communities shared knowledge via narratives (Brayboy, 2005; Smith, 2012). This
dissertation sought insight into their individual perspectives and the inclusivity AAPI/API/APA
culture centers promote on their campuses.
In Indigenous communities, knowledge is passed down from elders and ancestors through
stories about survival and resistance (Brayboy, 2005; Hau’ofa, 1998; Smith, 2012). As a
counterargument to published quantitative data, qualitative data can come from participants’
stories (Creswell, 2014; Smith, 2012; Suaalii-Sauni & Fulu-Aiolupotea, 2014; Tunufa'i, 2016).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 17

Communities of color must be included to speak of their experiences (McGrath, 2002; Perez,
2002; Vakalahi, 2009). While their numbers are small, they are visible, and they matter.
Since NHPI students are invisible at their institution, their peers have made assumptions
and speculations about them (Perez, 2002; Kukahiko, 2017; Vakalahi, 2009). Many students,
staff, and faculty—might not include them in research or literature because they could be
considered numerically insignificant (Perez, 2002; Uehara et al., 2018; Vakalahi, 2009). Yet, this
perspective is misguided. For NHPI students, their family origins are connected by the Pacific
Ocean (Benham, 2006; Hau’ofa, 1998; Saelua, Ribera, Brckalorenz, & Museus, 2017). While
their community sizes are small, their oral history and wealth of knowledge is vast (Benham,
2006; Hau’ofa, 1998). Even in some qualitative researchers did not factor in social, cultural, and
historical contexts or how their positionality impacted their research (Tuck, 2009). For this
dissertation, I built rapport and received feedback from my cultural advisor to ensure I
represented the participants and their community well. Much of this relates to recognizing my
privilege as an AA.
Definition of Terms
People of color/non-White: non-White individuals who are historically disadvantaged in
relation to White people, usually discriminated based on skin tone, native tongue, culture (Tuck,
2009)
Indigenous communities: non-White people who self-identify by mentioning
geographical, political, and genealogical markers, also had their native lands colonized by
developed countries and are no longer the majority, and where Western researchers and
government officials define their identity using blood quantum (Minthorn & Shotton, 2018;
Wright & Balutski, 2015)
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 18

Asian American (AA): people of color who have family/cultural origins from countries in
Asia. Although the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and the Aleutian Islands are
considered to be islands in the Pacific Ocean, they are specifically noted as Asian versus NHPI
(Moniz, 2012)
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI): became a term coined by the French to
describe the people living in the region known as Oceania and its specific regions: Micronesia,
Polynesia, and Melanesia (Moniz, 2012)
Culture/Cultural Centers: cultural affinity spaces which provide non-White students
cultural, academic, and social engagement regarding their ethnicity (Patton, 2010)
Asian American (AA), Pacific Islander (PI, AAPI), Asian (and) Pacific Islander (API),
Asian Pacific American (APA): terms that grouped AA and NHPI together, initially created in
the 1980s (Pak, 1995; Spickard, 2007)
Pasifika: a term used by NHPI as a more inclusive term to claim ancestry from Oceania
than NHPI, refers to their interconnection from the Pacific Ocean/Oceania (Spiller, 2012)
Organization of the Study
The first chapter outlined the background of the problem, statement of the problem,
research questions, purpose, and significance of this study. The literature review is presented in
in Chapter Two. Specifically, the following chapter explores seven topics: AAPI and API as
grouping terms, NHPI family genealogy and identity, Christianity and colonization of NHPI
countries, NHPI students’ needs in education, psychological and biological impacts of implicit
bias and stereotypes of NHPI, culture centers as inclusive learning and living spaces, and sense
of belonging in higher education. It also presents the theoretical and conceptual frameworks on
which this study relied. Chapter Three explains the qualitative research design, participants,
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 19

methodology, data collection, and method of data analysis. Chapter Four articulates the findings
from the six interviews and synthesizes patterns and themes as they connect to the theoretical
and conceptual frameworks. Lastly, Chapter Five concludes the dissertation with
recommendations for advocacy for NHPI students.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 20

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
This section presents the groundwork leading up to the literature review. First, the
chapter provides context for the theoretical framework through a discussion of the historical
background and concepts behind the terms AAPI/API/APA, NHPI, AAPI/API/APA culture
centers, and NHPI student-led organizations. Then, the theory used in framing the concept is
presented: tribal critical race theory (TribalCrit; Brayboy, 2005). The second section provides a
review of the literature on the AAPI/API/APA terminology and origin (Wright & Spickard,
2002), NHPI identity and culture as Indigenous cultural roots (McGrath, 2002), stereotype and
microaggressions in higher education (Green, 2018; Sue et al., 2007), culture centers as inclusive
spaces (Patton, 2010), and the sense of belonging in higher education (Museus, Yi, & Saelua,
2017). Then, the conceptual framework is explained by using the taro plant, a key and staple
plant in NH and other PI cultures as the basis. Finally, the chapter concludes with a summary
that leads into the methodology for this study.
Historical Framing of Topic
Explaining the context and origins of AAPI/API/APA requires understanding the creation
of the term “Asian American” within its context. In the 1960s, Chinese Americans, Japanese
Americans, and Filipino Americans as well as smaller coalitions of other Asian ethnic subgroups
attended college during the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War (Hall, 2009; Pak, 1995;
Spickard, 2007). Student activists who rallied on for Black student unions and Black studies
courses witnessed the impact of such activism (Pak, 1995; Pak, Maramba, & Hernandez, 2014;
Spickard, 2007). During the Vietnam War, AA were grouped together and discriminated against
for being Asian, even if they were not Vietnamese. This incited AA to unite to combat European
Americans’ sense of Orientalism, an antiquated term to refer to people of Asian origin, as well as
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 21

propinquity with other AA (Pak, 1995; Spickard, 2007). As a result, AA students went on strike
with African American, American Indian, and Chicanx/Latinx students to form the Third World
Liberation Front (TWLF) at San Francisco State University in 1968 and UC Berkeley in 1969.
Student strikes led to the inception of ethnic studies programs and culture centers dedicated to
ethnic groups (Pak, 1995; Pak et al., 2014; Spickard, 2007). While AA culture centers brought
AA college students together, the addition of NHPI college students happened 10 years later.
The term API was first coined by a directive from the Office of Management and Budget
in 1997. The API racial category was separated into two categories: Asian and NH and Other PI
in the 2000 census (OMB, 1997). While this distinction was made clear in the census, it led to
variations of the API term among the general public, especially in education. The historical
timeline of either replacing “or” with “and” or omitting either preposition completely in the term
API is unclear, and the change was made without the consent of the NHPI population (Wright &
Spickard, 2002). As a result, reiterations of API such as AA, AAPI and APA emerged
(Camacho, 2011; Wright & Spickard, 2002). Consequently, AA and NHPI students were
grouped together in the field of education because of the perception of similar skin tones, cultural
practices, and unique languages. Yet, this does not account for the unique aspects of
intersectionality in regard to their individual ethnic subgroups as well as between the cultures
(Kukahiko, 2017; Labrador & Wright, 2011; Wright & Spickard, 2002).
Since AAPI/API/APA culture centers may be exclude the NHPI community, these
students might decide to establish a NHPI student-led organization such as a Pacific Islander
Student Association (PISA) or Pacific Islander Association. These terms clearly signify NHPI
college students as having family origins in Oceania/Pasifika (Saelua et al., 2016). In this case,
most NHPI students would advocate for student-led PI student organization to ensure NHPI
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 22

students have a space to congregate and support one another (Saelua et al., 2016), as few
universities offer instruction in Pacific Islands studies. The Center for Pacific Islands Studies at
the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM) is the only academic bachelor’s degree program in
the United States to focus on Oceania in its entirety (UHM, 2019). Given the large presence of
NHPI students at UH, they and their non-NHPI peers can acquire academic knowledge regarding
the history of descendants of Oceania/Pasifika. To date, the first-ever PI student organization
was UCLA’s PISA established in 1986 (Aina, Thornton, Riesch, Saelua, & Folau, 2019).
Nonetheless, understanding the perspective of PI college students requires understanding their
Indigenous cultural roots.
Theory: Tribal Critical Race (TribalCrit) Theory
Since NHPI college students align themselves with their Indigenous culture, an
Indigenous/tribal theoretical framework is best suited as a lens to conceptualize these students’
opinions of AAPI/API/APA culture centers. TribalCrit incorporates a critical race theory (CRT)
lens in validating the experience of Indigenous and tribal communities (Brayboy, 2005). CRT
discusses race from a social justice lens, stating that racism has been so ingrained in society that
most of the inequality perpetuated has been rooted in racism (Solórzano, 1998). Many of the
current systems were the result of White supremacy and the dehumanization of non-White
communities. A unique perspective of TribalCrit is the emphasis of colonization in perpetuating
systems of inequality. It essentially is a response to systematic oppression across multiple
perspectives (Brayboy, 2005).
While NHPI college students experience racism and discrimination similar to other non-
White students, CRT and its race-specific versions do not directly align with NHPI
Indigenous/tribal culture. In contrast, CRT emphasizes that racism is predominant in education
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 23

regarding issues of meritocracy, attempts at color-blind objectivity, and equal opportunity
(Bernal, 2002; Solórzano, 1998). While CRT originally had a Black-White binary concept,
Latino CRT (LatCrit) and Asian CRT (AsianCrit) were created to better represent CRT in
relation to those communities. For Latinx students, issues that affect their lives include
immigration, language, identity, culture, and skin color (Bernal, 2002). For Asian students,
racism materializes in the model minority myth, immigration and assimilation, language, and
diaspora from their native country (Chang, 1993).
As more non-White communities found a form of CRT that fit them, the NH community
crafted a version that fit theirs. There has been discussion of a Kānaka ‘Ōiwi CRT or NH CRT
(‘ŌiwiCrit) that draws attention to U.S. hegemony, settler-colonialism, corporate tourism, and
military occupation, which have systematically depleted their lāhui or the NH community
(Wright & Balutski, 2015). ‘ŌiwiCrit critiques TribalCrit in not completely addressing NH
concerns and critiques (Wright & Balutski, 2015). ‘ŌiwiCrit is unique in that it mentions the
relationship colonialism has with corporate tourism (Wright & Balutski, 2015).
While ‘ŌiwiCrit accurately represents the perspective of NH scholars, it could be
perceived as NH-focused. As a response to ‘ŌiwiCrit, Pacific Islander Cultural Racism Theory
(PI-CRiT) provides a perspective on colonialism and its impact on NHPI by considering
historical context, addressing cultural racism in higher education, and deconstructing Western
research paradigms and epistemology (Kukahiko, 2017). By rejecting and challenging active
forms of colonialism, NHPI students can challenge forms of cultural racism such as cultural
erasure, stereotypes, and blood quantum logic (Kukahiko, 2017). This is accomplished by having
the research design align with the participants’ view about reality (ontology), their thoughts
about reality (epistemology), and their values in relation to their interaction and interpretation of
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 24

reality (axiology; Kukahiko, 2017). PI-CRiT provides an intentional theoretical framework and
qualitative research methodology that focuses more on the ontology, epistemology, and axiology
of their PI students. While it does put NHPI students at the forefront of the methodology, it is
still perceived as NH-focused by only using NH vocabulary/concepts and maintains a particular
emphasis on NHPI college student-athletes.
To ensure NHPI college students are connected to their Indigenous cultural roots,
TribalCrit is best suited as it views colonialism from an Indigenous perspective. In addition to
incorporating aspects of CRT, TribalCrit emphasizes stories, anecdotes, and ethnologies
(Brayboy, 2005). The nine tenets of TribalCrit are mentioned below:
1. Colonization is endemic to society.
2. U.S. policies toward Indigenous peoples are rooted in imperialism, White supremacy, and
a desire for material gain.
2. Indigenous peoples occupy a liminal space [borderland] that accounts for both the
political and racialized natures of our identities.
3. Indigenous peoples have a desire to obtain and forge tribal sovereignty, tribal autonomy,
self-determination, and self-identification.
4. The concepts of culture, knowledge, and power take on new meaning when examined
through an Indigenous lens.
5. Governmental policies and educational policies toward Indigenous peoples are intimately
linked around the problematic goal of assimilation.
6. Tribal philosophies, beliefs, customs, traditions, and visions for the future are central to
understanding the lived realities of Indigenous peoples, but they also illustrate the
differences and adaptability among individuals and groups.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 25

7. Stories are not separate from theory; they make up theory and are, therefore, real and
legitimate sources of data and ways of being.
8. Theory and practice are connected in deep and explicit ways such that scholars must
work towards social change. (pp. 429–430)
While all are key components of TribalCrit, two of the nine tenets are the two key statements
helpful in understanding NHPI college students’ perspective:
● Indigenous peoples have a desire to obtain and forge tribal sovereignty, tribal autonomy,
self-determination, and self-identification.
● Tribal philosophies, beliefs, customs, traditions, and visions for the future are central to
understanding the lived realities of Indigenous peoples, but they also illustrate the
differences and adaptability among individuals and groups.
These two tenets most closely align with the research questions and sub-questions. In
essence, they ensured a focus on NHPI college students identifying themselves while respecting
their individual beliefs and traditions. Participants conceptualized their stories from their own
perspectives and realities (Brayboy, 2005). Essentially, NHPI college students’ voices collected
in this study answered the research question and sub-questions.
TribalCrit closely represents NHPI students in that they share within their culture love
and connection to their land. Specifically, Native American (NA) populations shared similar
experiences with NH in terms of similar space and place, such as being confined to reservations
on their own land (Brayboy, 2005; Minthorn & Shotton, 2018). They also possess a unique,
sovereign relationship similar to the one between NA and the federal government, very much
like Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) and U.S. military bases (Oliveira & Wright, 2016).
TribalCrit is connected to NHPI and its research because, like NA, NHPI communities build the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 26

majority of their culture and experience in relation to storytelling that explain the origins of
meaning and construct/share knowledge (Brayboy, 2005). Also similar to their experience, they
were taken over by America, stripped of their own self-worth, and essentially became
immigrants in their own (Okamura, 1998; Shotton et al., 2010). From a historical perspective,
NH in Hawai’i had their land taken over America through imperialism and capitalism.
Yet, this experience solely focused on NH and NA. It is important to recognize which
aspects of TribalCrit closely align with the NHPI community (Wright, & Balutski, 2013).
Furthermore, TribalCrit provides a theoretical lens for addressing many of the issues facing
Indigenous communities today, including issues of language shift and loss, management of
natural resources, college graduation rates, overrepresentation in special education, and power
struggles among federal, state, and tribal governments (Kupo, 2010; Labrador & Wright, 2011).
This theoretical framework can serve as the basis for NHPI studies scholars to further innovate
and create NHPI research and theories.
To interview NHPI college students and listen to their reactions about how inclusive the
terms AAPI/API/APA are, it is important to articulate the philosophical worldview that informs
the research. This collection of stories is rooted in the transformative worldview which seeks to
uncover/revolutionize issues of power and marginalization from the perspective of marginalized
populations (Creswell, 2014). By combining research with an intention to change politics,
knowledge is constructed through an understanding of historical context, power, and the
researcher’s perspective (Creswell, 2014). A key component of the transformative worldview is
leveraging the power of researcher/participant dialogue in social critique of dominant knowledge
and practices (Creswell, 2014). By engaging in and navigating these conversations, participants
can identify inequalities and seek to resist and challenge the perspectives regarding their
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 27

communities. In doing so, they can be given a voice that graduation or achievement data cannot
offer.
Theory of Change
Since the intent was to further understand the lived experiences of NHPI college students,
the theory of change of this research must be presented. Theory of change refers to the ways in
which a project unfolds, the intended audience, what “us” means, how one thinks knowledge is
constructed, and how others can be convinced (Tuck, 2009). All social science has a theory of
change meant to reveal damage and accountability (Tuck, 2009). Articulating the theory of
change creates transparency and accountability about the ethical stance and intentions of the
research conducted (Tuck, 2009). Within this study, the theory of change focused on desire-
based versus damage-based research (Tuck, 2009). Damage-based research involves exploiting
Indigenous/communities of color by talking about deficits such as educational achievement and
test scores (Tuck, 2009). Instead, the desire-based research aims at understanding the persistence,
contradiction, and self-determination of the participants’ lives (Tuck, 2009). As students are
simply more than quantitative data, qualitative research allowed participants to share their
knowledge in the same medium as their cultures.
These principles of desire-based research are related to this study because its purpose
aligns with the principles of the NHPI community. Members of this community believe nature
and humans have a unique and important relationship (Smith, 2012). Since humans rely on
nature to sustain them, it is the responsibility of humans to care for nature (Okamura, 1998). In
U.S. imperialism, Americans try to control nature and exhaust its resources (Osorio, 2014).
Again, nature and other valuable resources are commodified for imperialism and material gain
(Okamura, 1998; Smith, 2012). NHPI culture is keen on ensuring the sustainability and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 28

purposeful use of resources to revitalize and reuse nature and its vast resources (Hau’ofa, 1998;
Spiller, 2012; Wright & Balutski, 2015). With proper care, nature can be used to sustain
generations (Olivera & Wright, 2016; Wright & Balutski, 2015). Using the concepts presented
by Tuck (2009), participants can construct knowledge around how they developed their identity,
their thoughts and perceptions about AAPI/API/APA culture centers, and the ideal relationship
between culture centers and student-run organizations.
AAPI/API/APA Terms Group NHPI and AA College Students Together
The terms AAPI/API/APA, created by AA and adopted by the U.S. government, group
AA and PI, essentially two different ethnic groups, together. Its addition in the census was rooted
in the philosophy that these populations were from somewhere far west of the United States, over
and/or across the Pacific Ocean, and had origins in exotic lands (Okamura, 1998; Lipe, 2013;
Wright & Spickard, 2002). The history of these terms can be traced to the 1980s and 1990s when
the census listed five racial categories: White, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native,
Hispanic, and Asian or PI. In essence, AA and NHPI were seen simplistically and without
recognition of individual differences (Pak et al., 2014; Wright & Spickard, 2002). Yet, even
among the AAPI/API/APA groupings, there is no clear distinction between who is considered to
be AA and who is considered NHPI at some institutions of higher education (Diaz, 2004). With
the proliferation of AAPI/API/APA in social justice organizations, individuals should question
the inclusivity of those terms.
The NHPI community and its ethnic subgroups constitute a specific location and identity
within ethnic contexts. These terms have been used for so long that the community of those who
identity as NHPI constantly educate others and validate themselves, even in their own
community (Camacho, 2011; Diaz, 2004). During the late 18th and 19th centuries, PI was a term
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 29

coined by the French to describe the people living in the region known as Oceania, specifically
Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia (Moniz, 2012). Although the Philippines, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and the Aleutian Islands are considered to be islands in the Pacific
Ocean, they are specifically noted as Asian versus NHPI (Moniz, 2012). In some instances, some
Pilipinx students tend to believe they are NHPI because of their mother country’s location in the
Pacific Ocean (Diaz, 2004; Ocampo, 2016; Ong, 2019). Also, there are Asian students who
consider themselves to be NHPI because they were raised on any of the Pacific Islands in
Oceania, especially large populations of Pilipinx and Japanese on Guam and Hawaii (Okamura,
1998; Ong, 2019; Perez, 2002). While that thinking is logical, it does not account for other
cultural constructs that constitute the NHPI experience, such as genealogy, Indigenous cultural
roots, and religion (Saelua et al., 2016). It is important to note that claiming NHPI identity but
not honoring those cultural constructs could be perceived as cultural appropriation.
Finally, in following along with AA and the demand for data disaggregation, NHPI
wanted to have their data disaggregated for valid and concrete representation of their community.
In 1997, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget released OMB 15 to provide accurate
record keeping, collecting, and presentation of data among all races and ethnicities in the United
States (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). Demands among the NHPI community to distinguish themselves
from Asians included three rationales: NHPI, in comparison to AA, have higher rates of chronic
illness and come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds than Asians; Asians were
being overrepresented in higher education and NHPI students were being grouped with them;
and the disproportionate distribution of federal resources did not support the medical, social, and
economic issues faced by NHPI (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014; Wright & Balutski, 2013).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 30

NHPI college students could feel their community is not represented in higher education.
Within education, NHPI studies are often under the umbrella of AA studies (Diaz, 2004; Wright
& Spickard, 2002). Collectively, AA and NHPI communities, when grouped together, show high
retention and graduation rates (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). Yet, disaggregated data draw attention to
the disparities between communities. In a meta-analysis involving approximately 1,500 articles
published in higher education journals, only one gave explicit attention to NHPI populations
(Museus, Mueller, & Aquino, 2013). The data are helpful in providing quantitative evidence of
NHPI communities. However, the next step is including and making them feel recognized among
other non-White students in higher education (Kauanui, 2008; Liu et al., 2010). In college, AA
and NHPI students can take AA studies courses to be exposed to AA history and curriculum not
typically taught in public high schools (Camacho, 2011; Labrador & Wright, 2011). Yet,
coursework related to NHPI studies is almost always housed within AA studies departments
(Diaz, 2004). Even within the inclusive and social justice intentions of the terms
AAPI/API/APA, there should be an equivalent focus on NHPI.
While the original intention of the AAPI/API/APA terms was to bring two communities
together, it had an unintended purpose of grouping those two different communities together.
Collectively, the two communities demonstrated higher achievement in higher education, but
disaggregating the data by ethnic subgroups can clarify the disparities. While AA are trying to
distinguish themselves among other ethnic subgroups, NHPI students may choose to create their
own spaces apart from AAPI/API/APA culture centers since their experiences are different. The
following section provides details about the NHPI identity and its connection to Indigenous
cultural roots.
NHPI Family Genealogy and Identity
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 31

One reason NHPI feel excluded at AAPI/API/APA culture centers is the space may not
include Indigenous NHPI artifacts or resources acknowledging their communities. NHPI
students consider themselves Indigenous, similar to NA, because they consider their genealogy
an important part of their identity (Kukahiko, 2017; McGrath, 2002; Saelua et al., 2016; Wright
& Spickard, 2002). The following sets of NHPI genealogies are meant to provide examples. For
Maori, native to New Zealand, one common way for people to introduce themselves is by
naming the mountain, the river, the tribal ancestor, the tribe, and their family (Smith, 2012). In
doing so, they can identify themselves through geographical, political, and genealogical contexts
(Smith, 2012). Native Hawaiians all trace their ancestry to Hāloa, the second child of Wākea, the
skyfather, and Ho’ohōkūkalani, descendant of the celestial bodies (Lipe, 2018). While they can
name geographical and genealogical identifiers such as ahupua’a or land divisions and high
chiefs, their common ancestry brought Native Hawaiians together as one (Lipe, 2018).
Chamorros, native to Guam, found connection to their land a key tenet of their Indigenous
identity (Perez, 2002). They believe their land is sacred as the ancient Chamorros believed that
life sprung from the soil (Perez, 2002). Among NHPI, their connection to their culture involves
the land itself.
NHPI identities are deeply rooted in their genealogy which encompasses their
geographical, political, and ancestral origins. In contrast, AA tend to trace back their genealogy
from their country of origin without mentioning Indigenous roots (Wright & Spickard, 2002).
While there are Indigenous communities in Asian countries, they comprise only a portion of the
entire country while NHPI are entirely Indigenous due to their island-based ancestors and ethnic
identities (Moniz, 2012). Their ancestral island-based identities are rooted in their family
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 32

genealogy, providing context in terms of their family obligations (Smith, 2012; Wright &
Spickard, 2002; Wright & Balutski, 2013).
For NHPI, one’s particular position in the own family can dictate what role they serve
and can compound their responsibilities as college students. Many NHPI island communities
function within a clan system, so there are gendered roles and hierarchical structures in daily
interaction (Uehara et al., 2018; Vakalahi, 2009). During major events, these NHPI ethnic groups
are expected to fully participate and provide financial support such as for funerals, weddings, and
village celebrations (Uehara et al., 2018; Vakalahi, 2009). Their cultural values are rooted in a
collectivist culture where one’s obligations are connected with their group’s roles and where one
functions as an interdependent member, works with others to achieve group success, and is
dedicated to the group’s traditional roles (Vakalahi, 2009; Yamauchi, 1998). Their collectivist
identity could clash with the individualistic, competitive nature of a Western college education
(Tierney, 1999). Their particular roles in their family can provide insight into how NHPI students
further develop their intersectional identity in college. For example, in the Samoan culture, a
malaga is a pattern of visiting family members where the hosts are primarily in charge of
housing, travel, and food arrangements (McGrath, 2002). Preparations are expensive and
intricate (McGrath, 2002). By having to balance other responsibilities with college, NHPI
students could seek the support of AAPI/API/APA culture centers to acknowledge their
struggles, seek support, and revive their connections with their community (Tierney, 1999).
For NHPI students, their Indigenous identity is multifaceted and compartmentalized into
components such as family obligations, religion, and language. McGrath (2002) conducted four
ethnographies of Samoan natives who immigrated to Seattle, Washington, to understand how
they redefined their community within their new context. In Samoan culture, one would formally
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 33

introduce one’s self by mentioning one’s village, ‘äiga or family, and the name of the matai or
chief (McGrath, 2002). Further conversation would lead to talking about which church they
attended to then encompass three components of Samoan identity: family, community, and
church (McGrath, 2002). All participants emphasized the portions of Samoan culture they took
with them to Seattle and what they excluded (McGrath, 2002). Regardless of their experience,
they talked about how their association with the Samoan church, their dedication to Samoan
cultural values, and their responsibilities to their family led to how they saw themselves in
America (McGrath, 2002). For some AA, those three components may also be applicable to their
identity, yet, a part of identifying as NHPI is recognizing and acknowledging one’s geneaology
(Smith, 2012).
NHPI college students are pressured to either assimilate to American culture or adhere to
their own culture. For Samoan immigrants, there seems to be a similar narrative in assimilating,
especially in higher education (McGrath, 2002). They are expected to forgo other responsibilities
if there are familial responsibilities, especially if requested by the village chief (McGrath, 2002).
There are different levels of parental expectations and values in both American Samoa and the
United States, so most Samoan children may feel conflicted in either respecting their cultural
identity or their newfound identity in the United States (McGrath, 2002). From their culture and
upbringing, NHPI students might feel they need to choose to either identify solely as American
or NHPI (McGrath, 2002).
NH have a complicated relationship with mainland Americans because of United States
colonization. NH feel their land is branded as a tropical paradise where mainland whose
resources are exhausted by mainland Americans (Okamura, 1998; Wright & Balutski, 2015).
Yet, in the ethnic makeup of Hawai’i, NH are considered to be at the bottom (Okamura, 1998).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 34

The hierarchy is as follows in terms of socioeconomic and political power: White, Japanese,
Pilipinos, and NH (Okamura, 1998). Given this hierarchy, some AA, such as Japanese, may not
understand the intentions behind NH sovereignty, which could further perpetuate the cycle of
colonialism (Saranillio, 2013). Due to the role East Asian countries have played in their
country’s history, NH might view AAPI/API/APA culture centers as oblivious to NH history.
AAPI/API/APA culture centers might bring these two groups together to transform the
culture of inclusion for these two communities. Due to Indigenous colonization, American
institutions of higher education are built on Indigenous land (Diaz, 2004; Justice, 2004; Lipe,
2013; Perez, 2002). AA and NHPI students bring their conceptions about their ethnic identity in
relation to the institution as a whole (Liu et al., 2010; Patton, 2010; Shotton et al., 2010). For AA
students, AA identity development theory provides one type of framing of ethnic identity (Kim,
2001). The theory’s stages begin with being aware of one’s ethnic identity, choosing to align
with Whites, rejecting the superiority of Whites, developing a sense of pride in being AA, and
finally accepting the intersectionality of themselves and those around them (Kim, 2001). While
this theory presents an approach to how AA identity develops, critics have mentioned identity
development is not a linear process (Pak et al., 2014). More importantly, students can be at
different stages and can either revert back to a previous stage or skip stages altogether (Pak et al.,
2014).
Being grouped with AA can be difficult for NHPI college students because their
identities are not entirely monoethnic/monoracial. Over half of NHPI college students identify as
multiethnic/multiracial (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). Much of interracial marriage occurred among
their ancestors, but it also came from moving to the continental United States and marrying
outside of one’s ethnic community (Foster, 2019a; McGrath 2002; Smith, 2012; Trask, 1999).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 35

Multiethnic/multiracial college students with supportive parents felt more confident about their
multiple ethnic identities and were respectful of different ethnic backgrounds while those with
unsupportive families often felt insecure about themselves and other ethnicities (Jourdan, 2006).
This could relate to how self-esteem can positively impact multiethnic/multiracial individuals
and explore their own heritage in regard to ethnicity (Yuh, 2005). Exploring their own heritage
could involve joining a racial/ethnic student organization, taking ethnic studies courses, and
discussing personal and political issues as they relate their identity (Harper, 2016). For
multiethnic/multiracial NHPI college students, there are additional components because their
identity is situational in that they need to choose one identity while emphasizing the others and
can either be included or excluded by their own community (Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Spickard
& Fong, 1995). Regarding their situational identity, they can emphasize any of their ethnic
identities on the basis of whether they can prove their identity for ethnic group acceptance
(Chaudhari & Pizzolato, 2008; Renn, 2000).
Christianity and Colonization of NHPI Countries
For NHPI, a significant part of their identity is centered on religion, and the presence of
God has a positive impact on their lives. Yet, religion in NHPI communities came from
colonization by Christian missionaries, mainly Protestant and Catholic (Campbell, 2011; Barker,
2013; Swain & Trompf, 1995). The establishment of Christianity in Oceania/Pasifika allowed
European and American colonizers, starting with Captain James Cook from Britain, to establish
control by instituting government structures meant to minimize the power of NHPI (Swain &
Trompf, 1995; Campbell, 2011; Barker, 2013). Acknowledging the islands of Oceania/Pasifika,
this section focuses on Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, and Guam. Specifically, it provides
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 36

perspective on their location in Oceania/Pasifika, the history of Christian influence and
European/American control, and population demographics.
Islands of Polynesia. The island of Niue in the South Pacific Ocean is located in
Polynesia northeast of New Zealand, east of Tonga, south of Samoa, and west of the Cook
Islands (Bouma, Ling, & Pratt, 2010). Its connection with Christianity dates to the early 1800s.
Initially, Niue was settled around 900 CE by Samoans followed by a war party from Tonga
around 1700 CE (Foster, 2019a; Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903). In 1774, James Cook, a British
naval captain, and his crew landed in Niue, nicknaming it “Savage Island” because of opposition
from Niueans (Foster, 2019a; Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903). Then, in the 1830s, the London
Missionary Society arrived, and, by 1850, had converted Niueans to Christianity (Foster, 2019a;
Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903). Before Great Britain arrived, Niue did not have a national
government or leader. Great Britain established a protectorate over Niue in 1900 and was
annexed to New Zealand the year after (Foster, 2019; Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903). Niueans
eventually voted to be a self-governed nation in association with New Zealand in 1974 (Foster,
2019a). Niue is a governed by a unitary parliamentary, similar to New Zealand (Foster, 2019;
Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903). While the majority of Niue is Niuean, there are more native-born
Niueans living on New Zealand than on Niue itself (Foster, 2019; Pointer, 2015; Smith, 1903).
According to the 2006 census, Niue is a predominantly Christian country where 62% of the
population is Ekalesia Niue from the Congregational Christian Church of Niue, followed 9%
considering themselves Roman Catholic (Statistics Niue, 2012).
Tonga was also subjected to London Missionary Society and Christianity’s influence.
Tonga, officially Kingdom of Tonga or Tongan Fakatuʿi ʿo Tonga in Polynesia, consists of
approximately 170 islands divided into three main island groups in the southwestern Pacific
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 37

Ocean: Vavaʿu in the North, Tongatapu in the South, Haʿapai in the center. There are also
isolated islands including the Niuas island group consisting of Niuafoʿou, Niuatoputapu, and
Tafahi in the far North and ʿAta in the far South (Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Neich,
2007). It was first inhabited around 980 BC by settlers from Oceania and ruled by a monarchy of
sacred kings and queens from 900 CE to late 1770 CE (Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019;
Neich, 2007). Captain James Cook visited between 1773 and 1777, nicknaming the islands
“Friendly Islands” because of the receptive welcome from Tongans (Daly, 2009; Foster &
Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007). The London Missionary Society and, later, a mission of
Methodists unsuccessfully tried to convert Tongans to Christianity (Daly, 2009; Foster &
Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007). Between 1799 and 1852, Tonga went through a period of war and
disorder, which was ended by Taufaʿahau, who was converted to Christianity by the Methodist
missionaries in 1831 (Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007). He became Tuʿi
Kanokupolu and reigned as King George Tupou I from 1845 to 1893, spreading Christianity
rapidly across Tonga (Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007). A large population of
Tonga is of Polynesian descent, with a small concentration of Melanesian influence via Fiji
(Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007). Currently, Tonga is governed as a
constitutional monarchy. Since Tongans began migrating out starting in the 1970s, there has
been more intermarriage with Europeans (Daly, 2009; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Neich, 2007).
According to the 2011 Tonga Census, Methodism is the dominant religion with 36% of the
population affiliated with the Free Wesleyan Church. The Church of Latter-Day Saints makes up
18% of the population, the Roman Catholic Church is 15%, and the Free Church of Tonga is
12% (Lolohea, Koloamatangi, & McTurk, 2014).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 38

Samoa was also influenced by Christianity, leading to the separation of its country into
three different parts. Samoa, Malo Sa’oloto Tuto’atasi o Samoa (Independent State of Samoa), is
a Polynesian country located in the central South Pacific Ocean, the westernmost of Polynesia
with Tonga to the South, Fiji to the Southwest, and Wallis and Futuna to the West (Bouma et al.,
2010; Foster, 2019b). Polynesians arrived in Samoa around 1000 BC, and some Samoan
linguistics evidence shows they came from Tonga (Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster,
2019b). Tongans, Samoans, and Fijians communicated with one another and passed down their
history verbally (Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b). At first, European settlers were
welcomed starting in 1722 because of their contributions of technology and goods (Barker, 2013;
Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b). Yet, John Williams from the London Missionary Society
arrived in 1830 to establish a Christian mission (Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b).
He eventually converted Malietoa Vainu’upo, who conquered all of Samoa, and, through him,
converted the rest of Samoa (Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b). In the 1890s, Great
Britain, Germany, and the United States annexed Samoa into three different parts, much to the
resentment of Samoans (Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b). Currently, Samoa is
governed as a mix of parliamentary democracy and Samoan customs with one legislative house
(Barker, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Foster, 2019b). From the 2011 Samoa Census, 32% of the
population is Congregational Christian, 19% is Roman Catholic, 15% is Mormon, 14% is
Methodist, 8% follows the Assemblies of God, 4% belongs to the Seventh-day Adventist Church
(U.S. Department of State, 2012). In 2006, 92.6% of Samoan and 7% were European and
Samoan (Foster, 2019b).
Similar to Samoa, Hawai’i also experienced foreign control when it became an American
state by force. Hawai’i is located in Polynesia as a series of eight volcanic islands in the central
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 39

Pacific Ocean (Heckathorn, Swenson, & Motteler, 2019; Okamura, 1998; Osorio, 2014). It is
believed Hawai’i was originally settled by Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands between 300
and 600 CE, followed by Tahitians from 800 to 900 CE (Heckathorn et al., 2019; Okamura,
1998; Osorio, 2014). European and American explorers, including Captain James Cook, used
Hawai’i for its resources and introduced diseases which decimated the population (Osorio, 2014;
Okamura, 1998). While Native Hawaiians originally saw Cook and his crew as gods, the death of
his crew proved their mortality and Hawaiians killed him in 1779 (Heckathorn et al., 2019;
Okamura, 1998; Osorio, 2014). In 1820, the first group of Christian missionaries arrived from
the U.S. and had turned Hawai’i into a predominantly Christian kingdom by the 1850s
(Heckathorn et al., 2019; Okamura, 1998; Osorio, 2014). Queen Liliuokalani was queen of
Hawai’i until the late 1890s when Protestant missionaries from the United States formed the
Reform/Missionary party and demanded she step down from her throne (Heckathorn et al., 2019;
Okamura, 1998; Osorio, 2014). Eventually, the United States annexed Hawai’i in 1898 and
subsequently removed Queen Liliuokalani from the throne, ending the Hawaiian monarchy
(Heckathorn et al., 2019; Okamura, 1998; Osorio, 2014). Currently, Hawai’i is part of the United
States (Heckathorn et al., 2019). With the decrease of the Native Hawaiian population to 10.2%,
East Asians such as Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans form 38% of the population while
Europeans and Americans comprise 25% (Heckathorn et al., 2019; Okamura, 1998; Osorio,
2014). According to the Pew Research Center (2014), 64% of Hawaiians identified themselves
as Christian, divided among the various subsects of Christianity, 8% as Buddhist, and 26% are
religiously unaffiliated.
Islands of Micronesia. Guam was not subjected to Christianity missionaries, but Spanish
control led to a significant population decrease. Guam, located in Micronesia, is an island in the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 40

North Pacific Ocean and an unincorporated territory of the United States (Farrer & Sellman,
2014; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002). It the largest, most populous, and southernmost
of the Mariana Islands (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002). Guam
was originally settled around 750 BCE by Indonesian Filipinos (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster
& Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002). Ferdinand Magellan landed in Guam around 1521, and Spain
claimed it in the late 1600s (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002).
After Native Guamanians/Chamorros initiated a coup in 1670, Spain waged war for 25 years,
essentially decimating the native population (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster & Ballendorf,
2019; Perez, 2002). Chamorros are of Malayo-Indonesian descent with Spanish and Filipino
ancestries (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002). Chamorros and
other Micronesians form approximately 50% of the population, Filipinos and Koreans constitute
33%, and the rest are of European descent (Foster & Ballendorf, 2019). Due to Spain’s influence,
about 75% of Guam is Roman Catholic while 12.5% is Protestant (Foster & Ballendorf, 2019).
While Guam is governed by the United States under the Organic Act of Guam since 1950,
people on Guam do not have the right to vote in national elections and can only send delegates to
national party conventions (Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Perez, 2002).
Essentially, Guam is self-governed with only electing a delegate to the U.S. House of
Representatives for a 2-year term (Foster & Ballendorf, 2019).
The influence of Christianity may have led to the complicated relationships between
NHPI and their organized religion. In one of many perspectives, Christianity enforced
assimilation and erased some aspects NHPI cultures and native languages (Camacho, 2011;
Farrer & Sellman, 2014; Swain & Trompf, 1995). As such, some NHPI countries and cultures
actively resisted against Christian missionaries which could have led to deceased Indigenous
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 41

NHPI populations and language proficiency (Bouma et al., 2010; Campbell, 2011; Swain &
Trompf, 1995;). Conversely, some NHPI communities have incorporated Christianity into their
cultural fabric (Barker, 2013; Swain & Trompf, 1995). For example, Christianity mentions that
God was the beginning of all creation on Earth and that Jesus was the son of God (Swain &
Trompf, 1995). Yet, Polynesian and Micronesian cultures maintain polytheistic beliefs especially
in the form of land and sky deities that formed their island (Lipe, 2018; Smith, 2012; Swain &
Trompf, 1995). Many of their creation stories mention the presence of multiple gods that govern
and protect their people (Perez, 2002; Swain & Trompf, 1995; Wright & Balutski, 2015). While
many of the NHPI community converted to Christianity or another organized religion, they
continued to educate generations using the church as an institution (Swain & Trompf, 1995).
Even with the initial intention of cultural erasure, NHPI communities persisted and have
Christian services conducted entirely in their native languages (Swain & Trompf, 1995).
NHPI Students’ Needs in Education
It is problematic to assume that AA and NHPI students are identical when it comes to
education. The conversation regarding the model minority myth suggests AA are more
successful than other ethnic minorities because of their parents’ emphasis on diligence and
academic achievement (Lee et al., 2009). The myth implies other racial minorities can be as
successful while undermining racial inequalities among Asian subgroups (Yoo et al., 2015). The
model minority myth refers to high academic achievement, bachelor’s degree attainment, and
higher socioeconomic status (Yoo et al., 2015). In contrast to NHPI students, extrinsic
motivation in terms of material gain would be considered contradictory and problematic to the
purpose of education for Indigenous communities, as, to them, the purpose of receiving an
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 42

education is to use the knowledge gained to further improve and enrich the community
(Minthorn & Shotton, 2018; Smith, 2012).
In the NHPI community, those levels of achievement are not within the same realm in K-
12 education. In a national study of more than a million AAPI and White seventh grade students,
the data was disaggregated to show the differences among within subgroups (Pang, Han, & Pang,
2011). There were definitive lines regarding achievement among the AAPI community (Pang et
al., 2011). If NHPI students kept being grouped with AA students, there would be a superficial
assumption that AA and NHPI students are performing exceptionally well in school (Wright &
Spickard, 2002). In a study about Pasifika teachers incorporating Pasikifa ways of learning to
improve student achievement, even teachers with good intentions still assumed their students
were intentionally low-achieving and misbehaving (Spiller, 2012). Teachers placed blame on the
parents, citing that their students’ underachievement was related to Pasifika values and issues at
home (Spiller, 2012). Since some NHPI students immigrate from their home country, they might
experience culture shock with having to completely different contexts (Liu et al., 2010; Patton,
2010; Shotton et al., 2010). For example, PI students in Washington had lower levels of
academic performance and school engagement (Hune & Yeo, 2010). Samoan high school
students experienced discrimination, an unsupportive school climate, and generational conflicts
among their families as obstacles to their education (Hune & Yeo, 2010). Navigating the
American public high school education system can be exhausting for students of color (Hune &
Yeo, 2010). NHPI students experience similar levels of discrimination and lack of understanding
regarding their specific culture (Shotton et al., 2010). Even when NHPI students can be
performing academically well, their environment may not foster their growth (Saelua et al.,
2016).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 43

The high-achieving, high expectations experience is primarily exclusive to AA, and
NHPI students have a different experience when it comes to education. While over 80% of
NHPIs 25 years or older have graduated from high school in the U.S., only 12.1% of them have a
bachelor’s degree (Moniz, 2012). This perspective is rooted in NHPI cultural values. It is not that
earning a degree is discouraged, but there are other expectations students are held to which might
prevent them from earning a degree (McGrath, 2002). In the perspective of PI American students
and their parents, family relationships and dynamics, parental expectations, community and
cultural duality, commitment to school, and peer relations serve as sources of risk and/or
safeguard for educational achievement and for school dropout (Vakalahi, 2009). Yet, in some
cases, familial ties and expectations are prioritized over studying for exams or completing
homework assignments (McGrath, 2002). Earning a college degree for a NHPI student means
balancing the receipt knowledge about the world around them with the realization that the
education field is a Western intention meant to enforce assimilation and reject Indigenous
knowledge (Minthorn & Shotton, 2018; Smith, 2012). In higher education, NHPI students and
their families have a strong desire to pursue academic careers, but they encounter an
unsupportive environment (Green, 2018; Squire, 2018). This can stimulate a negative reaction
which could impact NHPI students’ physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Psychological and Biological Impacts of Implicit Bias and Stereotypes of NHPI
By grouping AA and NHPI together, NHPI college students are negatively impacted by
implicit bias and stereotypes. Implicit bias was coined by Greenwald and Banaji (1995) as a term
to describe the phenomenon of unconscious intention of perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes
one might have. Human beings, even those with good and inclusive intentions, are prone to
preferential and discriminatory bias against certain groups (Casey, Warren, Cheesman, & Elek,
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 44

2012). This is due to human brains trying to process vast amounts of information efficiently by
employing mental shortcuts or “cognitive heuristics” (Kahneman, Slovic, & Tversky, 1982). In
essence, these mental shortcuts allow humans to learn and guess quickly but they are often
erroneous and create associations from limited information (Kahneman et al., 1982). From this, it
makes it easier to substitute a simple yet insufficient judgment instead of exerting more effort
and energy to understand a complex concept, a process known as attribute substitution (Jones &
Harris, 1967). This can be exemplified in microaggressions NHPI college students experience on
campus. Microaggressions are the daily unconscious and unintentional verbal, behavioral, or
environmental insults disguised as statements that demonstrate hostile, derogatory, or negative
perspectives (Sue et al., 2007). NHPI college students have overheard microaggressions from
other NHPI and non-NHPI students, staff, and faculty about the sheer size and invisibility of
their community (Green, 2018).
Stereotypes and microaggressions about the NHPI community are part the American
cultural fabric. For most NHPI males, football became the medium through which they become
part of American culture (Franks, 2009; Kukahiko, 2017). In the 1930s, NHPI male high school
football players started making a presence in local and national football leagues (Franks, 2009;
Kukahiko, 2017). While it may seem positive for NHPI to have a presence in the American
public, university football coaches and NFL announcers would refer to football players with
problematic nicknames on the field: hula-hula money, ukulele ike, and throwin’ Samoan
(Camacho, 2011; Franks, 2009; Kukahiko, 2017). These nicknames serve as prime examples of
cultural appropriation (Hall, 2009; Kupo, 2010). Also, NHPI women were perceived as exotic
hula girls who were demure and sexualized (Hall, 2009; Kupo, 2010). Even though hula is
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 45

mainly a NH cultural dance, NHPI women from other islands in Oceania often experienced
microaggressions related to not knowing how to hula dance (Hall, 2009; Kupo, 2010).
Since NHPI college students are perceived for their abilities outside of the classroom,
they are not seen as students and scholars in academia. Even though NHPIs have made an impact
on American football, they are still not appreciated or recognized for their intellect and
persistence in the classroom (Vakalahi, 2009). NHPI college students are not fully understood as
part of the multiethnic/multiracial community (Kukahiko, 2017). For multiethnic/multiracial
college students, peers, staff, and faculty at their institutions deny any potential of a multiracial
identity and only see a monoracial/monoethnic identity (Harris, 2017; Tran, Miyake, Martinez-
Morales, & Csizmadia, 2016)). In this monoracial perspective, multiracial/multiethnic college
students are not monoracial enough to be included (Harris, 2017; Tran et al., 2016). These
microaggressions and stereotypes could further render NHPI college students invisible.
As NHPI students experience these injustices, they could be negatively affected, and their
learning environment could turn negative. If NHPI students do not see themselves either fitting
positive stereotypes or counteracting negative ones, they might have significant biological and
psychological reactions (Rydell, Van Loo, & Boucher, 2017). The effects of discrimination
increase the likelihood of depressive symptoms (Hammond, Gillen, & Yen, 2010). At the college
level, this could provide a homogenous learning environment with limited creativity and room
for critical discussion (Staats, Capatosto, Wright, & Contractor, 2015), perpetuating a mental
shortcut to reinforce the stereotypes and implicit biases present in the first place (Staats et al.,
2015). NHPI students do not share the same experience and expectations as AA students, so they
might feel unsure of themselves when particular expectations are placed on them (Vakalahi,
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 46

2009). The institutions themselves might create acculturative pressures or stereotype
confirmation to increase anxiety for NHPI students (French, Tran, & Chávez, 2013).
Racial and ethnic disparities in educational achievement and attainment are partially
explained by the effects of like stressors in the race-based disparities in stress and sleep in
context model (Levy, Heissel, Richeson, & Adam, 2016). These can be stimuli like stereotype
threat and perceived discrimination, which activates psychological and biological responses to
stress that can affect cognitive functioning and academic performance (Levy et al., 2016). In the
roles of psychological coping responses such as devaluation (discounting the experience) and
disidentification (not associating with the marginalized group), the model incorporates the
biological stress responses, such as changes in stress hormones and sleep hours and quality
(Levy et al., 2016). What is important about this research is not devaluing the biological and
neurological responses to race-based stress and discrimination (Levy et al., 2016). For many
students of color, microaggressions and even overt discrimination induces emotional labor to
confirm their presence in education (Tierney, 1999). While this research points to biological and
psychological responses to discrimination, there are resources for NHPI students and their
survival.
Having NHPI students imagine their possible selves as successful adults and connecting
their potential to their current school involvement can challenge these stereotypes. Possible
selves are individuals one would like to be and ones they would like to avoid (Oyserman, Terry,
& Bybee, 2002). Yet, not much research has been conducted on teaching students how to
develop those future possible selves. With proper education and planning, students could learn
how to bridge that divide through nine components:
1. Creating a group membership,
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 47

2. Imagining a positive adulthood,
3. Developing timelines with conflicts in the middle,
4. Connecting current, next year, and future behaviors,
5. Learning to solve everyday school problems into manageable parts,
6. Figuring out what needs to be done for postsecondary and employment plans,
7. Bringing in parents to join efforts,
8. Listening to parents’ and students’ expectations, and
9. Practicing interviewing skills. (Oyserman et al., 2002)
Measures include connection to school, possible selves, and effort in school (Oyserman et
al., 200, p. 317–318). Participants reported a greater sense of school bonding, more concern
about doing well, balanced possible selves, and reported less frequent trouble in school
(Oyserman et al., 2002). NHPI students can develop a new context of themselves and learn to
associate their cultural identities with their possible selves (Oyserman et al., 2002). In contrast to
deficit-based research by outside researchers, NHPI students can learn and engage one another in
the complexity of coming to terms with their identity (Tuck, 2009). This can be further
conceptualized in how NHPI students see themselves when seeking an environment/space to
support them like an AAPI/API/APA culture center.
Cultural Centers as Inclusive Learning and Living Spaces
Ethnic culture centers allow NHPI students to see the college or university environment
as a culturally responsive space. Culture centers provide the physical, emotional, and collective
space for students to seek community and resources on campus (Patton, 2010). The multiple uses
of cultural centers include promoting cultural ethnic studies; building collaboration among
students, staff, and faculty; confronting racism and discrimination on campus; providing
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 48

mentorship and leadership; fostering intragroup relationships among students; and serving as a
social gathering location (Liu et al., 2010). In their intentions, race-specific culture centers could
possibly promote cultural celebrations and tourism instead of engaging in social justice (Benitez,
2010). These centers should foster an open-ended and inclusive environment for multiethnic and
multiracial students and serve as dynamic spaces of resistance and reflection (Benitez, 2010). As
ethnic culture centers and their terminology evolve, so should the mission and vision of the
centers.
In addition, they can do three things to promote intentional and cohesive culture practice:
community building and outreach, administrative practices which foster a supportive and
committed culture to diversity, and culture center education programs (Benitez, 2010). The
priorities of a multicultural affairs office are retention of non-White students and programming,
followed by diversity education and leadership development, and then finally ethnic/racial
minority student recruitment (Sutton & McCluskey-Titus, 2010). Given the numerous priorities
and roles, culture centers need to consider the needs of all constituents within the university,
local, state, and national contexts (Mena, 2010).
With a significant focus on identity, NHPI college students could seek culture centers to
further understand their relationship with their identity. Latinx students leveraged the five stages
of the minority identity development model to provide education on racial/ethnic identity
development, peer mentorship, and academic support (Lozano, 2010). Asian American students
value the promotion of AA culture, challenge stereotypes in college, peer mentorship, and
leadership (Liu et al., 2010). Native American students found a sanctuary for themselves and
others who shared the same community cultural values (Shotton et al., 2010). African American
culture centers enabled students to take courses in African American studies and fostered
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 49

meaningful mentorship (Patton, 2010). As previously mentioned, NHPI college students have
similar wants and needs as other non-White communities and could benefit from a NHPI-
focused space.
As the NHPI college community felt invisible in AAPI/API/APA culture centers, they
created and advocated for their own spaces. There are very campuses with NHPI cultural centers
(Saelua, 2012; Saelua et al., 2016). Given the growing population of NHPI in California, the
Pacific Islander Education and Retention (PIER) Project at UCLA was created to establish a
recruitment and retention center for these students (Saelua, 2012; Saelua et al., 2016). PIER
reached high schools in Los Angeles County with large numbers NHPI students to bring
awareness to their struggles in higher education (Saelua, 2012; Saelua et al., 2016). In Hawai’i,
the Kamakauokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH was originally meant to educate NH
students on language and culture, but it has evolved into its own academic department (Wright,
2018). These culture centers allow students to engage with their NHPI peers while learning
about other communities of color. Yet, if AAPI/API/APA culture centers are inherently
excluding NHPI students, then the positive benefits of culture centers are not as helpful to them.
Culture centers can be the inclusive spaces NHPI students might need in a Western
educational environment. At predominantly White institutions, non-White college students
experience similar racial and gendered microaggressions (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). To adapt to
this environment, non-White students typically acquire the new college norms (Yosso & Lopez,
2010). At culture centers, non-White students manage their culture shock, build a community
with one another and navigate their multiple worlds (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). Culture centers
embody the tenets of CRT in welcoming the students’ intersectionality, challenging dominant
ideology, fostering a commitment to social justice, facilitating discussion of knowledge, and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 50

providing relevance for students across disciplines (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). Since NHPI college
students feel invisible, culture centers could bring visibility and ensure their persistence (Yosso
& Lopez, 2010). NHPI college students could support one another while acknowledging they
could still be who they are without having to choose only one identity.
Culture centers do have significant influence on ethnic groups. In their creation, these
centers were meant to increase the number of faculty and administrators who looked like the
students they served (Lozano, 2010). They incorporated multiple considerations and key
components to ensure direction and purpose (Benitez, 2010; Mena, 2010; Sutton & McCluskey-
Titus, 2010). With their emphasis on ethnic identities, ethnic culture centers can provide a
platform for students wanting either physical, emotional, and/or spiritual guidance (Yosso &
Lopez, 2010). Since student affairs changes often, ethnic culture center leadership should ask
questions about their mission and vision, students, climate, culture, programs, and services
(Patton, 2010). By doing so, NHPI college students can engage in critical reflection.
Sense of Belonging in Higher Education
Even if AAPI/API/APA culture centers are meant to be inclusive, the experiences of AA
and NHPI are unique to their own communities. To conceptualize NHPI identity development,
they can engage in conversations with each other through community cultural wealth (Yosso,
2005). Culture centers provide significant community for students of color (Yosso & Lopez,
2010). In essence, they help students of color deal with culture shock on campus, build
community, and navigate the various spaces (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). Through culture centers,
students can seek navigational capital: skills to work through social institutions (Yosso, 2005).
While some NHPI staff and faculty members may not have their exact experience, they can seek
refuge and support in culture centers where students and staff represent them.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 51

Community cultural wealth steers away from a deficit perspective to one where
communities possess multiple forms of cultural capital (Tuck, 2009). NHPI college students have
familial and cultural support. These students recognize and honor their culture’s own history and
wealth of knowledge (Liu et al., 2010; Lozano, 2010; Patton, 2010; Shotton et al., 2010).
Specifically, familial capital refers to the cultural knowledge constructed by blood and extended
kin in developing a sense of community history, memory and cultural intuition (Yosso, 2005).
When coming to terms with constructing and understanding their identity, college students can
learn from each other’s experiences and recognize one another (Yosso & Lopez, 2010). This
collection of stories aims to also understand how NHPI students understand and construct their
own identity, and where they find inclusive communities for their survival.
For NHPI students who persisted through their first year of college, their first term could
have been an overwhelming experience (Museus et al., 2017). Whether they live on campus or
with their parents, they were trying to find the academic niches and social groups to which they
belong (Museus et al., 2017). By constructing a positive sense of their identity, they could
become positive role models and provide supportive feedback on how identity fosters a sense of
belonging on campus (Saelua et al., 2017; Sedlacek & Sheu, 2013). Yet, if coupled with
academic stress, the need to belong could cause a student to struggle academically and
eventually drop out of school (Saelua et al., 2017; Sedlacek & Sheu, 2013). Positively framing
their ethnic identity can help NHPI students find support on campus and feel they belong.
Certain experiences on campus affect students’ ethnic identity development. In
examining ethnic identity development among underrepresented students of color at a selective,
research intensive, predominantly White university, Maramba and Velasquez (2012) found
learning about one’s ethnic group has cognitive and noncognitive benefits. Students’ developing
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 52

their own sense of ethnic identity has a considerable, positive impact on them (Museus et al.,
2017). In some instances, non-NHPI peers can make NHPI students feel welcomed or excluded
at the institution. Identity denial occurs when an individual does not feel they are included in a
group (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). AA students defended themselves to their cultural through
identity assertion, a process in which they would prove to others that they belonged in that group
(Cheryan & Monin, 2005). Conceptualizing group dynamics and identity directly align with the
prototypical ways other in-group members are included in a group (Cheryan & Monin, 2005).
NHPI college students might be inappropriately identified as football players or hula dancers,
which does not fully respect or encompass the intersectionality and individuality of their
experience (Camacho, 2011; Franks, 2009).
Conceptual Framework
Nature is a key resource honored by Indigenous communities, especially since it provides
the survival and longevity of their generations (Smith, 2012). The lens for the conceptual
framework is founded in TribalCrit as the sun which gives students warmth and energy to grow.
Through TribalCrit, students may see their world from a transformative philosophical worldview
and seek to take ownership of it (Brayboy, 2005). The framework then incorporates the Hawaiian
story of the taro plant. It was the first child of Wākea and Ho’ohōkūkalani, the father and mother
of the Hawaiian Islands, and was stillborn (Lipe, 2018). The parents planted their first son in the
ground, and that was how the taro plant came to be (Lipe, 2018). Native Hawaiians say they are
descendants of the taro plant since the couple’s second child became a human boy named Hāloa,
to whom all Hawaiians trace their genealogy (Lipe, 2018). I wanted NHPI students to be
nurtured in the same way that plants must be sustained: sunlight, water, and love. I planted NHPI
college students at the center of my research.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 53

Desire-based research is the theory of change within this study. It fits well with the topic
and research since Tuck (2009) emphasized conducting research out of respect for the
community who will eventually help enrich it. Desire-based research was the medium through
which the researcher listened and learned from the interviewees. The aim was to nourish NHPI
college students with desire-based research as the communication channel. In the same way that
NHPI students will be replenished, they provide a reservoir with nutrients of their survival and
resistance (Brayboy, 2005; Patel, 2016; Smith, 2012; Tuck, 2009). Participants built their own
knowledge in constructing their identity, their perspectives on AAPI/API/APA culture centers,
and the ideal relationship between NHPI student-run organizations and these centers.
By incorporating these two components, NHPI students and the researcher engaged in
dialogue with each other and the world around them. Most of the damage-based research
involves researchers haphazardly or intentionally constructing knowledge for themselves (Tuck,
2009). However, there is value in students talking together about their self-worth and how they
define the community around them (Oyserman et al., 2002; Tuck, 2009). All elements served to
conduct research and interviews with NHPI college students to offer the best environment for
them to succeed.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 54

Figure 1. Conceptual and theoretical framework.
Summary
The terms AAPI, API, and APA group AA and NHPI students together and render NHPI
students invisible (Camacho, 2011; Wright & Spickard, 2002). This rendering is rooted in the
assumption that these communities are identical and does not recognize their unique culture,
language, and knowledge. To combat these perspectives, a theoretical framework from TribalCrit
(Brayboy, 2005) emerged from a transformative philosophical worldview. Using desire-based
research as a theory of change, the aim of this study was to foster respect and care (Tuck, 2009).
Viewing NHPI students and their community from the TribalCrit perspective mirrors
appreciation of nature (Brayboy, 2005). Discussing their perceptions of knowledge is putting
desire-based research at the forefront to support NHPI students in American institutions of
higher education.
The review of the literature mentioned seven topics. Using the terms AAPI/API/APA
groups AA and NHPI students together but tends to highlight AA instead of NHPI students.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 55

Distinguishing ancestral and Indigenous origins in Oceania/Pasifika clarified a student’s identity
to being NHPI (Moniz, 2012). NHPI identity and culture shape aspects of family responsibility,
language, religion, and culture through understanding one’s genealogy and Indigenous roots
(Smith, 2012). Since NHPI students are Indigenous, they experience a conflict in seeing
education as a way to acquire knowledge while knowing the institution promotes Western
knowledge and reject Indigenous students’ needs (Minthorn & Shotton, 2018; Smith, 2012). At
institutions that serve predominantly White students, NHPI college students experience
stereotypes and microaggressions from their peers, administrators, and faculty (Patton, 2010).
Coupled with the stress of attending college, NHPI college students can experience
negative physical, emotional, and mental changes (Sue et al., 2007). Cultural centers provide a
sanctuary for students to decompress about their negative experiences, gain academic knowledge
about their cultural history, be in a collective space that is like home, gain mentors to guide
through the institution, and be exposed to cultural events (Liu et al., 2010). Culture centers can
foster a sense of belonging among NHPI students and an environment to help them persist and
graduate (Museus et al., 2017). Finally, desire-based research as a theory of change can infuse
nature in sustenance for NHPI students and their community (Tuck, 2009). The conceptual
framework involves incorporating three parts: TribalCrit (sunlight), researcher (water), and
testimonios through desire-based research (care). This would allow NHPI college students to feel
validated and learn about their identity development, perspectives on AAPI/API/APA culture
centers, and an ideal relationship between NHPI student-run organizations and AAPI/API/APA
culture centers.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 56

CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
This study aimed to analyze NHPI college students’ perspectives of AA, AAPI, API, and
APA cultural centers. This section identifies the research questions, explains the data collection
methods, and how the interview and observation data were collected.
Methodology
I used testimonio, a research strategy of using meaningful narratives to talk about the
systematic oppression a community has faced and how it impacted their lives (Huber, 2010). In
essence, it affirms and respects the knowledge and lived experiences of oppressed communities,
questions the dominant research in dehumanizing underrepresented communities, collaborates
within a specific memory that encompasses multiple communities, and allows those not within
academia the platform through which they can speak (Huber, 2008). Testimonio is a direct
challenge to the dominant Eurocentric epistemology and White supremacy with the intention to
move toward social justice (Huber, 2008). This study utilized interviews with NHPI college
students involved in NHPI student-run cultural organizations to understand their perspectives of
AAPI/API/APA college cultural centers. This section provides reasoning for qualitative methods,
explains the sampling rationale, provides context in gaining access and entry, justifies the
interview protocol, and explains the data collection approach.
I also incorporated TribalCrit, which combines nine tenets to provide a specific CRT
approach leveraging the stories, traditions, and epistemologies of Indigenous peoples (Brayboy,
2005). In more damaged-based aspects of research, Indigenous histories are considered to be less
factual or concrete that the current epistemology of published research (Brayboy, 2005; Smith,
2012). TribalCrit allows the use of ethnographies and epistemologies to fully respect and
understand the traditions of Indigenous communities (Brayboy, 2005). The purpose for
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 57

testimonio methodology was to learn from participants’ stories how their identity was developed
and the struggles they experienced (Huber, 2010). I may have assumed how NHPI college
students feel about the terms AAPI/API/APA in respect to culture centers. Using testimonio, I
sought their opinions about the term and what would provide them a sense of belonging at their
college (Huber, 2010). TribalCrit provided the lens for students to grow and find value within
themselves (Brayboy, 2005). My hope was that the conversation would not stay within the NHPI
college student community, as the intersectionality and individuality of the ethnic subgroups
within the NHPI community should be recognized and shared.
Interviews were used for data collection because they aid in understanding participants’
thoughts, feelings, and intentions, meaning the ways in which they perceive the world (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). They allowed the researcher to enter another person’s perspective (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). In these testimonios, most of these narratives gave the researcher an in-depth
understanding of participants’ experiences and the relationship with NHPI student-run cultural
organizations and AAPI/API/APA cultural centers. These interviews gathered a personal
perspective in how students construct their NHPI identity and awaken their critical consciousness
through generative themes (Huber, 2010). For this study, interviews were best to collect
narratives from participants (Huber, 2010). In researching NHPI students in higher education,
interviews give students the platform to speak on and explore their experiences and responses
(Huber, 2010). While behavior can be observed, doing so does not capture authentic thoughts
and feelings of cultural identity on campus.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 58

Research Questions
To explore the experiences of NHPI college students and their perspectives of
AAPI/API/APA culture centers’ inclusivity, one central research question and three sub-
questions guided this study:
1. How is inclusivity enacted in the AAPI/APA/API cultural centers, from the perspective
of NHPI college students?
a. What experiences/people influenced and shaped their NHPI ethnic identity?
b. What are their reactions to and opinions of the terms AAPI/API/APA?
c. What is the relationship between NHPI student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA
culture centers?
I identify the privilege I have in being AA, and I want to uplift the NHPI community by
using my research as a platform to advocate for their visibility. Discussions about students of
color in education research and practice consistently mention deficit-based perceptions about
achievement and success (Patel, 2014; Tuck, 2009). NHPI and Indigenous communities talk
about how the prevalence of imperialism and colonialism has fostered a lack of inclusivity on
their campuses (Brayboy, 2005; Liu et al., 2010; Shotton et al., 2010; Smith, 2012). In their quest
for education, they are presented with notions and images that their Indigenous knowledge and
identity is not considered evidence by Western intellectual standards (Smith, 2012). There has
also been a historical push among AA and PI organizations to have data be disaggregated to
accurately represent the community, regardless of the population’s size (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014).
The overall purpose of my dissertation is to encourage leaders of education, social justice
institutions, and the census to critically analyze the terms AAPI/API/APA and understand NHPI
students’ opinions about the terms.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 59

Setting(s)
I interviewed students who participated as members of a Pacific Islander student-run
organization named PISA at a private university in California. Out of respect and confidentiality
for participants, I did not mention any specific names or cite specific sources where the identity
of participants can be traced. PISA is the university’s first student organization focused solely on
the Pacific Islander community on campus, off-campus, and online (Sasha, personal
communication, April 7, 2018). As a student-run organization, they conduct cultural events,
programming, and meetings dedicated to discussing issues and advocating for the NHPI
community (Sasha, personal communication, April 7, 2018). For a few years, they served their
fellow Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian students (Sasha, personal communication, April
7, 2018). They have made a home for current, incoming, past and future PI scholars and
welcomed the larger student population, neighboring PI organizations, and guests to campus
(Sasha, personal communication, April 7, 2018).
Participants
I interviewed six participants who met the following criteria:
● NHPI-identified who have family origins in Oceania/Pasifika (including students who are
mixed NHPI)
● Enrolled in a postsecondary institution as undergraduate or graduate students
● Any level of academic achievement
● Various academic interests/career goals
● Participated in NHPI student-run cultural organizations and/or AAPI/API/APA cultural
centers.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 60

In addition, the six participants’ ages ranged from early to late 20s. As my focus was on
college students, I wanted to make sure I could best represent college-aged students. Several key
factors the students had in common were NHPI-identified with family origins in
Oceania/Pasifika, enrolled in an undergraduate or master’s program, and participated in student-
run NHPI-focused culture organizations. Below, I introduce the six participants who participated
in this study. Along the same lines as the setting, I changed the participants’ names, anonymized
the college(s) they attended and other pertinent details to protect their confidentiality.
Connections to NHPI community members told me that community colleges and for-
profit universities are where most NHPI students are represented in higher education (K.C.,
personal communication, April 7, 2018). Initially, I wanted solely participants who graduated
and/or attended community college, but I would need to leverage support from gatekeepers and
stakeholders (K.C., personal communication, April 7, 2018). Instead, I opted to establish
community with PISA through Sasha, who reached out to and helped me establish rapport with
the participants.
I utilized purposeful sampling based on the criteria previously mentioned. Purposeful
sampling is based on parameters the investigator wants to discover, understand, and
conceptualize about the study (Johnson & Christensen, 2014). Therefore, they must collect from
a specific sample from which the most can be learned to meet the purpose of the study (Johnson
& Christensen, 2014). I sought participants who represented the maximum variation of the types
of students who are or were involved in NHPI student-run cultural organizations, had various
levels of academic achievement, were in different years in school, had different majors, and
identified as NHPI. With maximum variation, there is a breadth of participants who have varied
experiences within the program (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I strived for a well-represented
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 61

group of NHPI students from a variety of academic disciplines and NHPI identities. While there
was no harm to the students in their participation, I hoped they would benefit from discussing
their perspectives as NHPI college students within the larger context of higher education and
representation.
Data Collection and Instrument/Protocols
The primary form of data collection for this study was testimonios, which were produced
through semi-structured interviews. I conducted one, 60-to 120-minute audio-recorded interview
with each participant, with one group of two participants. Interviews were scheduled during the
Fall 2018 semester from November to December, at least five to seven days apart. The
participants were informed about the interview one to two weeks beforehand to accommodate for
their personal, school, and work schedules. Prior to conducting the interviews, all participants
were asked to consent to being audio-recorded by signing a consent form that affirmed their
willingness to participate in the study, which was then scanned and emailed to their school email.
To guide the interviews and encourage participants to decide what they wanted to share, the
interview protocol consisted of 15 semi-structured questions, which allowed space for probing
questions and extended discussion (see Appendix A). This also provided each participant ample
reflection on important experiences that aligned to the research questions. Once all interviews
were transcribed and analyzed, participants were sent their testimonio transcript with the
researcher’s notes and given two weeks to make changes or clarify anything that was unclear.
The purpose of the follow-up was to ensure the participants’ stories were accurately represented,
including verification of the correct spelling of their cultural terms.
The semi-structured, open-ended questions related to the following characteristics: NHPI
issues, NHPI family origin, NHPI ethnic identity development, NHPI family history, reactions to
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 62

the terms AAPI/API/APA, cultural centers, social justice, community involvement, and current
and prospective relationships with AAPI/API/APA culture centers. In contrast to a
counternarrative, I did not have a specific intention or focus when it comes to NHPI students.
The purpose of counternarratives is to provide qualitative evidence that contradicts what is
typically said about a certain community, such as African American male students excelling at
predominantly White institutions (Harper, 2009). While the interviews gave rise to conversations
that challenged current narratives about NHPI students, I wanted to hear extensive, detailed
conversations regarding their experiences (Huber, 2008). Given my privilege as AA, I was
cognizant of how I took up space in those conversations and that is why testimonio helped
answer the research questions. It gave participants the platform to speak on their identity and
struggles versus my seeking specific answers influenced by my own perspectives (Huber, 2008).
Interviews
I conducted 60-to 120-minute standardized open-ended interviews consisting of 15
questions with an informal conversational interview at the end. Standardized open-ended
interviews have a particular list of carefully worded questions replicated for other participants
(Patton, 2002). Informal conversational interviews are unstructured interviews where the
interview flows from subject to subject (Patton, 2002). Combining these two approaches led to
authentic, rich conversations (Patton, 2002). The standardized open-ended interviews gave me a
structure to follow and the informal conversational interviews allowed freedom for the
participants to further talk about any topic they wanted to explore (Patton, 2002). Since I do not
have any family relations or cultural connections to the NHPI community, I acquired as much as
I could to encourage higher education institutions to support them.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 63

As the researcher, I am an outside entity and, therefore, do not supervise or provide
grades to students. In seeking participants for this study, I communicated with Sasha and offered
to conduct the interview with her and Alex as my first interview. After our interview, they both
suggested a list of students they could reach out to and also contacted NHPI college students. I
interviewed the following students in this order: Sasha and Alex, Shea, Ryan, James, and Pete.
While Sasha was the former leader of PISA, I was transparent with students in communications
that their participation was voluntary and confidential; PISA was not notified that they would
participate.
In selecting the individuals to interview, I was aware of being transparent, ensured
informed consent, caused them no harm, and maintained confidentiality. Informed consent
involves being transparent about voluntary participation, potential issues with the interview
questions, and the option to end the interview at any time (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I explained
the research questions and the purpose of the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). After generating
their interest and fielding their questions about the study, I conducted the interview. This was to
ensure interview answers would remain confidential, especially due to the manager/student
leader to student relationship (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Data Analysis
I used constant comparative method since I was unsure what topics would emerge from
the conversation. This allowed me to identify themes and eventually group those themes together
into key topics for analysis.
The approach to analyzing interview and observational data involved preparing,
analyzing, and manipulating the data. I began by organizing data into a Google Folder separated
by interview or observation, then labeling them by date, location, and participant. Once the data
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 64

were organized, I assign them open, a priori and empirical codes through the interview and
observation transcripts. A priori codes emerge from the literature before the research has begun
whereas empirical codes originate during review of the data, highlighting points of importance or
focus (Harding, 2013). A priori codes came from the concepts outlined in the research and
concepts previously identified before I started the research (Harding, 2013). I paid special
attention to the nine tenets of TribalCrit (Brayboy, 2005). Empirical codes began as a distinction
from a priori codes and focused on specific concepts related to NHPI students in student-run
cultural organizations and their perspectives to the term AAPI and API culture centers. I then
grouped the open codes together in axial coding (Harding, 2013). It is coding based on the
interpretations and reflections of category meanings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Naming these
codes was helpful in constructing eventual categories and connecting them to the research
question (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). By establishing codes, I developed a construct for the needs
of NHPI students in higher education and how their colleges can support them.
To further refine the codes, I implemented analytic tools to draw upon personal
experience, use the flip-flop technique, and look at language. These tools broadened the coding
process and raised questions which allowed for the liberal coding of data (Corbin & Strauss,
2008). The questions about NHPI identity, family, and Indigenous roots can foster students’
engagement with their knowledge of who they are. After labeling the categories, I determined the
number of categories I should have and devised a system to sort data in categories. From there, I
compiled the group of categories into themes relevant to the research question or sub-questions.
Finally, I collected those themes into assertions, which are strong declarative statements
providing an overarching context (Harding, 2013). Instead of making assumptions of what NHPI
students need from their institutions, I referred to the assertions to determine what students
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 65

believe constructs their identity. This step-by-step process allowed for a cautious approach to
data analysis.
Limitations and Delimitations
While this study focused on students in NHPI student-run cultural organizations and their
thoughts regarding the term AAPI/API/APA in relation to cultural centers, there were some
limitations to this study. In this study, I listened to the experiences of NHPI participants who
have been involved in student-run cultural organizations and/or NHPI identity development
programs. As previously mentioned, these opportunities allowed participants to further develop
and understand their cultural heritage. In reference to TribalCrit, their stories are unique to their
own experiences and are, therefore, not generalizable to other NHPI college students’ stories.
Their experiences could be different from that of other NHPI college students who may not have
engaged with their cultural identity in this manner.
Also, I am not NHPI, so I assured participants I was not appropriating or misrepresenting
the community in any way. Initially, other NHPI researchers directed me to Pasifika
methodologies such as talanoa, Faafaletui, kakala, and Vanua as they supported the NHPI-built
methodology of storytelling and respecting elders/ancestors (Suaalii-Sauni & Fulu-Aiolupotea,
2014; Tunufa’i, 2016; Vaioleti, 2006). As much as I wanted to implement those methodologies, I
was concerned that I did not have enough time to be fully trained and learn from
Oceania/Pasifika/NHPI researchers on proper technique. In addition, I felt those research
methodologies were specifically for the islands of their origins (Suaalii-Sauni & Fulu-
Aiolupotea, 2014; Tunufa’i, 2016; Vaioleti, 2006). I selected testimonios as these were as close
as I could get to the Oceania/Pasifika/NHPI research methodologies. As such, I elected Sasha as
a cultural advisor to respectfully ask for access to these communities (Smith, 2012). For most of
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 66

the students I met, I offered them food or drink without forcing them to participate in any way.
To foster rapport, I respected their cultural values and aimed at understanding their experiences
by asking clarifying questions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Finally, even though I intended for maximum variation sampling, there were NHPI
communities that were overrepresented as well as underrepresented in this research. Even upon
review of the background of the problem and the literature review, much of the dissertation tends
to lead toward more research about NH and Samoan students. ‘ŌiwiCrit mentions education
structures in Hawai’i are based on colonialism and occupation (Wright & Balutski, 2015).
‘ŌiwiCrit also mentioned the negative effects of tourism on Native Hawaiians. While some PI
communities may have dealt with colonization and occupation, not all PI communities are
aligned with the experiences of NH. To assume they had would be to perpetuate the same issues
that the terms AAPI/API/APA do in essentially rendering some communities invisible
(Camacho, 2011; Labrador & Wright, 2011; Wright & Spickard, 2002). This is why I used
TribalCrit as the theoretical framework in relation to NHPI students. By connecting the shared
identity of Indigenous cultural roots, the participants could speak on their experiences (Brayboy,
2005).
This study will have a particular niche since the focus was on California NHPI college
students involved in NHPI student-run cultural organizations. Even though students may have
been born outside of California, these students are only specific to the education system in this
state. This study will not be generalizable to NHPI college students in other states or to
California students who attend other institutions of higher education. Yet, this research is useful
in conversations regarding visibility for NHPI college students.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 67

Positionality
Positionality refers to the key pieces of a researcher’s identity that shape how they
perceive the world (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). They can be race, gender, socioeconomic status,
and sexual orientation among others (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). It is important to articulate
positionality to recognize one’s internal biases and their influence on the research (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Without doing so, the researcher can perpetuate this researcher-researched
relationship that alludes to the settler-slave relationship, allowing the slave to validate and
reaffirm the settler’s status (Patel, 2016).
Questions of why me, why this, why now, and why ensured the researcher would not
perpetuate colonialist perspectives framing the communities as desolate or stagnant. In why me,
the researcher should make an appropriate pause for reflection on their individual experiences to
create, add, and critique knowledge (Patel, 2016). In why this, it is important to analyze theories
and their contributions to the research and history of the issue, its research context, its
relationship to the community, and whose voices have been marginalized/silenced (Patel, 2016).
Why now and why here emphasize that what is deemed crucial and important in one specific
location and time is not necessarily transferrable or equivalent to a different location and time
(Patel, 2016). By asking these questions, I developed a cognizant perspective of being intentional
and effective in how this collection of stories contributes to the NHPI community.
The topic for this study emerged from a visit to Hawai’i in March 2018 with USC’s
Asian Pacific American Student Services (USC Student Affairs, 2017), which hosted an annual
week-long alternative spring break in Hawai’i for students to learn about NH culture and
Hawaiian sovereignty (USC Student Affairs, 2017). During that trip, I was exposed to the
misconceptions about NH and how much they despise mainly White Americans fueling the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 68

tourism industry, using up their natural resources, feigning ignorance about military occupation,
and virtually making Native Hawaiians become immigrants in their own motherland, similar to
the experiences of NA on Mainland reservations (Okamura, 1998; Wright & Balutski, 2015).
When I returned, I felt uncomfortable including NHPI with AA and the model minority
myth. At institutions of higher education, the term API, APA, and AAPI are often used in the
names of culture spaces. At the University of Southern California (USC), a highly selective
private university in Southern California, organizations such as the Asian Pacific Alumni
Association (APAA) claim to be inclusive of the AA and NHPI community (2017). Yet, most of
their programming and board of directors are AAs (APAA, personal communication, April 12,
2018). Even some public institutions are not culturally responsive neither. At California
Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP), their cultural center for AA and NHPI students is named
the Asian & Pacific Islander Student Center (APISC). While the center claims to be inclusive of
both AA and NHPI students, its only NHPI-related event/program was a lei-making workshop
(CPP APISC, personal communication, March 28, 2018). While the event had intentions to
promote NHPI culture, it was hosted by a student who did not have particular ties to the NHPI
community. Furthermore, a lei-making workshop perpetuates the minimization of the overall
experiences, contributions, struggles, and voices of non-dominant groups, consistent with a
Eurocentric, colonial curriculum (Banks, 1993).
At the time, I worked as an API cultural center graduate assistant (GA) at a public
university in Southern California. I asked a former supervisor about the programming we offered
to bring more NHPI to our cultural center. They responded by saying that we had a workshop on
a particular NHPI cultural artifact, but it was hosted by an AA student who did not identify as
NHPI. I then researched the AAPI/API/APA terminology. It helped me reflect on my experience
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 69

growing up in Carson, California, where the majority of the students at my high school were
African American, Samoan, Pilipino, and Latinx. I remembered other Pilipinos claimed they
were PI because of our homeland’s location in the Pacific Ocean, and they participated in
Polynesian cultural dance. I had conversations with other NHPI and Pilipinos who felt this could
be considered cultural appropriation.
Inspired by a desire-based theory of change, I dedicated this research as a platform for
NHPI communities overshadowed by the premise of AA in the terms AAPI/API/APA. For this
dissertation, I hoped leaders at schools, districts, institutions of higher education, and social
justice organizations might critically analyze the terms AAPI/API/APA and question their
organization’s purpose in including NHPI in their programming. As one of my favorite
podcasters recites as a perpetual mantra, “Words mean things” (Kid Fury & West, 2013).
This study is central to my identity as a queer, Pilipinx, first-generation, educated student
of color. I recognize the privilege I have as AA, and I intend to use that privilege to advocate for
the NHPI community and bring them into the education conversation, especially regarding
visibility, equity, and access. Specifically, in colleges and universities, AA and NHPI students as
a whole are successful in retention and graduation rates. Yet, disaggregating data revealed that
communities such as Pilipinx, Cambodian, Samoan, Laotian, Hmong, and Thai do not reflect
those same levels of retention and graduation rates as East Asian students (CCCCO, 2017). At
the CSUs, there is an AAPI Initiative meant to increase enrollment and graduation rates via
outreach, partnership, and retention (Cervantes, 2018). Yet, some institutions of higher education
alluded that their communities are statistically insignificant and refused to recognize the NHPI
student population. Since the NHPI student population typically represent less than 1% of the
population, some institutions may choose not to report this data (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). While
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 70

they are smaller than other communities of color, they are still present and visible on campus.
Researchers must articulate the way in they perceive the world to transform new epistemologies
to expand fundamental knowledge of learning and develop theory to incite sustainable and
revolutionary social change (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016). Refusing to adapt to the growing NHPI
population goes against institutions’ diversity statements as listed in their mission statements.
Again, words and labels carry connotations and contentions.
My experiences are not directly aligned with the norms regarding my topic. While I grew
up first-generation, my mother earned a bachelor’s in nursing in the Philippines. I was born in
America but do not have a strong grasp of my home language like I used to when I was little. As
a child, I tended to misrepresent myself in filling out student information cards in that I
considered myself PI instead of AA. I assumed that, since my parents’ motherland is the
Philippines, an archipelago of islands in the Pacific Ocean, that meant I am PI. Many Pilipinx do
not consider themselves Asian and lean toward an ambiguous mix of PI, Latinx, and Asian
cultural roots (Diaz, 2004; Ocampo, 2016; Ong, 2019). Especially among Pilipinx, there is still
some confusion regarding whether Pilipinx would be considered either AA or NHPI.
I relied on the definitions outlined by NHPI scholars in that NHPI means having family
origins in Oceania (Moniz, 2012). Within Oceania, the islands were named by French colonizer
Jules Dumont d’Urville based on superficial appearances: Polynesia, the many islands;
Micronesia, the small islands; and Melanesia, black islands (T. Siagatonu, personal
communication, February 8, 2015). For this study, I allowed students to also critically analyze
this term to adapt, revise, or change this term as they saw fit. Doing so brought participants into
the conversation regarding the field of education.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 71

Credibility and Trustworthiness
To demonstrate credibility, this study entailed triangulation, member checks, interviews,
and constant comparisons. For transferability, this study made use of thick descriptions (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). For dependability, data were recorded accurately and reported fully (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016).
In contrast to quantitative research, qualitative research is not meant to reduce bias but to
understand and incorporate it into the research. Two threats to validity include the researcher’s
bias in either only accepting data that matches their preconceptions or selecting data that stands
out (Maxwell, 2013). Another is the reactivity or the influence of the researcher’s presence on
the participants (Maxwell, 2013). By only selecting data that would be attractive to the
researcher, they might any important key concepts or perspectives that would aim to provide a
cohesive context (Maxwell, 2013). To establish trustworthiness with the data, I used five tactics:
triangulation; peer review/examination; rich, thick descriptions to capture all content; following
up surprises; and ruling out spurious relations (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). These
tactics enhanced transferability, which is the extent to which the findings apply to other
situations, dependability or the consistency of the design, and confirmability where the data can
be traced to original sources (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In doing this, the research must be valid
in that it truthfully reflects the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethics
Articulating a theory of change is necessary to articulating my ethical stance (Tuck,
2009). The research can draw attention to what matters: either the research, the participants, or
how the research is conducted (Tuck, 2009). Our actions need to lead to our purposes. In terms
of participating in the research, the researcher is more of the tool used to analyze the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 72

conversation (Tuck, 2009). In terms of posing questions, participants inform the researcher on
the guidelines (Patel, 2016). I provided some ideas for what types of questions that I would ask
but the goal was for me to not take up space in conversation (Patel, 2016). Through a desire-
based framework that recognizes multiple methods assembled from prior experiences, that is
how data were collected (Tuck, 2009). I constructed a cohesive representation of participants’
views and incorporated complexity and contradictions (Tuck, 2009). Framing the research as
desire-based versus damage-based can shift the intention from the knowledge being used for
appropriation or misuse (Tuck, 2009). It may cease the perpetuation of stereotypes about NHPI
college students and allow the public to see them as their own, cohesive community among their
NHPI student-run cultural organizations, instead of being in the shadow of the AA community
(Diaz, 2004; Uehara et al., 2018; Wright & Spickard, 2002). In terms of benefits, this could
allow short-term benefits of providing conversation and creating actionable items for the NHPI
community (Smith, 2012). In the long-term, it will uncover truths and patterns in the community
and how to address them.
Even though the research may be valid and trustworthy, there still are ethical concerns.
The research presents issues regarding privacy/representation, deception, and
exploration/reciprocity (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016; Smith, 2012). To ensure that the research
would not only benefit me, questions were asked regarding the purpose, benefits, and
perspectives represented in the dissertation (Smith, 2012). In particular, questions regarding two
whom the researcher was accountable and to whom the study was aimed as well as relevant
provided multiple sources of input (Smith, 2012). In cases where I felt I made the majority of the
decisions, I restructured or rewrote particular aspects to make them more ethical and cohesive for
other perspectives.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 73

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of this qualitative study was to gather stories from six NHPI college students
who have family origins in Oceania/Pasifika, are enrolled or graduated from a postsecondary
institution, possessed different academic interests/career goals, and participated in NHPI student-
run cultural organizations and/or AAPI/API/APA cultural centers. The testimonios collected for
this study revealed significant experiences among participants engaging with their NHPI identity
and how their critical perspectives critically analyzed AAPI/API/APA student centers and
organizations on their campuses. This chapter examined the findings from thematic analysis of
the testimonios to answer the research question and sub-questions. Each research sub-question is
illustrated individually to further examine the themes and findings that emerged from each
participant’s testimonios.
Theoretical Framework and Research Question
TribalCrit was the overarching framework and lens through which data were analyzed. In
this chapter, the excerpts provided are directly cited from participants’ words. Participants shared
their thoughts to supplement previous research and spoke honestly to advocate for their
community. This countered the research previous conducted by Westerners on Indigenous
communities by making assumptions about their communities, without fully allowing them to
contribute to the research. Storytelling is a key method through which knowledge is shared and
disseminated among Indigenous communities, especially among PI communities. This study
used two of the nine tenets of TribalCrit:
● Indigenous peoples have a desire to obtain and forge tribal sovereignty, tribal autonomy,
self-determination, and self-identification.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 74

● Tribal philosophies, beliefs, customs, traditions, and visions for the future are central to
understanding the lived realities of Indigenous peoples, but they also illustrate the
differences and adaptability among individuals and groups.
I chose these two tenets because they most closely aligned with the research questions
and sub-questions. They both mention the capacity for Indigenous communities to identify
themselves and respect the individual beliefs and traditions that each member possesses within
that community. I emphasized the stand-alone testimonios (Appendix A) for a comprehensive
look into participants’ lived experiences and engagement with their ethnic identities. Doing so
allowed participants to conceptualize their stories from their own perspectives and realities, as I
do not share NHPI cultural roots or identify as AA. The students’ voices collected in this study
answered the central research question and sub-questions:
1. How is inclusivity enacted in the AAPI/APA/API cultural centers, from the perspective
of NHPI college students?
a. What experiences/people influenced and shaped their NHPI ethnic identity?
b. What are their reactions to and opinions of the terms AAPI/API/APA?
c. What is the relationship between NHPI student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA
culture centers?
Presentation of the Findings
Findings were drawn from participants’ stories by compiling major themes derived from
their testimonios. This section illustrates themes which portrayed how they developed and
understood their NHPI ethnic identity. This informed their perspectives on the AAPI/API/APA
terminology and culture centers. I developed the major themes by reviewing and analyzing the
transcripts data of all six interviews.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 75

Participant Sketches
Sasha. Sasha is a 24-year-old female Samoan-Pilipinx-Mexican from the San Gabriel
Valley, a suburb northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Her mother is Pilipina and Samoan and
her father is Mexican. Being raised by her single mother, she had a stronger grasp of her Pilipino
roots, and her extended Mexican family taught her about her Mexican identity. She speaks
Tagalog and Spanish fluently. Yet, she did not have knowledge of her Samoan identity, so she
tried to learn about her heritage from the beginning of her time in college. She has a strong
connection with God and identifies as Christian. She is a higher education professional at a
community college in Southern California. She earned a master’s in higher education
administration from a private university in California. She worked multiple part-time jobs in
student affairs at both the private university from which she received a master’s and a
community college. She received a bachelor’s in advertising from a CSU and was the former
student body president. In graduate school, she founded PISA after attending a week-long NHPI
college student intensive where she learned about her and other NHPI identities. Sasha was
pivotal to the study as a cultural advisor in helping the researcher recruit and select participants
to interview. Sasha is in a long-term relationship with Alex, and they live together.
Alex. Alex is a 26-year-old male Samoan-Pilipino-Niuean-American graduate student
from Central California. He grew up primarily around family members. As the son of a Samoan
pastor, he was raised to have strong ethnic identity as Samoan and a dedicated Christian. He
knows little about his Niuean side as his maternal grandmother was born into a Niuean family,
but was adopted by a Samoan family and was raised to be more Samoan. His Pilipino side comes
from his fraternal grandfather, but, because of the trauma from World War II, did not teach Alex
about his Pilipino culture. He is currently enrolled in a Master of Divinity program at a school of
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 76

theology in California. He earned a bachelor’s in mathematics at a private liberal arts college in
Southern California and hoped to become an engineer. In 2012, he took time off from college to
care for his sick father and returned to finish his degree a year later. When he realized
engineering was not the ideal career for him, he entered graduate school on a full scholarship and
reflected on how his connection to his faith helped him. At his undergraduate campus religious
center, he sought the support of the associate director who inspired him to pursue a master’s
degree. At his school of theology, Alex is involved in the Asian American Pacific Disciples
Caucus and the PISA.
Shea. Shea is a 25-year-old female Samoan graduate student from Long Beach,
California, who will be graduating with a master’s in social work from a private university in
California in the spring of 2019. Her parents were born on the island of Samoa and moved to the
United States in search of a better opportunity to raise their children. She was raised in a
traditional Samoan household, which consisted of church and chores. While she initially obeyed
the rules, she became more independent as she got older and began to challenge her culture’s
gender roles. Christianity is central to her identity, especially as she took a break from religion in
during her undergraduate education. Her father is an orator, and, from him, she has a strong
understanding and knowledge of her genealogy. She attended a UC where she majored in
anthropology and minored in cognitive science. She intended to major in biology and become a
doctor as her parents wanted her to, but she did not feel it was her career path. She had an older
sister who passed away when she was young, so her parents wanted her to have a strong
understanding of the medical field. Every summer, her family and she would visit her relatives in
Samoa, and she learned about mental health services, which encouraged her to become a mental
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 77

health professional. She was involved with PISA both at the UC she attended and the private
university.
Ryan. Ryan is a 20-year-old male Native Hawaiian-Pilipino undergraduate student from
the South Bay area of Los Angeles County where he currently lives with his grandmother. His
father is NH and his mother is Pilipino. His maternal side of the family was from Lai’e on the
North Shore of Hawai’i, and, on his paternal side, he only knew that they were from Moloka’i
and then came to Oahu. He does not know much about the paternal side of his family. Growing
up, he was well-versed by his maternal family on his NH heritage but does not speak Tagalog or
know much about his Filipino family, except that his grandfather is Visayan and his grandmother
is from Rizal. He has two older brothers and he was the only one who attended college. He grew
up around other AA and met a few NHPI at the magnet middle school he attended. He is
currently a communications major but intends to transfer into his private university’s film
program. He graduated from an accelerated high school associated with a college where he
earned both an associate degree and a high school diploma. Since he was ahead in college
credits, he studied abroad his first semester at the American University of Paris and officially
began at the private university in spring of last year. In college, he bonded with a NA student in
the film school, especially in that their homelands experienced American colonization and their
people became immigrants in their own countries. As an aspiring filmmaker, he intends to
change the portrayal of Indigenous people in cinema.
James. James is a 20-year-old Chamorro (Native Guamanian) and Hispanic
undergraduate communications student from near Sacramento, California. He was raised in a
predominantly White suburb until he and his family moved back to Guam when he was eight
years old. When he attended private school in Guam, schoolmates called him “Haole,” the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 78

Chamorro term for White person. In his words, he presents as more Hispanic and vaguely
Chamorro. His mother’s father is monoethnic Pilipino and his father is mestizo, White/European
and Chamorro, which makes James a quarter Pilipino. He has an older brother and sister. The
Pilipino side of his family had a European/Spanish last name, which comes from his family’s
predominantly European/mestizo ancestry. His first ancestor was a merchant marine from Spain
who moved to Guam in the 19th century and married a Chamorro woman. James identifies as
Catholic. He has been an active member of PISA since its inception and participates in a
Chamorro cultural center. He knows the history of Chamorro cultural genocide and finds
commonalities with both Chamorros and NA.
Pete. Pete is a 21-year-old Tongan-African American student enrolled in a combined
bachelors’ and masters’ program in public health and global medicine. He attends a private
university in Southern California. His mother is Tongan, and his father is African American. He
lived with his mother in a single parent household in South Central Los Angeles until he was
five. His mother was the youngest of 11 siblings and came to America when she was around 5
years old. Since she was raised more as American, she identifies more as American but still
identifies as Tongan and can speak both Tongan and Samoan. Pete did not learn how to speak
Tongan and identifies as Mormon. He attended church in a Samoan ward and was immersed in
Tongan culture by being surrounded by cousins who attended as well. During family reunions,
his mother’s family discussed their genealogy, which is how he learned about his entire family.
He is the oldest of three brothers. The middle brother was raised by an uncle who could not have
children and asked for permission to raise him, which his mother respected. His middle brother
speaks fluent Tongan and Samoan since his uncle’s wife is also Samoan. His mother did not like
the environment he was in, so he attended elementary school in Lakewood, east of South Central
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 79

Los Angeles. He eventually attended a magnet science and technology high school in the South
Bay area and discovered a passion for medicine. He met Sasha at the NHPI student workshop
and helped her to bring other NHPI college students to PISA. He used to be an active member
but is not anymore. After completing a master’s degree, he intends to attend medical school.
Pacific Islander Ethnic Identity Development
The testimonios collected revealed the various ways in which all six participants engaged
with their NHPI ethnic identity. They either learned from their parents and families within
cultural and religious infrastructures or they self-taught through opportunities they sought. Each
participant expressed their own ethnic development trajectories. It is important to note five
participants identify as multiethnic, so simply navigating only one identity in being PI is a unique
experience for them. Application of TribalCrit in this collection of stories allowed for a
comprehensive consideration of their Indigenous identity in navigating their school experiences
with people who may have not fully understood or recognized their identity.
In response to the first research sub-question, the following three themes emerged: family
upbringing and learning about their PI identity, being multiethnic/multiracial or monoethnic PI,
and seeking or experiencing opportunities to learn more about their ethnic identities. These
themes were identified across all participants’ thoughts as significant experiences that shaped
how they perceived their identity. Each theme is discussed below.
Being multiethnic versus monoethnic. As previously mentioned, almost half of PI
identify as multiethnic (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014). Five participants identify as multiethnic, and they
shared experiences about growing up multiethnic. While most talk about their pride in
identifying with more than one ethnicity, they felt excluded from the PI community at times.
Most experiences from multiethnic participants involved trying to access or navigate PI-centered
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 80

spaces/communities. In seeking opportunities for them to connect with people who respect and
understand multiethnic PI, the participants found the potential to embrace their PI identity.
Pete did not come to terms with being multiethnic, since he strongly identified with being
Tongan when he was much younger. His father is African American and his mother is Tongan.
Since he grew up in a single parent household until he was five, he identified only with being
Tongan:
It’s kind of hard to describe because you grow up in a household [and] you don’t really
think about those things. You just know that that’s who you are. I think it wasn’t until
maybe middle school where you start to realize these things because even in elementary
school, it’s fairly innocent. You don’t really consider race too much. You kind of see that
there’s people that are different than you, they look different than you, but ethnicity and
culture and things like that, they don’t really play a huge factor in shaping who you are,
or not from a personal experience.
In his household, he did not have to think about his Tongan identity because that was his
environment. He had a strong sense of cultural identity. It was in middle school that
conversations and reflections about identity emerged and he began to see his NHPI identity and
ethnicity as identifiers he had to qualify.
Sasha was frustrated during her undergraduate years seeking acceptance in the PI
community as a Samoan-Mexican-Pilipinx woman. She mentioned a Tongan who was Tongan-
Fijian-German-Scottish who also faced difficulty finding a sense of belonging in the PI
community:
And her and I came with the same struggles of we didn’t feel enough to our community
and it’s disappointing that other communities would rather welcome us and, for her, I
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 81

think would be like the White community versus…and, for me, it was the Latino
community who are so willing to accept me. But it was like, when we tried to turn to our
own people, we were always getting the negative backlash. Because we’re not Samoan
enough. She’s not Tongan or Fijian enough because maybe we can’t speak it fluently or
maybe we sound too American. That was hard. I had to get all those shots in the gut all
the time. But it’s just more of this idea of okay, well how do I persevere, how do I still
navigate, how do I reaffirm myself in this? I went to a church that it was a lot of Samoan
influence, but even then, I didn’t really click with the Samoan people at that church
because they were just their own group. They’re like oh, you’re kind of Samoan but not
really Samoan.
While other communities may accept and welcome her multiethnic identity, the Samoan
community felt she was not “Samoan enough.” Given that Sasha and her friend did not know the
language fluently and did not have a Samoan accent, they were excluded from the PI community.
She sought support in the Samoan church, but they also felt like she did not belong.
Sasha mentioned multiethnic PI are not as respected as other ethnic communities. Yet,
she draws the difference between being multiethnic from other non-White communities and
being half-White:
You’re like, “People in other communities have told us we’re not enough, so, you’re
mixed, so you’re not enough.” And it’s just like you have to prove yourself a lot….
Because if you’re like ... so the word for half-White, half Samoan is afakasi. Afa is half,
kasi is like holy, glory, and whatever, and White people are glorified in culture, or
whatever. So, afakasi.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 82

In the Samoan language and culture, being half-White is glorified since it was originally believed
White people were sent from God. Yet, since she was not half-White, she was not respected or
honored in the Samoan community. These continual experiences brought stress for her in having
to vouch for who she is.
Alex also identifies as multiethnic, but contrasting Sasha, he has a strong ethnic identity
as Samoan. He spoke about the monoethnic Samoan men who can recount their family
genealogy over two to three generations. These men saw multiethnic PI as being only part
Samoan:
So, they have this sense of pride in who they are because they’re full-blooded. And then
looking at others who are mixed, they just see that there’s potential, but they don’t treat it
as potential, they just say, “Oh, you’re like…” Like in Harry Potter, they’re mudbloods.
They’re wizards, but they’re not full-fledged wizards. So, there’s potential there, but,
“I’m not going to recognize that in you because you’re coming from this bloodline.” It’s
a sort of classism in between the cultures. I don’t know how to explain it, but they feel
they have a higher sense of power because they have this full sense of self, versus
somebody who has one self here, one self there, one self there.
Alex considers this aspect of being only part Samoan as classism. Since they possessed a
welcomed mixed-race identity, they were not fully recognized within the PI community. Non-
mixed-race Samoans perceived having different pieces of one’s self in different identities made a
multiethnic person inferior.
Shea recognized her privilege in not being of mixed ethnicity and spoke about how much
knowledge and effort it takes to learn about her community. She recognized and fully immersed
herself in her culture to learn more about herself:
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 83

It takes so much commitment to learn and really feel a part of my one culture. If you have
so many cultures, I feel like you’re dividing yourself up so much, how can you possibly
commit to one when there isn’t that same level of commitment, and that’s my
assumption. There may not be that same level of commitment to having that knowledge.
Since being monoethnic Samoan means remembering so much information, she feels it may be a
detriment to multiethnic PI who need to navigate those multiple ethnic spaces to get a full
understanding of who they are. She thinks it difficult to fully dedicate themselves to one
ethnicity and develop a strong sense of PI identity.
Shea acknowledged her privilege in being solely Samoan because she can emphasize her
culture. She was sometimes told she did not look NHPI by people who were not NHPI. While
she was confused by their comments, she is still part of the Samoan community. She provided
her own perspectives of multiethnic PI:
But then, on the other hand, I do recognize that people who are mixed, whether its half
and half or much more than just a half split, they have this ability to get away. They get
the opportunity to not have to be forced to be authentically Samoan. They don’t have to
adhere to the principles, which can sometimes be very restricting. They aren’t tied with
that same responsibility. They have the freedom to be ambiguous. They have the freedom
to choose. And so, sometimes, I recognize that during times when my cultural
responsibilities really weigh me down in a negative way, or in a stressful way, just in a
stressful way.
Shea felt there is significant pressure in being Samoan. She needed to adhere to particular aspects
of her culture without being something else. She saw NHPI with multiethnic identities as having
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 84

the opportunity to be ambiguous and choose. In contrast to Sasha’s experience with being
multiethnic, Shea may not have experienced being excluded from the NHPI community.
Ryan identifies as NH and Pilipino, but he never fully learned more about his Pilipino
side. His family reunions involved tracing his NH family lineage and learning about his
ancestors, immersing himself in the traditions and stories of Hawai’i. Given his family
upbringing was fully immersed only in NH culture, he never got to embrace his Pilipino identity:
Yeah, I’m trying to learn more, though. That’s why I’m trying to reconnect with my
Pilipino side, just because it’s so outdated. Eventually, I feel like we’re not gonna have
ties to it, especially because we don’t know Tagalog and everything and all we’ve got
tied to that side is basically my grandma and that’s it.
He was trying to be active in reconnecting and learning about his Pilipino identity, but he never
had the chance to do so. He worried he might no longer having a strong connection to his
Pilipino side of the family. His grandmother is the last connection he has to that side of the
family and he does not want to lose it.
James mentioned even the physical appearance of being Chamorro carried particular
privilege and occupying space in the culture, similar to Shea’s experience. Appearing Chamorro
would require smaller eyes and looking more Southeast Asian. With the presence of the Spanish,
mestizo Chamorros look more Hispanic, which is what he closely resembles:
Now, I’d say the biggest thing of discrimination goes down, and especially in high
school, was going to private or public school. Because you can look mestizo Chamorro,
whatever, in public school. You could even be half-White in public school. But as long as
you were from public school, that made students in public school identify closer together
than if you went to private school. It was more or less a class thing. And I feel like that
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 85

might have something to do, going all the way back to colonial times. And perhaps with
mestizos being treated better, or there just being classism on Guam. And it even goes
back to ancient Chamorro society, because there was a caste system on Guam where
Chamorros who were able to live on the coast and, therefore, had access to the water and
everything, and Chamorros that were casted into living the land as farmers and were not
allowed to touch the ocean.
James traced the difference in being monoethnic Chamorro to mestizo Chamorro from earlier
times. Just like Sasha mentioned being half-White was idolized in Samoan culture, mestizo
Chamorros possessed that privilege from being half-White as well. Yet, he provided a
perspective in adding social class in having access to resources on Guam. Since monoethnic
Chamorros were forced to be farmers versus being on the land, that could have caused this
phenotypic change and intermarriage among the Spanish.
Sasha found a supportive space in her master’s program where she found other
multiethnic NHPI who felt the same way she did. They also faced backlash from monoethnic
NHPI who felt they had a strong connection with being PI compared to those who were
multiethnic. She created the PISA to bring the NHPI community together:
I think that’s what really helped ground me in really wanting to be an advocate for others
who may have felt that way. And it wasn’t until I entered my experience at the university
that I wasn’t the only one that was going through this problem of not feeling validated by
our community. People judging multiethnic Pacific Islanders. I felt like sometimes full-
blooded Pacific Islanders felt like they were the shit. And I’m like who the fuck are you?
You’re just as at an equal playing field in society if we were to look at different areas.
And I think, for me, that empowerment really allowed me to kind of be an advocate for
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 86

others, and so we were able to create peace through the branch of symbols [Pacific
Islander non-profit organization] folks. And it was through that experience I got to meet
more people who are very much in that same experience.
As a role model for multiethnic NHPI, she brought the NHPI community together at her
university and promoted the visibility of NHPI on campus. Instead of simply repeating her
undergraduate experience, she embraced her multiethnic identity as a master’s student.
The five multiethnic NHPI interviewed charted the experience of being multiethnic.
While they may not have fully recognized it when they were younger, their adolescence and
early adulthood made implicit bias apparent. There were times they felt excluded from the NHPI
community because they were of mixed ancestry. NHPI who are not multiethnic may see another
perspective in those who are in terms of their efforts to access all their identities at the same
time, which can cause pressure. In spaces that fully support and welcome them, multiethnic
NHPI can feel part of the NHPI community.
Family origin and upbringing. Aligned with the research, four participants revealed
their parents educated them about their family’s culture. In most cases, parents emphasized
coming into contact with their ethnic identity and cultural upbringing. Most participants
mentioned specific instances where their families educated them about cultural values that were
pivotal to who they were.
Shea stated her parents emigrated to the United States from Samoa in 1988. Her parents
raised her and her siblings in a traditional Samoan household where her parents valued chores
and church. There were important rituals her family honored, and which were easy for her to
understand until she started attending school and acquired a sense of the American culture and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 87

education system. In particular, her parents emphasized the three principles of Fa’a Samoa (the
Samoan Way):
So, I feel like in the basic sense, growing up, my parents taught me what I believe to be
the three principles of Fa’a Samoa. So Fa’a Samoa is the traditional Samoan way of life.
And the three principles are faith, so believing in God, but more importantly actually
practicing attending church is really important to traditional Samoans. And then secondly
was the family unit, understanding your role in the family. This includes gender roles.
This includes the placement you are as a sibling, whether or not you’re an older sibling or
a younger sibling. It includes, more into the gender roles, like your connection to your
mom if you’re a daughter, or your connection to your father if you’re a son. And then
your connection between siblings is actually really important in Samoan culture. So that
early life interaction, for me, was really, really strong and really present. So, I felt that
from an early age, my ethnic identity was probably my strongest identity. Yeah, it was
very continuous.
Shea listed the three principles of Fa’a Samoa she grew up with: valuing a relationship with God,
understanding one’s role within the family, and honoring the relationship between siblings. Due
to her parents’ dedication to orienting their family about their culture, she developed a strong
connection with her ethnic identity. This was further developed and emphasized when she and
her family went to Samoa every summer for a month or two to visit her äiga, extended family.
She noted her parents were helping support their family in Samoa to build a house big enough to
house their aunties and uncles. It was a privilege for her since it was quite expensive to Samoa
every summer. From those visits, she established the connection between her family’s
upbringing and her family genealogy:
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 88

So, I think that, in understanding where my family came from and how they lived at that
moment, while we were still building their house, I knew that there was so much more
out there in the world. And so, with my genealogy I’ve ... You know in school, here in
elementary schools, sometimes they’ll have kids do their family tree. My family tree’s so
big. So, out of doing those projects, I would be able to match names to faces. It was an
easier process for me. And also, my father, he has a chiefly title, and its English word for
orator. He knows his genealogy on his side for many generations. And, although he’s not
passing on that particular title to me, he has stressed the importance of knowing because,
out here, you see a lot of folks who don’t know where they came from, who don’t know
how they’re rooted back home. I’m privileged to say my dad knows that, and I wanted to,
I would know it, too. I just know perhaps two generations, but I don’t know anything
beyond that.
Given how important it is in the Samoan culture to know your genealogy/family tree, Shea
considered it a privilege to understand and know her family’s roots for two generations. Her
father also held a special role in the community as orator, especially with the aspect of orally
recounting their family’s history. She and her father understood how important it is to know their
family history, as it is directly connected to Fa’a Samoa and respecting one’s elders as well
knowing who came before.
All participants shared stories about their initial exposure to their cultures growing up.
However, some participants did not have full or significant exposure to their cultural identities
based on the decisions of their parents and/or families. Pete grew up with two younger siblings
and, eventually, his middle brother was raised by his uncle and aunt. Following cultural tradition,
his uncle asked his middle brother if he could raise him since he and his wife could not have
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 89

children of their own. Pete’s mother allowed him to as a sign of respect. While he maintained
strong ties with his brother, he could see the difference from his brother learning how to speak
fluent Samoan and Tongan while he and his older brother could not:
In my household, my mom just never spoke Tongan because it being at one point just me
and her, and then my dad, there’s no one for her to speak in Tongan to. She could speak
to me, growing up and stuff, but it wasn’t something that she emphasized. Plus, another
thing is just being in America. When she came over here, the purpose of them coming
over here was just to identify with an American culture and really find their way and
navigate that space. They didn’t feel that Tongan was very necessary to learn to navigate
that space. Their purpose was to come over here and embrace a fully American identity,
so that you can truly navigate that space as an American. That’s where the Tongan
language lost its importance in our space within the clashes. Her brother, who is my
brother, they really do value culture and language being something that you carry on.
Maybe it’s just because he’s a boy of the siblings, they just really feel that that’s
something that’s his role, with my brother being his son, is to pass those things on,
whereas my mom took a more not passive approach to it, but she just really wanted to
emphasize the importance of schooling and just really being an American I guess.
Pete’s mother emphasized assimilation in blending in with American culture. While she
could speak and understand Tongan, she felt it was not important to teach her children the
language versus how to navigate American culture by being fluent in English. However, his
middle brother valued being bicultural as something to be recognized and respected. While his
mother may not have a strong grasp of his genealogy, family reunions were his opportunity to be
educated about their family history:
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 90

That’s something that my mom’s older siblings emphasize. We have family reunions
about…every two years, and then a central aspect of those family reunions is just
connecting to our roots. We’ll do a little workshop where there will be a family tree and
my mom’s oldest sister, she’s the one that really can link all of the family to family. My
mom doesn’t really play a key role in that because she was so young. Her parents were
already older, but, the older ones, they actually experienced their great-grandparents and
how those families connect. When we go to those family reunions, we really just focus on
understanding how we’re related as cousins, which in our immediate family is pretty easy
since there’s 11 siblings and that you know who belongs to who. It’s at our generation
that we don’t really know the generation before our grandparents. That’s what we really
emphasize at the family reunions is understanding who came before us and how we’re
connected to second cousins and things like that. People outside of the 11 siblings and
just that relation.
Pete’s family reunions were opportunities for him to reacquaint himself with his genealogy and
know where his ancestors came from. While his mother does not play an active role in
recounting their family tree, her older siblings facilitate that process in that they can trace their
family. Even with the 11 siblings, the younger/recent generations learned about those who came
before them. Teaching about genealogy is rooted in their family culture.
While Pete’s experience being raised Tongan may not resonate with as Sasha’s
immersion in Samoan culture, there is beauty and respect in recognizing their different
experiences as PI. There is this an interplay in either considering assimilation or acculturation in
recognizing whether to accept or reject one’s ethnic identity for the sake of being in America.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 91

Yet, their experiences tracing genealogy comes from seeking the support and expertise of
immediate and extended family members.
Self-teaching and seeking knowledge about NHPI identity. For two participants, their
family and upbringing did not offer them opportunities to learn of or immerse themselves in their
ethnic identity. Even if they were originally raised to have a strong sense of PI ethnic identity,
they might have lost some or part due to pressures of assimilation versus acculturation. Those
who did not receive that kind of education at all sought to learn about themselves once they
discovered and acquired that sense of their identity.
Sasha grew up with a strong sense of recognizing and understanding her Pilipinx and
Mexican identity. In college, she wanted to recognize more of her Samoan identity. However,
her parents did not emphasize teaching her about her Samoan identity, so she had to teach herself
about herself. She recognized assimilation led to her not having a strong connection to her
Samoan identity. Instead of seeking modern ways of recognizing her ethnic identity, she sought
different sources of knowledge:
That’s such a big, rich thing to experience, ’cause you’re not doing ancestry.com shit.
You’re really diving yourself into understanding, trying to find the maps and swerves of
things. And I think that’s very unique, ’cause I feel like it’s very rare to find folks who
are very encompassing of all. There’s sometimes a weight of other and stuff like that.
And I think, for me, if we’re talking about futurewise, I think that’s super important for
me to be able to instill into future generations is that it’s important to have some
knowledge bank of both cultures. Because I think, when we talk about our Pacific
Islander culture, our brown culture, I think it’s very important that we understand and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 92

acknowledge our ancestry and our roots. And so, I think that’s super important to me and
that’s how, I don’t know, I self-taught myself my Filipino culture.
Sasha knew there was much to research in terms of being Samoan and, in a larger sense,
NHPI, so she sought support and knowledge from NHPI-centered programs at campuses in the
Bay Area. However, since she was not a student at those institutions, she taught herself about
what it means to be NHPI. Given the increase in NHPI identifying as multiethnic, they must keep
that passing down knowledge that resonates with Indigenous communities.
To gain more knowledge about her ethnic identity, she joined a PI program through a
non-profit organization. The original staff team empowered Sasha to be confident in identifying
as PI:
I think that’s one of the challenges I had is that I didn’t have empowerment. I didn’t have
confidence in myself. I didn’t have confidence in my ethnicity. I was very much…I felt
like I was always shot down. So, for me, being in that…program was a one-week
leadership development and cultural immersion program at the university which was
cool, ’cause they’ve got this home welcoming ... it was like a welcoming experience for
me as I entered my grad program at the university. And so, for me, I felt like being able
to talk about understanding what Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian is…being
surrounded by other full-blooded folks, multiethnic folks, Americanized folks, folks who
were born and raised from the islands, folks who are doctorate students, graduate
master’s students, undergraduates, community college, not even in college. That
experience was a whole whirlwind of experiences for me because I felt like I wasn’t
exposed to that growing up and college I attempted to be exposed but wasn’t welcomed I
guess I’m gonna say.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 93

Being surrounded by other NHPI college students from different backgrounds, education levels,
and experiences helped Sasha come into her own ethnic identity. Through a week-long
leadership development and cultural immersion program, she became more confident and sought
the resources and individuals to learn more about who she is. While she tried to seek her own
self-teaching and learning opportunities to no avail, she found that opportunity once she enrolled
in a master’s program. For Sasha, learning about her own ethnic identity was a journey since she
did not have that learning beforehand. However, self-teaching can also benefit PI college
students who were initially raised that way to reconnect to their ethnic identity.
Due to assimilation or exclusion from other NHPI community members, NHPI college
students can seek opportunities to reconnect with their identity. James was born in America and
his family moved to Guam when he was 8 years old. In private school, most of the children who
were born on the islands did not accept him, so he felt disconnected from his Chamorro identity.
In college, he connected with a cultural center that teaches Chamorro language and dance. He
reflected on how the center helped him reconnect:
It was weird as fuck because I was already gone from Guam for like a year, so I was just
like, wow. I forgot what little Chamorro kids look like and sound like and act like. So,
that was nice. Another thing was being around people who share the same culture as you,
and, therefore, the same attitudes of respect and communalism because everybody would
not be shy to offer help or that type of thing, even if it was just my first day. Or introduce
themselves, for that matter. It was a very friendly environment. And being in that space is
something I had not been in for a while. And just seeing things, as simple as the older
boys lifting all the heavy stuff and not letting the girls do that type of work, was another
thing that I had been separated from for a while since being in the States. So, just the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 94

small aspects of our culture back home being practiced in [the center]. It was like a re-
culture shock because I was like, damn, people act like me. It was, for sure. It was one of
the main reasons why I wanted to keep going back. And aside from it being…
membership is completely free. That’s one of the reasons that I kept going back. But, of
course, the main reason was just the affirmation and re-exposure to my culture that I had
been separated from for a year, at that point.
For James, it was an interesting experience or re-culture shock, as he called it. Since his
experience in Guam was not very welcoming or inviting, he anticipated being excluded from the
local Chamorro community. Fortunately, they were willing to accept him, and he reacquainted
himself in terms of the roles and responsibilities of Chamorro men. While membership was free,
the reason he kept going back was to feel included and respected in his ethnic identity.
Whether NHPI college students had their families teach them about their ethnic identity
or not, they were proactive in seeking that knowledge for themselves. For Sasha, that involved
finding an environment and community willing to accept her and allow her to learn about her and
other’s PI identities. Doing so allowed her to develop a strong confidence in being Samoan and
fully immersing herself in who she is. James retaught himself about his Chamorro background in
an environment which also welcomed and accepted him.
As cultural roots and genealogy taught participants about themselves, the institution of
church and religion was a consistent medium through which they learned about themselves. With
the complex and intertwined relationship of church, religion, and colonization, religion became
important for participants.
Church and religion as cultural education. Five participants mentioned religion as
central to their identity. Alex mentioned his father was a pastor at the Samoan church where he
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 95

grew up, so the majority of his experience engaging with his ethnic identity was in the church.
The majority of his experience growing up was heavily involved in the church. Alex shared the
following:
For me, it’s always been something that, well, I’ve always had that Samoan identity with
me because I was raised as a pastor’s kid. So, I was always at church on Fridays,
Saturdays, and Sundays. And, if it wasn’t a church thing, then I was either at school, but
my dad was a Samoan pastor, so being in the Samoan community was kind of just a
default, ’cause we were always there. ’Cause we were the family that had to be there.
And, so, I was essentially raised in it. So, the day I moved out to college from birth ‘til 18
and to this day, I go back to it sometimes, but not so much of an obligation, it’s more of
something that I want to do on my own.
Alex explained that given his father’s position within the church, he was held to
particular standards of what it was like to grow up in the Samoan church. Given that his father
acquired a visible and key role within the church community wherever he went, Alex and the rest
of his family followed. In his experience, that was where the majority of his experience came
from. When he moved out to college, he concluded he had two identities:
After I moved out of college, my college experience was very different because I wasn’t
in that environment anymore. So, I was challenged to figure out my cultural identity
away from my family if that makes sense. So, I had to understand that how am I to define
myself as a Samoan if I’m not going to my home church with my immediate family. So,
it took me a long time to figure those things out. I eventually found a home church that
was Samoan, and that kind of just helped me feel better about it. And I connected with
family members here in Southern California, but it never quite felt like everything that I
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 96

was accustomed to. And so, it’s kind of like I had to find my way to secure that part of
my identity. And so, what I did was, I would go back and forth every weekend to the
South Bay, which is where all the Samoans are, and that’s where I would get my cultural
immersion. Or I would go to a Samoan church on a Sunday and that’s where I’d get my
cultural immersion. I would escape my own academic environment to be this Samoan
Alex that I need to connect with and then I go back into academia. So, it felt like I was
living two separate lives at some points. I was also able to create a fine line between that
because I was able to practice my culture identity at church, and within my family. I
could do that at home, and then I could do Monday through Friday I’m a student, so it’s
like I never really have to pay attention to my culture identity in academia.
Since he was so immersed in the Samoan church at home and moved to Southern California for
college, he sought a similar environment close to him. Yet, he attended a predominantly White
institution where even he felt he did not belong among other non-White students. Luckily, he had
family in Southern California and tapped into his relatives’ network to find a church where his
culture could be nourished. He realized he compartmentalized his identities into two sections and
could not find an environment that emulated what he had at home. Through the Southern
California church community, he reconnected to his ethnic identity and who he was.
Shea’s relationship with religion was similar. As a devout Christian, her relationship with
God became strained as she questioned religion and its gender roles associated with being
Samoan. For a short time in college, she stopped attending church and praying to God since she
no longer lived near where she was raised:
When I went away to college and I was away from home and I wasn’t obligated to go to
church, I reveled in my free time and my sense of freedom, but, after some time, I began
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 97

to miss it. And during times of hardship, when I became homesick, Sundays just weren’t
even the same. I didn’t feel right going anywhere, like to the store, or…I felt weirdly
when people would tell me they were going out to drink on Sundays just because those
indicated those deeply rooted habits in me. And I actually found myself maintaining them
because I was homesick, and I wanted to be back in my homeland. But going back to that
hardship, I actually learned to lean on God myself, in terms of spirituality, having faith on
my own terms.
Shea rebelled against conservative Christian values and celebrated the freedom she had from
obligations to attend church on Sundays. However, she missed feeling connected to her ethnic
identity because of how deeply rooted her connection with religion was. She found that among
peers who had a strong connection to their faith without feeling restrictive. She decided to
reestablish her connection with God on her own terms:
A lot of it is interpreting what the Bible is trying to say our life is supposed to look like,
or how our life is supposed to be ruled. But I just don’t think that it’s that way, and I
think that God is more of a higher power that looks for a sense of humanity rather than
rules. And so, I guess the way that religion is constructed, sometimes, I look at it very
critically now because who brought Christianity? That’s also another conflicting thing
that I have. Who brought Christianity to us? And for some of these conservative values
that I thought about and I rebelled about, is does that make it right? Does that fit with my
notion of how I see my God operating on this world for us and using us as tools to spread
his teaching and principles? I’m still searching for myself in those ways, because a lot of
my religious and spiritual development is recent. It’s painfully recent. Sometimes, I look
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 98

back and I realize how judgmental I was, how closed-minded I was, and how much more
work I need to do to become more open-minded in that sense.
Shea recognized her conservative Christian values negatively affected how she viewed
others. Upon reflection of how her relationship with God evolved, she saw she could practice her
faith and incorporate her values of respect and open-mindedness. She then critiqued religion’s
role in Samoan colonization. There is a complicated relationship with Christianity that both
benefitted and hindered the Samoan community both on the islands and in the United States. Her
strong grasp of her religion and self-worth equips her to infuse those values as they relate to her
ethnic identity.
James is also connected to Christianity. He talked about how important Catholicism is to
Chamorros:
Hell yeah. Everybody’s a Catholic. Everybody goes to church on Sunday. Grandma kicks
your ass if you don’t go to church. Me? My parents weren’t really devout Catholics like
that, so, therefore, I wasn’t. It just ties back into being raised in a nontraditional
Chamorro household, but I do identify as Catholic. I do go to church, not as often as I
should or as my grandma would want me to, but I am a Catholic and I do go to church.
And church culture is a very big deal on Guam. Oftentimes, our villages are built around
the parish. The way you get to know everybody else in your village, if you don’t already
know them, is through church events and parish events.
Similar to Shea’s and Alex’s experiences, James also maintained a strong connection to his faith
and religion. Communities on Guam were built around the parishes, and that was a way that
other Chamorros could be connected to one another.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 99

Pete grew up Mormon but went to a Samoan ward where the majority of the sermons
were in Samoan. While he did not have a strong grasp of Samoan, he noticed there were others
who looked like him. Once the sermons switched to English, he engaged with those who shared
his ethnic identity:
The Mormon churches, we have a sacrament meeting, and that’s with everybody, parents,
kids and everybody, and that’s held in Samoan, but it’s when you spit to the class that
you switch over to English. That’s where I actually did all my learning and stuff. I could
actually hang out with my friends and stuff. It was definitely always comfortable just
because I knew I was Tongan. They look similar to my cousins. I identify closely with
them. I definitely felt like it was a safe space for me. I never felt that clash where I felt
like an outsider.
While he felt like the minority in elementary and middle school, he felt comfortable and
supported in the Mormon churches. There was an opportunity to learn about his religion and
connect with his peers. These experiences helped him facilitate a strong relationship with God
and trust in his faith.
Connecting with their religion allowed participants to form strong communities centered
on religion. Pete shared how Utah became one of the states with the largest populations of PI,
especially Samoans and Tongans:
A lot of my cousins, a lot of my friends were Mormon just because it’s a very common
religion I’d say in the Samoan and Tongan communities, definitely…because there are
some that practice Catholicism and Christianity, but just personally in my family, the
overwhelming majority is Mormon. Then again, there’s a strange clash there because my
mom’s parents were actually Seventh-day Adventists. No, they were from the Methodist
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 100

church and then some of her sibling switched over to Seventh-day Adventist, but then
now, we’re almost entirely shifted over the Mormon religion. I’m not too sure how that
shift occurred, but it overwhelms our family, and that’s what prompted the movement of
a lot of my family. All my mom’s sisters currently reside in Utah, which is a hub for
Polynesian, specifically Tongan and Samoan people. That’s where a lot of them reside
now. It was the Mormon religion that really prompted that move specifically because
that’s like where Mormon religion is booming. That’s where the main temple is, Salt
Lake City.
While there were some issues with some family members practicing other religions, eventually
all of Pete’s family converted to the Mormon church. Since the main temple is in Salt Lake City,
Utah, his mother’s sisters moved there.
Participants found strength and leveraged their connection with their religions in teaching
younger generations about the cultural aspects of their community. In many instances, religious
ceremonies were one of the few ways participants could be surrounded by those who look like
them. Yet, it provided a significant challenge in advocating for their own values, especially
living in America and opting for acculturation versus assimilation.
AAPI/API/APA Terminology Renders PI Invisible
This section addresses the second sub-question. Approaching this question from
TribalCrit and allowing participants to self-identify provided significant perspective in how they
viewed these terms as inclusive of the PI community. Interviewees shared their particular stories
and frustrations with the terms, how they would react to certain situations regarding the
presumed inclusivity of the term, and how to establish community and connection with their AA
peers. Centered on these findings, the following three themes emerged: clarifying cultural and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 101

academic differences between AA and NHPI, comments on misappropriation and
misrepresentation, and a desire to disaggregate data for comparisons among these communities.
Grouping of AA and PI identities together. Identifying as NHPI refers to having family
ties to Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. AA refers to having ancestors from East and South
Asia as well as major countries in the Pacific Ocean such as Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia,
and Singapore. Not all participants defined or clarified the AAPI/API/APA terms and, instead,
expressed frustration with the grouping of those terms. While five pointed to specific examples
regarding education, culture, or socioeconomic class, one also critiqued the inclusivity and the
intention of the terms themselves. Five mentioned how the terms themselves are particularly
confusing, especially when in the initialism itself, AA are the majority and priority.
Sasha dedicated her academic and professional career to higher education and leveraged
her own self-teaching in discovering how the AAPI/API/APA term was coined. She learned it
was initiated by AA who formed ethnic studies and Asian American studies at UC Berkeley and
San Francisco State University:
It was because the government at that time were allocating funds to institutions who were
doing progressive work and inclusionary work and diversity work and, so, they were like,
“If you can reach this population, we’ll grant you more funding.” And so, therefore, they
wrote proposals to the federal government about the work that they were going to do with
Asian Pacific Islanders. And so, afterwards, post their reports of their studies, and their
departments or whatever. The US Department of…I don’t know…I think it’s related
to…ones who are related to census and whatever, they thought that structure was so
great, they adopted that structure.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 102

Sasha mentioned AA at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University advocated for
more funding for the AA population. To align themselves to the federal government, they crafted
proposals that sought to include the PI community, which rippled throughout federal departments
and, eventually, institutions of higher education. While their intentions were seemingly good,
AA have not intentionally grouped PI, thereby perpetuating the grouping of these two different
communities.
In another similar conversation, James pointed out the overrepresentation of the AA
community at his private university versus the NHPI community. At his university, a majority of
the AAPI/API/APA student organizations and university spaces mainly had AA students.
Discussing differences among the AA and NHPI community, he mentioned education and
socioeconomic status:
In a lot of institutions, Asian Americans are overrepresented in higher education. Which,
I’m not saying that I’m hating on or anything, but the clear fact that education is more
widely used or maybe even available to Asian Americans than to Pacific Islanders says
something a lot about both communities. And don’t get me wrong, there’s very poor
people in both communities. There’s very rich people in both communities. However,
generally speaking, I’d say that the Pacific Islander community usually occupies lower
income brackets than the Asian American community. And I mean that proportionally.
James connected education levels and socioeconomic status to AA and NHPI college student
communities. A college environment in which the majority of students are AA implied an
anticipated college-going culture among that community.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 103

In Shea’s freshman ethnic studies course, she introduced herself as Samoan to a Mexican-
identified classmate. When he asked her to clarify, he defaulted to Asian when she said PI. Shea
clarified why she led with Samoan instead of Pacific Islander:
So, like within Pacific Islander, it’s crazy to me, because I feel combative about that term
because of the fact that, just like how Eurocentric, or American Europeans or whatever,
they use the term Middle East to describe people from those countries. But it’s such a
Eurocentric way to refer to people, because that’s in position to their location to you. So
that’s how the Pacific Islands are. That’s a term to identify people in respect to your
location. So, we use the term Oceania to define us, but you will never see that on a flyer.
You’ll never see that. You’ll always see Pacific Island studies, or Pacific Islanders. I
think that’s a convenient way to describe Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. People
on the islands know the different islands. But you come out here, all these islands become
one. Just one identity, one word, just one big glob. So that’s why I feel like, even though
it’s convenient, it’s ignorant. That’s why I use those two words interchangeably when I
hear Asian American and Pacific Islander.
Shea mentioned the origins of the terms perpetuate a Eurocentric perspective, starting with the
privilege in naming something in relation to its distance from one’s location. For Shea, Oceania
is a much more inclusive term used by the NHPI community refer to members of their
community.
Grouping together from a similar locale preserved the terms AAPI, API, and APA. While
its original intention was to bring these groups together, it ignored the crucial cultural, academic,
and individual differences of AA and NHPI communities. For most participants, the term felt
more like an umbrella term that did not include them and rendered them invisible. They found
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 104

intentions to make the term inclusive oversimplified the complexities of their experiences. In
conversations about hypothetical situations of being challenged, they sought the power and
beauty of their own individual strengths to promote critical conversation regarding the intention
behind these terms.
Cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. Participants’ feeling invisible made
them susceptible to misappropriation and misrepresentation. All participants mentioned specific
instances where the NHPI community they represented experienced stereotypes about
entertainers or football players. The fact that the few well-known NHPI in American society are
dancers, singers, or athletes provides an unfair stereotype of NHPI college students. Even among
members of their own community, this desire to assimilate and be part of the majority leads to
the gradual decline of their culture.
In the majority of Sasha’s experiences both in undergraduate and graduate school, she
quickly learned that the NHPI community was misappropriated, and female NHPI were only
seen as hula dancers. As an undergraduate, Sasha pursued many opportunities to learn about
what it means to be Samoan. She searched for spaces where she could learn her culture’s dances
and practices. Yet, she was disappointed to discover the majority of people who taught her of her
own culture were AA. She recounted a time where she took a workshop to learn the Samoan
Siva, a traditional dance:
So, in my undergrad, they had a Pacific Islander dance team, and I remember [I] wanted
to take [an] interest. And I remember reaching out to the few Samoans and Tongans I
knew. We went in, and they were teaching the Samoan Siva, and it was taught by this
Japanese girl. And I was very much insulted, and I was like, “Let’s dip, like how is this
Japanese chick teaching us the Samoan Siva, girl? Like, don’t even come.” I don’t even
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 105

know how to dance, so, I got a tripping hot button right there. But it was just like, what
does that mean when an Asian person can…dance our own cultural stuff?
Sasha mentioned the NHPI dance team in her undergraduate career could have been a great
starting point. Gaining exposure to the Samoan Siva would have been helpful in establishing a
connection with her culture. Yet, since a Japanese woman conducted the workshop, she
immediately dismissed the workshop and deemed it cultural appropriation. In experiences like
this, student-led organizations may serve AA students’ culturally appropriating NHPI
communities.
From a traditional male perspective, Ryan mentioned that NHPI men are grouped
together and automatically seen as athletes and heralded for their muscular builds and agility.
After high school, Ryan took a semester off to visit his family in Hawai’i. Even when he told his
family he was in school, they assumed he was an athlete like some of the people he interacted
with on campus. His university’s football team has a significant number of NHPI students, and
he talked about the rare times they attend PISA meetings:
When they do come, there’s a lot of them. We’re like, “Damn, this could be half the
club.” There’s not many of us in the club at all, but it’s pretty cool when they get to
come, and we get to share stuff with them. But I feel like that’s something I would like to
change perspectives on because there’s a way we’re perceived and it’s like we can only
be this one thing. When you think of Hawaiians, you don’t think “student.” But if you
were gonna say…if you say, Japanese person, you might think that college student.
That’s not as far to get to, and I think that’s pretty problematic.
Ryan spoke about the physical presence of NHPI students at his university. Unfortunately, they
do not attend meetings as often as the other NHPI college students in PISA. The stereotype of
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 106

these students as athletes frustrated him. AA are accepted as college students because of their
overrepresentation at the university, but the same does not apply for NHPI students. He wanted
more people to acknowledge NHPI college students as entertainers and athletes as well as
scholars, filmmakers, and students.
Shea recognized there are complex issues among the AA and NHPI communities. Yet,
instead of trying to dissociate, they should talk and learn from each other’s experiences. Shea
mentioned her internship at a mental health center where most staff members are AA and where
she learned about the differences among communities:
They are also a group needing to be recognized for the many different cultures, and there
are also power hierarchies in there. And I know I’ve seen a lot of friends talk about the
privilege of East Asians versus Southeast Asians. And that’s something that I’m actually
more interested to know more about. Unfortunately, because PISA had their own group, I
do think that that created a barrier for us to interact with our Asian peers, probably
because for the most part we were on the defensive. We really were. And it wasn’t the
fact that we didn’t recognize other Asian and Asian Americans as our allies. It was the
fact that we are constantly trying to separate ourselves and be recognized that it would be
hard for us to acknowledge. It’s good for us to learn to make that a more reciprocal
exchange.
She realized there needed to be an acknowledgement of the different ethnic subgroups housed
within the AA narrative. There were discussions about privilege and how that caused a rift
between communities. In the same sense, PISA did not foster critical dialogue, as members. did
not seem themselves as peers treated stereotypes in the same way as others might.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 107

Disaggregated data among AA and NHPI identities. Three participants mentioned the
importance of disaggregating data to make the NHPI community visible. While some institutions
used these terms, others recognized the value in disaggregating data to ensure they serve these
students’ needs. Even with the multiple identities represented in the census, it is important to
participants that NHPI students identify all their identities instead of simply choosing
multiracial/multiethnic, which purposefully groups multiethnic NHPI and others together.
Interviewees mentioned accurately representing individual identities and communities on
campus allows for the appropriate and sufficient allocation of resources to advocate for these
students.
Sasha provided sufficient knowledge for individuals who still believe PI are AA because
of the terms AAPI/API/APA. Given her former experiences in advocating for the PI community,
she valued disaggregated data. While most institutions will use “Other” and not include “Pacific
Islander,” institutions of higher education in California are more inclusive:
I think one of the first things I would say is that, if you apply to any California institution,
whether UC, Cal State or community colleges in the application process, those
institutions would recognize Pacific Islanders as their own bubble, as their own box, and
they’re not categorized as Asian. And they will distinctly say, Asian Filipino, Asian
Vietnamese, Asian Japanese, and then you’ll go Pacific Islander Samoan, Pacific Islander
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Tongan. So, even in those institutions, right in
speaking in context of colleges, yes, those are the institutions who would say, “No, they
are not Asian because they have different experiences, and that is recognized through the
state of California.”
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 108

According to Sasha, California’s diversity is represented in statewide data recognizing the
communities who populate colleges and universities throughout the state. At public higher
education institutions, there has been action to ensure clarity and specificity in how NHPI
students are represented. For Sasha, knowing the institution acknowledges the presence of NHPI
students is validating in that it means other NHPI college students can see the number of students
on campus.
Pete learned how he could accurately represent himself and other multiethnic PI students.
Pete learned that marking himself as multiracial/multiethnic only rendered him invisible on
campus. Surveys did not indicate which backgrounds were represented and were simply seen as
grouping the same way the AAPI/API/APA terms do. He explained how he realized the mistakes
he made in high school:
In high school, when I started filling out documents, that’s where I took an approach to if
the paper didn’t say to choose one, sometimes it would say you can choose multiple.
That’s why I started to choose African American and Tongan rather than choosing the
multiracial bubble. It wasn’t until I went to [Pacific Islander non-profit organization] that
they really crafted this curriculum for us to learn during that summer institute and
breaking down what those categories and identifiers really meant and how the data is
collected and the importance of really making sure that…because it’s crazy how much of
an impact those simple bubbles when you’re filling out a document can make when
they’re collecting data.
Similar to the intention behind the AAPI/API/APA term, the multiracial bubble on demographic
surveys does not capture the different identities on campus. Given that he is both Tongan and
African American, he felt that multiracial was the best way to represent who he was. Yet, he
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 109

learned the multiracial marker is problematic in not recording the actual identities of students. He
learned of the value of disaggregated data, most of which regards the impact and availability of
resources on campus.
Alex valued PI college students accurately representing themselves on surveys and
census data. Given that the PI community is small, it is important that their numbers be
represented accurately so they can advocate for themselves. Alex spoke about transforming the
narrative for PI college students from a negative to a more optimistic tone:
Because of this disaggregated data, we…the appropriate resources aren’t allocated to the
right communities. So, because they see that the API community as a whole is doing
great, the PIs aren’t getting the resources they need. So, that’s the reason you’ll see more
Pacific Islanders in the prisons than in colleges. That’s the reason you’ll see more Pacific
Islanders on welfare than in office jobs or any sort of that kind. It’s because
we…they…putting us together…the majority overpowers the minority. So we are, thus,
just thought to be doing really, really well. But when you take us out of the API, we’re
struggling hard core.
Alex noted that, when NHPI do not accurately mark how they are represented at their
institutions or society, they do not get the resources they need. When grouped together with the
AA community, the NHPI community’s success and representation are equal to that of AA,
leading to misconceptions about their need for resources. Alex saw disaggregating PI from
AAPI/API/APA helped to focus on the PI community and what they need to persist at the
institution.
In discussions of the AAPI/API/APA terms, participants stated they conjoined the AA
and PI communities together. They felt the origin of the terminology masked cultural and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 110

individual differences, which led to frustration in attempts to foster critical dialogue, as the terms
perpetuated the notion of PI as entertainers or athletes without offering a safe space for critical
dialogue. In advocating for their community among the college and society, disaggregated data
for the ethnic subgroups in the PI narrative would help bring attention to the multiethnic and
varied experiences of PI college students.
Ideal PI Spaces and Relationships With AAPI/API/APA Culture Center
This section addresses the third sub-question. Answering this question entailed
participants’ sharing their individual beliefs as they relate to the NHPI student narrative and
establishing tribal autonomy. The participants shared the past, present, and future of NHPI
college students and their relationship with AAPI/API/APA culture centers. They mentioned
AAPI/API/APA culture centers could be both inclusive and exclusive of the NHPI community,
based on the intentionality of the centers. They discussed their desire to have advocates, not
allies, willing to advocate for them in the same way they advocate for other non-White students.
Finally, they dreamed of a future where they could see spaces or organizations that give them the
platform for academic, learning, and social opportunities for NHPI to foster a sense of belonging
on campus.
Across the students’ stories, they shared the challenges of seeking community and safe
haven. While their challenges may have been daunting and exclusive at first, they mobilized
other students and other advocates either on or off-campus to form a community dedicated to
fostering a sense of belonging for NHPI. Looking to the future for those who will come after
them, they mentioned aspiration and desire to build on the momentum of advocating for the
NHPI community.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 111

AAPI/API/APA culture center should include NHPI. As previously mentioned, all
participants mentioned their frustrations with the exclusivity of NHPI in the AAPI/API/APA
term. All participants mentioned the culture centers were more of a place where they could use
resources, but it was not a space for them to feel included and comfortable. While most of them
talked about how exclusive their institutions’ AAPI/API/APA culture center were, some
mentioned programs which were intentional in including the NHPI community. Since some of
these programs eventually disbanded, participants sought to continue to advocate for NHPI on
campus. By being more vocal and incorporating the resources available to the AAPI/API/APA
culture center, the NHPI community benefitted from a relationship with the center. Most of their
experiences involved trying to access or navigate NHPI-centered spaces/communities. In seeking
opportunities to connect with people who recognize and support NHPI, they found the potential
to establish themselves as an important community on campus.
Like the other participants, Ryan initially mentioned his interactions with the APA
culture center on campus were brief; he came into the center to take advantage of the free
printing or to pick up flyers for a PISA event. In the student union, the APA culture center is
next to the African American student culture center, and he often goes into the African American
culture center more than the APA culture center. He explains why he feels more comfortable
going there:
I never seen no Pacific Islanders though. That’s the thing. If it would, PISA would know
about it, really. We’d be going there all the time. But I see, every time I’m in the elevator,
I see Asians. They’re walking with me, but then they leave. They go that way, and I go
into the BSCC. Not that it’s anything bad. I don’t think they’re trying to include us. I
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 112

don’t think they’re trying to. It’s just like there’s not anything making me feel like, “Oh,
I’m supposed to go here,” really.
Ryan mentioned that, even though the culture center has APA in its name, there are not any
NHPI students going in there. If there were any present, that could signal to PISA that they
should be coming into that space. When he rode up the elevator to the BSCC, he rode with AA,
but they parted ways into their respective centers. While APA culture center may not be
intentionally trying to exclude PI students from entering, they are not being proactive in
welcoming them into the center.
Pete mentioned that, before, the APA culture center on campus had a NHPI initiative
program. It was initiated by a Samoan alumnus of the film program. While the program was
successful, it ended once the student graduated. Pete explained how he found out about it:
It wasn’t until I started working with Sasha on starting the PISA organization here, the
Pacific Islander Student Association that she had started explaining to me what was going
on with NHPI program and stuff and how it was kind of on a hiatus since [the founder]
left because there was no other Pacific Islander student or just a student, in general, that
was there to carry on and keep it going as a student organization within APA culture
center. That’s where it kind of died out. It wasn’t until PISA came that there was another
organization to have a space for Pacific Islander students to really identify with each
other.
Pete and Sasha worked together to establish the PISA organization on campus. Sasha shared how
the NHPI program was put on hold because it did not seem to be anyone who was taking over.
Once the founder graduated, there was no other NHPI student that would continue to advocate
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 113

for other NHPI college students on campus. The establishment of PISA was how they felt NHPI
students became to be visible and identify with one another.
Knowing that program’s history, Sasha took the initiative and used her platform as the
co-founder and president of PISA to revitalize advocacy for NHPI students. In starting PISA, she
mobilized the NHPI football players on campus and included business sponsors for student
events. As a graduate student, she worked as an intern with the APA culture center. She talked
about how she created her role:
There was also the experience of like organizing PISA, creating PISA, and I worked, I
was actually a special projects intern for the APA culture center. My task was to look at
the gaps that Pacific Islander students, the gap of lack of resources or initiatives and how
was I going to address it? Create proposals on how the center could needed funding or
support and then I’d give it and then they’d get the funding. So, we had our inaugural
Pacific Islander graduation ceremony at the university through the support of the resource
center, but it’s through the, like in my role as the special projects intern to just prepare
and like out those proposals. Budgeting and stuff like that...that special projects
internship position, that was self-advocated by me.
In addition to starting PISA at her university, Sasha inserted herself with the APA culture center
space as well. She decided that she wanted to focus on the gaps NHPI students faced on campus
and addressing the lack of resources or initiatives. She then devised proposals on funding or
support for the center and obtained the funding. She secured funding from the APA culture
center to support the inaugural PI graduation ceremony. She that this was a role she created for
herself with the approval of the APA culture center administrative staff.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 114

Due to topics discussed above, participants did not feel included by AAPI/API/APA
culture centers. The focus on AA made it difficult for participants to feel as though they belong.
For most participants, there was not much done or available at the APA culture center that made
them feel they belong. NHPI student initiatives eventually became nonexistent, yet interviewees
saw this as an opportunity to once again bring NHPI into the conversation and increase the
presence of their community on campus. By aligning their efforts with the funding and resources
of the APA culture center, events and programming came to fruition to benefit NHPI students.
Advocacy, not allyship. Five participants discussed their hopes for advocates who could
vouch for their community. In most cases, they discussed the ideal relationships they could see
themselves having with AAPI/API/APA culture centers as well as NA student organizations.
Most participants mentioned specific examples that either pointed to some of the mistakes that
the AAPI/API/APA culture center on campus made or drew comparisons from other
AAPI/API/APA culture center that intentionally incorporated PI college students on campus. In
addition to collaborating with the AAPI/API/APA culture center, they also sought collaboration
with the NA student organization on campus.
Earlier in the discussion about the AAPI/APA/API terminology, Sasha discussed NHPI
college students feel like the minority within the minority. In her experience, AA made up a
larger segment of the overall student population in comparison to NHPI. She felt NHPI were not
given a voice in discussions regarding equity and access:
There’s nobody in the Asian community who’s really being a strong advocate. At this
point, we don’t need no allies. Like we need advocates who are going to do the work and
get down and dirty with the work that we’re going to do, and willing to lose what we
would lose, if we were at the table trying to advocate for ourselves. Because most of the
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 115

time when we advocate for ourselves, we’re ignored, we’re dismissed, we’re seen like,
“That’s cute.” Or, “You’re just going to get…” “Okay, thank you for sharing. Next.” And
it’s just like, “No.”
In many instances, she felt there were no members in the AA community willing to be
strong advocates for the PI community. From this experience, she realized the NHPI community
needed more advocates willing to lose status or resources available to them. In her experience,
most NHPI students have felt politely disregarded, which essentially made them feel like their
thoughts and opinions did not matter.
Sasha connected this feeling of being dejected to her former experience as the student
body president of her undergraduate university. There was a push for a cross-cultural center on
campus, but it did not include any cultural resource centers. To vouch for the non-White
communities on campus, the African American and Latinx communities began a conversation
that silenced the voices of AA and PI college students which, in her terms, was known as the
oppression olympics:
I hated student government my senior year. It was so bad because it does become the
oppression olympics where you’re like really trying to advocate. You’re trying to be an
ally for the community, like of course, I’m gonna support the Chicanx students, the Black
students, but I’m like can you also hear our narrative experiences, too? Because we’re not
even on the table and we’re pretty much not even being on the menu, either. So, it’s like
where are we in this discussion? Oh, we’re not in the discussion. So, we advocated very
strongly. We met with the incoming chief diversity officer, thank blessing she’s Asian,
because this was like if it wasn’t for her, our initiatives would not continue.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 116

As student body president, she was frustrated with student government in her last year as
president. She found herself at odds with the Chicanx and African American students since she
saw herself as an ally to those communities as a non-White student. Yet, when they
deemphasized the struggles of AA and PI students, she saw the importance of mutually
supportive advocates. With the support of the chief diversity officer, who identified as AA, they
included AA and PI college students in the conversation.
Combatting these uphill battles, Alex believes, requires all-inclusive education about
each other’s identities. An emphasis on unity can transform the narrative to desire-based. Alex
attended a social justice grassroots program at UC Berkeley hosted by a Pilipinx male and his
wife who brought non-White community members together. In one week, they all shared about
their communities’ struggles and aligned them in unity to one another:
We got folks from all over the country to go like Hawaii, Washington, Michigan, and
they came from all different backgrounds. But one of the things that we got to do was,
what was cool about it was like they geared this program to focus on certain minority
backgrounds each day. So, like one day we would focus on like Black culture and the
inequities in that one. The next day we would focus on Latinx folks and then the next day
we would focus on Samoans and Tongans, and what they have to go through and then at
the end it’s kind of like okay so we have all these inequities, what are we gonna do?
Alex was immersed in an environment with other non-White participants. The program focused
on specific communities outside of the non-White narrative and engaged Alex in critical
conversations about communities and addressing inequities.
While AAPI/API/APA culture center may exclude PI students, Sasha felt there can be a
relationship between the two communities. In response to how the cultural center could support
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 117

PISA, she mentioned the APA culture center has a relationship with the APA scholarship
association. She is required to volunteer 15 hours on behalf of the alumni association. She
believed the association could help bridge these two communities together:
I think that that could be a venue, an opportunity for them to be like, you can attend
student meetings for PISA. Or you can even just…PISA could find a community event in
which they could attend because that allows their general student population, who is
already invested in giving back to the community, right, that’s why they earned the
scholarships, to learn more and be aware of the presence of Pacific Islanders on campus.
And when that’s not as heavily vocalized, or that’s not seen as priority, I think that that
perpetuates this invisibility that we have, just making it more ... I think that while if they
aren’t already doing it, reaching out to the leaders of PISA and asking them how they can
be a support, because, like I said, I’m only here for two years.
Allowing other AA and NHPI college students to attend student meetings or community events
could expose them to NHPI students. The scholarship association built their programming on
issues and programs impacting AA but there does not seem to be much for NHPI students. For
Sasha, this lack of services indicated the NHPI community was not acknowledged or valued.
In case NHPI-centered events were not considered, Sasha suggested having NHPI
cultural pieces to both entice and welcome students to the AAPI/API/APA culture center. The
intentional and meaningful inclusion of cultural artifacts could foster a feeling of recognition
versus cultural appropriation. Sasha spoke about an API culture center that incorporated tapa,
NHPI cloth woven from mulberry tree bark for special occasions such as weddings and funerals:
But you know that, what’s the cool center that everybody also likes? [Another] College.
they have an API center, and it’s led by a Pilipino dude, but he’s done such great work
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 118

with the PI community, I don’t know how, Bruh, but he got tapa donated for the center,
so there’s a space on the wall that has all this tapa. He like magnetizes all the PIs, and all
the PIs come into his space like they know it’s a safe space just because of the tapa which
is so ironic, but it’s so true like you when you see things that look and like ring and give
that visual image of “oh this is a PI space,” it’s automatically know it looks like visible as
a student.
The other college’s API culture center gained recognition and respect with Sasha because of the
purposeful inclusion of tapa. This brought more NHPI students into the center to recognize it is a
safe space. Including NHPI cultural pieces brought the Indigenous NHPI community to the
center.
Given his relationship with the AAPI/API/APA culture center, James sought mutual
support with NA/Indigenous students. In speaking about how the APA culture center could
provide administrative and financial support, he saw more of a collaborative connection with the
NA community. He aspired to create an Indigenous students center, as they share similar
experiences:
Because we’re both Indigenous peoples, we’ve both gone through similar struggles with
having our land taken away, our culture stripped, and the genocide is another similarity,
too. Whereas that’s not something that necessarily happened to the Asian community, not
to say the Asian community hasn’t gone through it, but their struggle is different from
ours and the way they’re perceived today is also different from ours. I’ll just say that
Native Americans and Pacific Islanders are viewed the same way. They’re really not, but
I see a lot more similarities between both communities than I do with the Asian American
community.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 119

He noted the PI and NA communities are both Indigenous and have similar histories. While he
made sure not to generalize, he felt the AA community did not experience the same level of
cultural and population genocide. James felt advocates with the NA community could provide
another source of support for PI.
NHPI-centered student spaces. With the proliferation of other NHPI student-run
organizations and culture centers, PI participants reflected on how they can establish themselves
on campus. Culture centers facilitate a sense of belonging by providing academic, learning, and
social opportunities meant to bring students of the same ethnicity together (Liu et al., 2010;
Patton, 2010). For example, Pete frequently visits a university near his own. At the other
university, there is a large population of NHPI students, and they have established a strong and
supportive presence. At that campus, NHPI students host outreach events and tutoring sessions
for local NHPI high school students. He wondered how his institution’s PISA organization could
provide those opportunities for the younger members of his community:
Dang. I think when we were starting PISA and thinking of things that we wanted to do, a
big barrier was we really wanted to do high school outreach because that’s what we knew
was going to be the significant thing that we could do, to just first of all increase the
Pacific Islander population here because that’s where it’s going to start. You can’t do
really anything to support the group if ... See, in my personal experience, I feel like we
just need more people to fulfill our space and just need a physical space. I don’t even
think it would be too effective if APA culture center was able to even provide us our own
space because there’s just not enough of us to just utilize this space.
The goal of outreach was to educate and inform NHPI high school students of American college
admissions and what PISA could do to help them. Pete felt a PI-focused outreach program would
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 120

establish a pipeline of potential NHPI scholars and increase the student population. The increase
in NHPI students on campus could, then, be the impetus for providing a physical space for them.
In addition to education on college admissions, NHPI-centered spaces and organizations
could educate each other and the general community on issues that impact their persistence in
college. Four participants mentioned it was important for their communities to talk about mental
health. For example, Shea mentioned,
I think that because college is recognized as helping to increase financial stability and
economic mobility, the same isn’t going to be said for mental health, because the mental
health gets ignored in the light of religion because praying will help all of your problems.
God will solve all of your problems. And also another thing, it’s just hard because we
come from a culture that is about the family unit, the community unit. We’re so used to
thinking about a unit outside of ourselves as being more important than the one inside of
us. And I think that mental health is unique in the fact that it requires introspection. It
requires you to look inside of yourself, something that a lot of us don’t do because we’re
in relation to others all the time. I am my mother’s daughter. I am my brother’s sister. I
am my father’s daughter.
In conjunction with the pressure from family responsibilities, Shea mentioned NHPI students
were not taught to think introspectively and look at how their relationships could have
contributed to their struggles with mental health. Discussions with one another within culture
centers, she felt, could bring this issue to light and provide peer and campus-based support.
In terms of establishing themselves on campus, Sasha mentioned building connections to
other NHPI college student-run organizations and cultural spaces. Since their communities are
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 121

small, establishing a coalition across both public and private campuses nationwide could enhance
peer support. Sasha demonstrated how they might support each other:
We’ve got like folks in the community colleges like El Camino, Harbor City College,
Long Beach City College, those are all our homies. UC Berkeley, Cal State East Bay,
College of San Mateo, San Francisco State, University of San Francisco, Notre Dame De
Namur, like we know all our PIs like in the colleges and we know who are the PIs and
not the PIs and that’s the community outside. So, we go to their cultural events. We go to
their gatherings. We go to their functions and we support them because that’s what we all
do. It don’t matter like if we got school that day, we’ll make time ‘cause that’s super
important for our community like space and being there and like sacrifice for sure is
something that’s important to us.
Support from other NHPI organizations makes Sasha feel supported. She listed and talked about
each of the NHPI college members and fostered inter-campus communities. At cultural events,
gatherings, and functions, Sasha felt having one another’s presence validates their community
and who they are.
Sasha also stated her opinions about having NHPI staff, administrators, and faculty who
can advocate for students. She mentioned some AAPI/API/APA culture centers do not have any
NHPI-identified student workers or assistants. She talked about the role models she hoped to see
in positions of leadership:
I think those are really important components that I could imagine like an ideal
relationship being Pacific Islander staff is such a rare commodity for institutions to have
and so, what does it look like to even just be really just giving in that like you have a
Pacific Islander student who applied for your Pacific Islander individual applied for a
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 122

staff position and you did not give it to them. What’s to say that that person wasn’t as
qualified as the other candidate? You know. And I think that’s kind of like hiring
practices are like, that conversation of hiring practices is I feel like so fake, because I feel
like I’m a product of the failure of institutions hiring Pacific Islander qualified staff.
Sasha discussed what happens behind the scenes when PI graduates apply for administrative
roles and stated it would help to have role models to whom PI college students can look.
Allowing PI students to discuss the support they need generated a conversation about
what is important to the retention and success of their community. Participants felt outreach
opportunities to educate NHPI high school students on college admissions could bring more
students to campus. They felt having the space to educate one another on issues that affect their
community could draw awareness and help them seek the appropriate resources for their success.
With their presence on campus, they could build and join the coalition of other NHPI student-run
organizations and culture spaces to support one another on and off-campus. Having role models
and PI staff who could advocate for them could emphasize their needs both as students and in
administrative and faculty roles.
Summary
This chapter explored the findings from the thematic analysis of testimonios via
TribalCrit with the intention of answering the central research question and sub-questions. Each
research sub-question was addressed individually through each participant’s testimonio.
Answering the research sub-questions demonstrated that, although these six participants
lived unique experiences, they shared similarities in being NHPI on their colleges. This chapter
recounted their individual experiences and hopes for the future. The participants shared stories
related to their families and NHPI identity development, educational journeys, reactions and
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 123

perspectives around the AAPI/API/APA terminology, and their aspirations regarding supporting
NHPI students. Interviewees shared the experiences and identities which influenced and shaped
their identity. All participants attended college and struggled to feel included on campus. Even
though each initially felt excluded, they find their NHPI community and either reengaged or
connected with their identity. Chapter Five offers further discussion on the findings, including
recommendations for further research.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 124

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
Six NHPI college students, via testimonios, discussed their lack of representation at
AAPI/APA/APA culture centers. The purpose of collecting their stories was to highlight their
experiences of feeling invisible and excluded. This derived from a need to illustrate experiences
of multiethnic and monoethnic NHPI college students, especially in terms of how their ethnic
identity development impacted how they perceived the inclusivity of AAPI/API/APA culture
center and what an ideal relationship between PI-centered student spaces and culture center
would be.
One central research question and three sub-questions guided this study:
1. How is inclusivity enacted in the AAPI/APA/API cultural centers, from the perspective
of NHPI college students?
a. What experiences/people influenced and shaped their NHPI ethnic identity?
b. What are their reactions to and opinions of the terms AAPI/API/APA?
c. What is the relationship between NHPI student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA
culture centers?
Discussion of Findings
Three research sub-questions guided the findings. These questions direct the summary of
the findings.
Research Sub-Question One
This question was designed to elicit understanding of how participants’ ethnic
background affected their ethnic identity development. Interviewees reflected on how they came
to terms with their ethnic identity and how they surmounted challenges. Upon reflection, five
participants mentioned their parents and families facilitated their PI ethnic identity development,
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 125

which connects to similar findings in past research (Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Lipe, 2018;
McGrath, 2002; Perez, 2002; Smith, 2012; Uehara et al., 2018; Vakalahi, 2009; Wright &
Spickard, 2002; Yamauchi, 1998). A factor in learning about their identity, especially in a
multiethnic/multiracial family, came from the support and instruction of parents and family
members who welcomed their identities (Chaudhari & Pizzolato, 2008; Cheryan & Monin, 2005;
Jourdan, 2006; Renn, 2000; Spickard & Fong, 1995; Yuh, 2005). In family gatherings or simply
their upbringing, four participants credited their parents and families for facilitating instruction
and discussion of their ancestors. The two students who were not taught by their parents
challenged their insecurities about their identity by learn more about themselves and validating
their identity in ethnic group acceptance (Chaudhari & Pizzolato, 2008; Cheryan & Monin, 2005;
Harper, 2016; Jourdan, 2006; Renn, 2000; Spickard & Fong, 1995; Yuh, 2005). Learning
opportunities came from NHPI student-run organizations, workshops and seminars, and shared
written and oral literature from NHPI history and cultural experts.
It is important to note participants mentioned the discrimination and prejudice they faced
for being multiethnic, even among members of their NHPI community. Three interviewees
mentioned either experienced or witnessing others being discriminated against different reasons.
In two experiences, being multiethnic with an identity other than European adjacent meant they
were considered inferior. Being monoethnic or half-White provided cultural capital within their
community for prestige and upward mobility (Chaudhari & Pizzolato, 2008; Cheryan & Monin,
2005; Renn, 2000; Spickard & Fong, 1995; Yosso, 2005). In one account, having an ethnic
identity that either closely represents one NHPI culture or being half-White meant one could be
accepted by their ethnic group because of their physical appearance (Chaudhari & Pizzolato,
2008; Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Renn, 2000).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 126

A significant medium of learning came from the intersection of religion and culture.
Christian religious ceremonies are where five participants found community and acceptance with
those who shared their ethnic identity and religion (Chaudhari & Pizzolato, 2008; Cheryan &
Monin, 2005; Harper, 2016; Jourdan, 2006; Renn, 2000; Spickard & Fong, 1995; Swain &
Trompf, 1995). Sharing in these religious practices brought them closer to their community and
ethnic identity, especially when their schools or neighborhoods did not reflect their community.
They bolstered their ethnic pride and sense of unity by infusing their culture with their faith in
God (Foster, 2019; Foster & Ballendorf, 2019; Foster & Latukefu, 2019; Heckathorn et al., 2019;
Swain & Trompf, 1995).
Research Sub-Question Two
This question helped the researcher frame how participants perceived the inclusivity of
the terms AAPI/API/APA. One of the themes was confirmation of the grouping of NHPI and AA
communities together. All participants agreed the vagueness of the terms AAPI/API/APA
perpetuated the notion that AA took up more space and visibility (Diaz, 2004; Kauanui, 2008;
Moniz, 2012; Okamura, 1998; Pak, 1995; Spickard, 2007; Wright & Balutski, 2013; Wright &
Spickard, 2002). Specifically, all participants listed cultural, educational, and dietary differences
from AA communities. One participant discussed the history of the term AA and how students
created the term to mobilize the AA community, but did not intentionally mention NHPI, which
is consistent with the literature (Diaz, 2004; Kukahiko, 2017; Pak, 1995; Perez, 2002; Spickard,
2007). Another participant brought up the Eurocentric perspective of centering one’s location.
Per participants, grouping the experiences of NHPI with AA demonstrated a lack of
understanding of NHPI experiences and led to cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. All
participants mentioned the NHPI community at their colleges and universities felt discriminated
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 127

against by the non-NHPI community’s shallow, gendered representations of their community,
which is consistent with the literature (Camacho, 2011; Diaz, 2004; Franks, 2009; Green, 2018;
Squire, 2018; Wright & Spickard, 2002). Having women stereotyped only as hula dancers and
men only as muscular athletes added to the frustration of not being honored and recognized as a
student and scholar. In addition, all six interviewees felt inferior via personal and/or eyewitness
accounts of implicit bias, as non-NHPI college students, staff, and faculty made assumptions
about their community (Casey et al., 2012; Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Kahneman et al., 1982;
Jones & Harris, 1967; Levy et al., 2016; Sue et al., 2007). The narrow perspective in not
understanding the cultural and Indigenous significance of rituals and performances resulted in
instances of cultural appropriation. All participants became frustrated with how AA perpetuated
the stereotypes of NHPI by incorrectly or inappropriately performing these rituals (Franks, 2009;
French et al., 2013; Hammond et al., 2010; Kukahiko, 2017; Kupo, 2010; Rydell et al., 2017;
Staats et al., 2015).
Finally, there was emphasis on disaggregating data to focus on the differences between
ethnic NHPI and AA subgroups. Three participants referenced the role of disaggregated data in
advocating for proper representation (EPIC & AAAJ, 2014; Museus et al., 2017; Saelua et al.,
2016; Wright & Balutski, 2013). While there are federal and state mandates, there are
inconsistencies with the representation of disaggregated data among NHPI and AA ethnic groups
(Camacho, 2011; Labrador & Wright, 2011; Wright & Spickard, 2002). Disaggregating data
would draw attention to NHPI students’ needs. An important caveat mentioned by one student is
that multiracial/multiethnic individuals should not be marking in “Other” or
“Multiracial/Multiethnic” as institutions of higher education group those students together
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 128

(Spickard, 2007). Instead, they should list as many of their identities as possible or make a
conscious decision to emphasize one identity over the other.
Research Sub-Question Three
This final question brought to attention how NHPI college students perceived their
relationship with AAPI/API/APA culture centers and how the relationship could be strengthened.
All participants mentioned they did not come into the center to fully engage with any academic,
emotional, or social support, which is inconsistent with the literature (Benitez, 2010; Howard-
Hamilton et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2010; Lozano, 2010; Mena, 2010; Patton, 2010; Sutton &
McCluskey-Titus, 2010). Since they perceived the space to be AA, they were not sure if the
space was also open to NHPI students. Two of the participants drew attention to a former NHPI
college student program aimed at providing mentorship and outreach support, consistent with the
literature about the resources that an AA culture center can provide (Liu et al., 2010; Sutton &
McCluskey-Titus, 2010; Mena, 2010). Had this program become an established, it might have
led to an influx of NHPI students into the space. One of the interviewees mentioned it was
important to advocate on behalf of their community and eventually foster a space for them.
Regarding sense of community, five participants mentioned the importance of finding
AA and other non-NHPI individuals who can advocate for their community. Consistent with the
literature, they referred to a supportive space wherein to challenge current notions about their
community and focus on the wealth of knowledge accessible to them (Benitez, 2010; Mena,
2010; Saelua, 2012; Saelua et al., 2016; Sutton & McCluskey-Titus, 2010; Yosso & Lopez,
2010). One student used the term “oppression olympics” to refer to how non-White individuals
quantitatively exemplified the oppression their community faced in comparison to other non-
White communities (Hancock, 2011; Yuval-Davis, 2012). Instead, the participant would rather
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 129

foster cross-cultural competency and the development of a student’s ethnic identity, especially
since their missions and services overlap with those of other culture centers (Liu et al., 2010;
Lozano, 2010; Patton, 2010; Saelua, 2012; Saelua et al., 2016; Shotton et al., 2010). Four
participants mentioned other culture centers and spaces that openly welcomed NHPI students,
which is consistent with creating community with other groups (Yosso, 2005; Yosso & Lopez,
2010; Wright, 2018).
Finally, all participants emphasized honoring their Indigenous cultures, which is
consistent with previous research (Brayboy, 2005; Diaz, 2004; Lipe, 2018; McGrath, 2002;
Okamura, 1998; Perez, 2002; Shotton et al., 2010; Smith, 2012; Uehara et al., 2018; Wright &
Spickard, 2002; Vakalahi, 2009; Yamauchi, 1998). One participant discussed collaborating with
the NA student association, which is an effort mentioned in past research as well (Shotton et al.,
2010). All participants expressed desires for a culture center where they could serve as role
models for their community, consistent with the literature on mentorship and developing their
best possible selves (Bowman & Felix, 2017; Maramba & Velasquez, 2012; Museus et al., 2017;
Oyserman et al., 2002; Saelua et al., 2017; Sedlacek & Sheu, 2013; Tierney, 1999; Yosso, 2005;
Yosso & Lopez, 2010). Their Indigenous identity focuses on the collective nature and success of
their community, which means value giving back and establishing support for their community.
Four participants also discussed the negative impact mental health issues can have on
persistence, which connects to literature on the psychological and biological impacts of implicit
bias (French et al., 2013; Hammond et al., 2010; Levy et al., 2016; Rydell et al., 2017; Staats et
al., 2015). With the support of NHPI-identified staff and faculty, participants felt they could be
part of the college community while still being respected for their Indigenous identity (Bowman
& Felix, 2017; Liu et al., 2010).
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 130

Implications for Practice
This study presented the experiences of six NHPI college students and their perspectives
on AAPI/API/APA culture centers. Their experiences offer a perspective from individuals who
have not been part of conversations regarding education. There is much to do to reverse and
revolutionize how AAPI/API/APA terms are used. This is an important contribution as most of
the literature regarding NHPI in relation to AA came from a deficit-based perspective. Shifting
the focus to desire-based research within the theory of change can allow NHPI college students
to speak on behalf of their community and inform other stakeholders on what can be done to
understand them.
The implications for practice reflect the themes and findings. The results of this work are
intended for leaders of non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, social justice
organizations, college students, the general public, and individuals involved in data collection,
especially in regard to ethnic versus racial group demographics.
It is important to research and understand the history of the terms AAPI/API/APA as they
relate to NHPI and AA. Since NHPI college students may feel excluded by the institution, it is
imperative for culture center leaders to be equipped to welcome NHPI college students. More
importantly, support must be leveraged from NHPI-identified staff and faculty for NHPI college
students to feel they belong at their institutions.
The intentionality and purpose of using the terms AAPI/API/APA must include all
ethnicities represented. AA leaders should be intentional in opening space for the NHPI
community and leverage the support of other ethnic groups on campus. Efforts could be made to
support one another, especially at predominantly White institutions.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 131

For individuals who want to either visit an NHPI homeland or partake in their cultural
celebrations, one important recommendation is to conduct research to understand their history.
Doing so can avoid cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. Within NHPI communities, it is
common and respectful practice to ask for permission to enter and engage in the space. One
should seek the knowledge and support of a NHPI community member and foster an authentic
relationship.
Given the significant population of NHPI who identify as multiethnic, one should be
intentional in welcoming them and all their ethnicities. Leaders of ethnic culture centers should
ensure their programming and physical spaces do not force students to choose one ethnicity over
another. In doing so, multiethnic NHPI college students will feel supported.
For researchers involved with demographic and census data, it is important to ensure
NHPI and their ethnic subgroups are visible at their institutions. Even though there are numerical
limitations with the size of NHPI student populations statistically, stating they are quantitatively
insignificant perpetuates the notion that their presence is irrelevant and insubstantial. Instead, it
would be more impactful to understand how NHPI data is collected and identified, and then
include the NHPI community in discussion and action toward advocating for resources and
services. Even with their small numbers, they are visible, and they matter.
As reflected in participants’ responses, there should be more of an intentional push and
advocacy for hiring NHPI-identified staff and faculty. Given the importance of role models and
mentorship as it relates to NHPI communities, the presence and persistence of these individuals
can exemplify the institution’s focus on diversity. Especially within AAPI/API/APA culture
centers, it would be impactful if other NHPI college students saw someone they identified with.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 132

Finally, to avoid any complications such as conflating race and ethnicity, every ethnicity
one identifies with should be recognized accordingly. The original racial terms in the U.S.
Census were made to group similar communities together. For example, Filipinos/Pilipinos
might logically identify as NHPI since the Philippines is located in the Pacific Ocean and they
share similar physical features as NHPI. Yet, there is much controversy regarding who is
considered NHPI and what ethnic criteria validates their racial identification. By identifying
oneself/others from their respective ethnic background(s), it challenges the original intentions of
racial groupings and focuses on individual experiences instead. If one decides to identify
oneself/others via their respective race(s), they should be prepared to engage in critical
conversation with others about how other ethnic subgroups may or may not identify. It is then up
to them to dedicate how to accommodate those who have become invisible or left out, especially
if those excluded identify as multiethnic.
Future Research
The results of this work provided extensive accounts of the lived experiences of six NHPI
college students and their perspectives on the inclusivity of AAPI/API/APA culture center. In
building off of the momentum of this collection of stories, the researcher recommends the
following for future research:
Future research should build authentic rapport from other NHPI communities not
represented in this study. Five of this study’s participants came from Polynesia and only one of
them came from Micronesia. Further research could focus on descendants from Melanesia.
Future research should include the stories and perspectives of LGBTQIA+ and gender
non-conforming individuals. All participants identified as cisgender, heterosexual, and it would
be interesting to discuss the experiences of those not represented in this study, especially in their
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 133

engagement and association with their religion, if any. In particular, it would be important to
understand how they navigate their queer identity within an upbringing that may have specific
gender roles.
Future research could be further enriched by collecting stories from NHPI students at
community colleges and for-profit universities, other academic levels, and institutions in states
other than California and countries other than the United States. All participants came from
California and graduated from 4-year universities and colleges. Since the majority of NHPI
college students attend community colleges and non-profit universities, their voices are required
to learn of the support they need.
Future research could be the collaborative effort of NHPI and non-NHPI researchers and
practitioners. Initially, the researcher intended to collaborate with NHPI-identified scholars to
further provide a historical and academic perspective, as well as NHPI-appropriate research
methodologies as it relates to NHPI college students. Yet, with the limited timing, the researcher
opted to only use the perspectives of NHPI college students. With the intentional collaboration of
other ethnic groups, there can be more done to change the perspective in how NHPI are
perceived in academia.
Finally, future research can benefit by collecting the stories of NHPI parents, families,
and community members. As the literature and study identified, higher education is important
but may not be to other NHPI who are not in those spaces. Adding their voice to the work can
add perspectives on how NHPI are perceived from multiple settings and whether these
perspectives are replicated in more than one space, instead of simply just in higher education.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 134

Conclusion
By identifying my privilege as AA, I hope to serve as an example in building an authentic
and meaningful connection with NHPI to advocate for their community. In retrospect, I believe
that my personal, academic, and professional experiences guided me to this path. Had it not been
for my cultural advisor and other NHPI individuals who supported my collection of stories, I
would have easily felt I was committing an insensitive act of cultural appropriation.
When I was a child, I felt comfort and complacency with feeling invisible and left alone.
My desire to build my confidence and be more vocal helped to guide and empower me to
advocate for others who felt silenced. Initially, I felt writing about the AA experience was
important but not what I wanted to do, especially because it came from an initial approach of a
deficit-based perspective. I align myself with NHPI as an advocate and hope this can inspire
others to welcome others into conversations regarding education and access. Being cognizant of
the oppression olympics, I would like the education discussion to not be limited to African
American and Latinx students, who have received limited support and resources, and to give
space to Indigenous and NHPI communities. Such perspective can shift focus to transform and
foster inclusive collaboration with other non-White communities (Hancock, 2011; Yuval-Davis,
2012).
As a first-generation, educated person of color, I am proud to be the first person in my
family to receive a doctorate. Given that I faced many hardships and success during the program,
I have always come back to knowing where I came from and to whom I need to pay my respects
in my journey. I am entering the next stage in my life, confident I can guide other students to be
critical thinkers and challenge the history, connotation, and denotation of words as they relate to
the NHPI/Oceania/Pasifika community.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 135

Coincidentally, I initially wrote this during the month of May, Asian Pacific American
Heritage Month, which intended to celebrate the historical contributions of AA and NHPI in the
United States (Library of Congress, 2019). Terisa Siagatonu, a queer Samoan poet, educator, and
community leader shared a photo of her grandfather, High Chief Leuluso’o Fualauto’alasi
Leatutufu, who served on the committee which coined the term “Asian Pacific Islander” for the
U.S. Census from 1978 to 1980 (T. Siagatonu, personal communication, May 1, 2019). She
critiqued an AA author for excluding NHPI authors in a list of AAPI/API/APA authors,
conflating the NHPI identity to countries in the Pacific Islands (T. Siagatonu, personal
communication, May 2, 2019). As an AA, I am disheartened by his response and will ensure AA
and other non-NHPI are critical of the terms AAPI/API/APA and strive to be more inclusive of
the NHPI/Oceania/Pasifika community. After all, words mean things (Kid Fury & Crissle, 2013).

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 136

REFERENCES
Aina, S., Thornton, M., Riesch, N., Saelua, N., & Folau, T. (2019). Oral history of UCLA Pacific
Islands Student Association. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=
1HMytjCYS6y3Ha4GIGasX7sZYls5ERi3c5nFQ3q7HBuI
Bang, M., & Vossoughi, S. (2016). Participatory design research and educational justice:
Studying learning and relations within social change making. Cognition and Instruction,
34(3), 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2016.1181879
Banks, J. A. (1993). Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. In J. A. Banks & C. A.
McGee Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (pp. 233–258).
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Barker, J. (2013). Religion. In Rapaport M. (Author), The Pacific Islands: Environment and
Society, Revised Edition (pp. 214-224). University of Hawai'i Press. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.chapman.edu/stable/j.ctt6wqh08.22
Benham, M. K. P. (2006). A challenge to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander scholars: What
the research literature teaches us about our work. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 9(1),
29–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320500490705
Benitez, M. (2010). Resituating culture centers within a social justice framework: Is there room
for examining whiteness? In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers in higher education
perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp. 119–136). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Bernal, D. D. (2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered
epistemologies: Recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge.
Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 105–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800107
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 137

Bouma, G. D., Ling, R., & Pratt, D. (2010). Religious diversity in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3389-5
Brayboy, B. M. J. (2005). Toward a tribal critical race theory in education. The Urban
Review,37(5), 425–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-005-0018-y
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. (2017). Student enrollment status summary
report 2016-2017. Statewide College Profile. Retrieved from
California Department of Education. (2017). California longitudinal pupil achievement data
system 2016–2017. Sacramento, CA: Author.
California State University. (n.d.). The mission of the California State University. Retrieved from
https://www2.calstate.edu/csu-system/about-the-csu/Pages/mission.aspx
California State University. (2018a). CSU enrollment by ethnic group, fall 2018 profile, table 2A
CSU enrollment by campus and ethnic group, fall 2018. Retrieved from
http://www.calstate.edu/as/stat_reports/2018-2019/f_eth18toc.shtml
California State University. (2018b). CSU undergraduate and graduate degrees granted,
September 2018, table 10 degrees granted by ethnic group and sex, systemwide, 2017–
18. Retrieved from http://www.calstate.edu/as/stat_reports/2017-2018/degree1718.shtml
California State University. (2018c). First-time full-time freshmen systemwide 2007 to 2016
degree-seeking FTF campus reports. Retrieved from http://asd.calstate.edu/csrde/ftf/
2016htm/sys.htm
California State University. (2019). CSU new student enrollments, fall 2018 profile, table 23.0
first-time freshmen from California high schools by ethnicity and admission category, fall
2018. Retrieved from http://www.calstate.edu/as/stat_reports/2018-
2019/f_nse18toc.shtml
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 138

Camacho, K. L. (2011). Transoceanic flows: Pacific Islander interventions across the American
empire. Amerasia Journal, 37(3), ix–xxxiv.
https://doi.org/10.17953/amer.37.3.m372lun15r8p420m
Casey, P. M., Warren, R. K., Cheesman F. L., & Elek, J. K. (2012). Helping courts address
implicit bias. Retrieved from https://www.ncsc.org/ibeducation
Cervantes, M. (2018). Asian American and Pacific Islander Initiative. Retrieved from
http://www.calstate.edu/externalrelations/partnerships/asian-pacific.shtml
Campbell, I. C. (2011). Worlds apart: a history of the Pacific Islands (2nd ed.). Christchurch,
N.Z.: Canterbury University Press. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,
uid&db=edsnzl&AN=edsnzl.13621397&site=eds-live
Chang, R. S. (1993). Toward an Asian American legal scholarship: Critical race theory, post-
structuralism, and narrative space. California Law Review, 19(5), 1243–1265.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3480919
Chaudhari, P., & Pizzolato, J. E. (2008). Understanding the epistemology of ethnic identity
development in multiethnic college students. Journal of College Student Development,
49(5), 443–458. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0028
Cheryan, S., & Monin, B. (2005). Where are you really from?: Asian Americans and identity
denial. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(5), 717–730.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.717
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research : Techniques and procedures for
developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452230153
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 139

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
CSULB Pacific Islanders’ Association. (2019). CSULB Pacific Islanders’ Association. Retrieved
from https://www.facebook.com/pg/csulbpia/about/?ref=page_internal
Daly, M. (2009). Tonga : A New Bibliography. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved
from
http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,
uid&db=nlebk&AN=285936&site=eds-live
Diaz, V. M. (2004). “To ‘P’ or not to ‘P’?” Marking the territory between Pacific Islander and
Asian American studies. Journal of Asian American Studies, 7(3), 183–208.
https://doi.org/10.1353/jaas.2005.0019
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities. (2017). About EPIC. Retrieved from
https://www.empoweredpi.org/about-epic.html
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities & Asian Americans Advancing Justice. (2014a).
Native Hawaiians & Pacific Islanders: A community in contrast in the United States
2014. Retrieved from http://empoweredpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/A_
Community_of_Contrasts_NHPI_US_2014-1.pdf
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities & Asian Americans Advancing Justice. (2014b).
Native Hawaiians Pacific Islanders & A Community of Contrasts in California 2014.
Retrieved from https://www.empoweredpi.org/uploads/1/1/4/1/114188135/a_
community_of_contrasts_nhpi_ca_2014_low-res1.pdf

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 140

Farrer, D. S., & Sellmann, J. D. (2014). Chants of Re-enchantment: Chamorro Spiritual
Resistance to Colonial Domination. Social Analysis, 58(1).
https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2014.580107
Forman, C. W. (1994). The Study of Pacific Island Christianity: Achievements, Resources,
Needs. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 18(3), 103. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,
uid&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000896705&site=eds-live
Foster, S. (2019a). Niue. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Niue
Foster, S. (2019b). Samoa. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from
https://www.britannica.com/place/Samoa-island-nation-Pacific-Ocean#ref514084
Foster, S., & Ballendorf, D. A. (2019). Guam. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/place/Guam
Foster, S., & Latukefu, S. (2019). Tonga. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/place/Tonga
Franks, J. S. (2009). Pacific Islanders and American Football: Hula Hula Honeys, Throwin’
Samoans and the Rock. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 26(16), 2397–
2411. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360903457007
French, S. E., Tran, N., & Chávez, N. R. (2013). Exploring the effect of in-group and out-group
race-related stressors on anxiety among Asian Pacific Islander American students.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, E339–E350. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.
12028
Green, B. (2018). The Pacific, to be specific. Retrieved from https://csulauniversitytimes.com/
11972/thenest/the-pacific-to-be-specific/
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 141

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and
stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-
295X.102.1.4
Hammond, W. P., Gillen, M., & Yen, I. H. (2010). Workplace discrimination and depressive
symptoms: A study of multi-ethnic hospital employees. Race and Social Problems, 2(1),
19–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-010-9024-0
Hancock, A.-M. (2013). Solidarity politics for millennials: a guide to ending the oppression
olympics. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harding, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis from start to finish. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Harper, C. E. (2016). Pre-college and college predictors of longitudinal changes in multiracial
college students’ self-reported race. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 19(5), 927–949.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.911161
Harper, S. R. (2009). Niggers no more: A critical race counternarrative on Black male student
achievement at predominantly White colleges and universities. International Journal of
Qualitative Studies in Education: QSE, 22(6), 697–712.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390903333889
Harris, J. C. (2017). Multiracial college students’ experiences with multiracial microaggressions.
Race, Ethnicity and Education, 20(4), 429–445. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.
1248836
Hau’ofa, E. (1998). The ocean in us. The Contemporary Pacific, 10(2), 392–410. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23706895
Heckathorn, J., Swenson, J. P. M., & Motteler, L. S. (2019). Hawai’i. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/place/Hawaii-state
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 142

Howard-Hamilton, M. F., Hinton, K. G., & Hughes, R. L. (2010). Critical borders: Student
development theoretical perspectives applied to culture centers. In L. D. Patton (Ed.),
Culture centers in higher education perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed.,
pp. 105–118). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Huber, L. P. (2008). Building critical race methodologies in educational research: A research
note on critical race testimonio. FIU Law Review, 4(1), 159–173. Retrieved from
http://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/lawreview%5Cnhttp://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/lawreview/v
ol4/iss1/15
Huber, L. P. (2010). Using Latina/o critical race theory (LatCrit) and racist nativism to explore
intersectionality in the educational experiences of undocumented Chicana college
students. Educational Foundations, 24(1–2), 77–96.
Hune, S., & Yeo, J. (2010). How do Pacific Islanders fare in U.S. education?: A look inside
Washington State public schools with a focus on Samoans. AAPI Nexus, 8(1), 1–16.
Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=54573174&site=ehost-
live https://doi.org/10.17953/appc.8.1.g808711m12103418
Hussar, W. J., & Bailey, T. M. (2013). Projections of Education Statistics to 2021. Washington,
DC: Department of Education; Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013008.pdf
Jenkins, T. S. (2010). Viewing cultural practice through a lens of innovation and intentionality:
Strategies for student personnel administrators in culture centers. In L. D. Patton (Ed.),
Culture centers in higher education perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed.,
pp. 137–156). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 143

Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2014). Educational research: quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Jones, E. E., & Harris, V. A. (1967). The attribution of attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 3(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(67)90034-0
Jourdan, A. (2006). The impact of the family environment on the ethnic identity development of
multiethnic college students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 84(3), 328–340.
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2006.tb00412.x
Justice, D. H. (2004). Seeing (and reading) red: Indian outlaws in the ivory tower. In D. A.
Mihesuah & Wilson, A. C. (Eds.). Indigenizing the academy: Transforming scholarship
and empowering communities (pp. 100–123). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics
and biases (1st ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO978051180 9477
Kauanui, J. K. (2008). Where are Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in higher
education? | The academy speaks. Retrieved from https://diverseeducation.wordpress.
com/2008/09/08/where-are-native-hawaiians-and-other-pacific-islanders-in-higher-
education/
Kid Fury & West, C. (2013, October 1). The Mrs. Carter Show [Episode 13]. The Read Podcast.
New York, NY: The Loudspeakers Network. Retrieved from
https://soundcloud.com/loudspeakersnetwork/the-read-the-mrs-carter-show
Kim, J. (2001). Asian American identity development theory. In C. L. Wijeyesin- ghe & B.
Jackson III (Eds.), New perspectives on racial identity development: A theoretical and
practical anthology (pp. 67–90). New York: New York University Press.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 144

Kukahiko, K. T. (2017). Staying in: The study of Pacific Islanders in college football using
indigenous methodologies. Asian Journal of Social Science Studies, 2(4), 19.
https://doi.org/10.20849/ajsss.v2i4.231
Kupo, V. L. (2010). What Is Hawaiian?: Explorations and understandings of Native Hawaiian
college women’s identities. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University.
Labrador, R. N., & Wright, E. K. (2011). Engaging indigeneity in Pacific Islander and Asian
American studies. Amerasia Journal, 37(3), 135–147.
https://doi.org/10.17953/amer.37.3.27m7t7783lh156j6
Lee, S., Juon, H., Martinez, G., Hsu, C. E., Robinson, E. S., Bawa, J., & Ma, G. X. (2009).
Model minority at risk: Expressed needs of mental health by Asian American young
adults. Journal of Community Health, 34(2), 144–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-
008-9137-1
Levy, A., Heissel, J. A., Richeson, J. A., & Adam, E. K. (2016). Psychological and biological
responses to race-based social stress as pathways to disparities in educational outcomes.
The American Psychologist, 71(6), 455–473. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040322
Library of Congress. (2019). Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Retrieved from
https://asianpacificheritage.gov/
Lipe, K. (2013). Kēia ‘Āina: The center of our work. In J. Osorio (Ed.), I ulu i ka ‘aina:
Land(pp. 99–109). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved from ProQuest
Ebook Central;
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/socal/detail.action?docID=3413582https://doi.org/1
0.21313/hawaii/9780824839772.003.0009
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 145

Lipe, K. (2018). Toward Equity and Equality: Transforming universities into indigenous places
of learning. In Minthorn, R., & Shotton, H. (Eds.), Reclaiming indigenous research in
higher education (pp. 162–177). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1v2xw7v.15
Liu, W. M., Cuyjet, M. J., & Lee, S. (2010). Asian American student involvement in Asian
American culture centers. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers in higher education:
Perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp. 26–48). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Lolohea, S., Koloamatangi, L., & McTurk, N. (2014). Tonga 2011 census of population and
housing, volume 2: Analytical report (Vol. 2). Retrieved from
https://tonga.prism.spc.int/tdos-documents-library?view=download&fileId=1010
Lozano, A. (2010). Latina/o culture centers: Providing a sense of belonging and promoting
student success. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers in higher education: Perspectives
on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp. 3–25). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Maramba, D., & Velasquez, P. (2012). Influences of the campus experience on the ethnic
identity development of students of color. Education and Urban Society, 44(3), 294–317.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124510393239
Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Los
Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Mcgrath, B. B. (2002). Seattle Fa‘a Sämoa. The Contemporary Pacific, 14(2), 307–340.
Mena, S. B. (2010). Promoting student engagement: Administrative considerations for current
and future planning of culture center programming and outreach. In L. D. Patton (Ed.),
Culture centers in higher education: Perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st
ed., 178–193). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 146

Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and
implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: a Methods
Sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Minthorn, R., & Shotton, H. (Eds.). (2018). Reclaiming indigenous research in higher education.
New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1v2xw7v
Moniz, J. (2012). Pacific Islander Americans, education of. In J. A. Banks (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
diversity in education (Vol. 4, pp. 1641–1644). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications
Ltd.; https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218533.n527
Museus, S. D., & Quaye, S. J. (2009). Toward an intercultural perspective of racial and ethnic
minority college student persistence. The Review of Higher Education, 33(1), 67–94.
https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.0.0107
Museus, S. D., Maramba, D. C., & Teranishi, R. T. (Eds.). (2013). The misrepresented minority:
new insights on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the implications for higher
education (1st ed.). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Museus, S. D., Yi, V., & Saelua, N. (2017). The impact of culturally engaging campus
environments on sense of belonging. The Review of Higher Education, 40(2), 187–215.
https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2017.0001
Museus, S.D., Mueller, M. K., & Aquino, K. (2013). Engaging Asian American and Pacific
Islander culture and identity in graduate education. In S.D. Museus, D.C. Maramba, &
R.T. Teranishi (Eds.), The misrepresented minority: new insights on Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders, and the implications for higher education (1
st
ed., pp. 106-123).
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 147

Neich, R. (2007). Tonga figures: From goddesses to missionary trophies to masterpieces. The
Journal of the Polynesian Society, 116(2), 213–268. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.chapman.edu/stable/20707392
Ocampo, A. (2016). The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Okamura, J. Y. (1998). The Illusion of Paradise Privileging Multiculturalism in Hawai’i. In D. C.
Gladney (Ed.), Making majorities : constituting the nation in Japan, Korea, China,
Malaysia, Fiji, Turkey, and the United States (pp. 264–284). Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
Oliveira, K. A. R. K. N., & Wright, E. K. (Eds.). (2016). Kanaka ʻōiwi methodologies: Moʻolelo
and metaphor (4th ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Ong, J. (2019). The divide between Filipinos and Pacific Islanders. Retrieved March 19, 2019,
from https://oceaniaconnects.com/f/the-divide-between-filipinos-and-pacific-islanders
Orsuwan, M., & Cole, D. (2007). The moderating effects of race/ethnicity on the experience of
Asian American and Pacific Islander community college students. Asian American Policy
Review, 16, 61–86.
Osorio, J. (Ed.). (2014). I Ulu I Ka 'Aina: Land. University of Hawai'i Press. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,
uid&db=e000xna&AN=732406&site=eds-live
Oyserman, D., Terry, K., & Bybee, D. (2002). A possible selves intervention to enhance school
involvement. Journal of Adolescence, 25(3), 313–326.
https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.2002.0474
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 148

Pak, Y. K., Maramba, D. C., & Hernandez, X. J. (2014). Asian Americans in higher education:
Charting new realities. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/aehe.20013
Pak, Y. M. (1995). Pan-Pacific identity : A skeptical Asian American response. Journal of
Women and Religion, 13(15), 1–6.
Pang, V. O., Han, P. P., & Pang, J. M. (2011). Asian American and Pacific Islander students:
Equity and the achievement gap. Educational Researcher, 40(8), 378–389.
https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X11424222
Patel, L. (2014). Countering coloniality in educational research: From ownership to
answerability. Educational Studies, 50(4), 357–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.
2014.924942
Patel, L. (2016). Decolonizing educational research: From ownership to answerability. New
York, NY: Routledge.
Patton, L. D. (Ed.). (2010). On solid ground: An examination of the successful strategies and
positive student outcomes of two black culture centers. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture
centers in higher education: Perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp.
63–82). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Patton, L. D. (2010). Culture centers in higher education: Perspectives on identity, theory, and
practice (1
st
ed.). Sterling, VA: Stylus
Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
Perez, M. P. (2002). Pacific identities beyond US racial formations: The case of Chamorro
ambivalence and flux. Social Identities, 8(3), 457–479. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630
22000030001
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 149

Pew Research Center. (2014). Religious composition of adults in Hawaii. Retrieved from
https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/state/hawaii/
Pointer, M. (2015). Niue 1774-1974: 200 years of contact and change. Honolulu, HI: University
of Hawaiʻi Press.
Renn, K. A. (2000). Patterns of Situational Identity Among Biracial and Multiracial College
Students. Review of Higher Education, 23(4), 399–420.
Rydell, R. J., Van Loo, K. J., & Boucher, K. L. (2017). Stereotype threat: New insights into
process and intervention. In A. J. Elliot, C. S. Dweck, & D. S. Yeager (Eds.), Handbook
of competence and motivation: Theory and application (pp. 294–312). New York, NY:
The Guilford Press.
Saelua, N., Ribera, A., Brckalorenz, A., & Museus, S. D. (2017). Viewing higher education as a
sea of islands: The impact of student engagement on cultural validation of Native
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students. Bloomington: Indiana University.
Saelua, N., Wright, E. K., Kukahiko, K., Thornton, M., & Aina, S. (2016). Pacific Islander
education and retention: The development a student-initiated, student-run outreach
program for Pacific Islanders. In S. Museus, A. Agbayani, & D. Ching (Eds.), Focusing
on the underserved: Immigrant, refugee, and indigenous Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders in higher education (pp. 121–137). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
Saranillio, D. I. (2013). Why Asian settler colonialism matters: A thought piece on critiques,
debates, and Indigenous difference. Settler Colonial Studies, 3(3–4), 280–294.
https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2013.810697

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 150

Sedlacek, W. E., & Sheu, H. B. (2013). Selecting and supporting Asian American and Pacific
Islander students in higher education. In S. D. Museus, D. C. Maramba, and R. T.
Teranishi (pp. 140–157), The misrepresented minority: New insights on Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders, and the implications for higher education (1st ed., pp. 327–339).
Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Shotton, H. J., Yellowfish, S., & Cintrón, R. (2010) Island of sanctuary: The role of an American
Indian culture center. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers in higher education:
Perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp.49–62). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Smith, S. P. (1903). Niuē-fekai (or savage) island and its people. (C. Doig, Ed.). Wellington,
Christchurch and Dunedin, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs Limited. Retrieved from
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SmiNiu.html
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples. London,
UK: Zed Books Ltd.
Solórzano, D. G. (1998). Critical race theory, racial and gender microaggressions, and the
experiences of Chicana and Chicano scholars. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education: QSE, 11(1), 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236926
Spickard, P. (2007). Whither the Asian American Coalition? Pacific Historical Review, 76(4),
585–604. https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.585
Spickard, P. R., & Fong, R. (1995). Pacific Islander Americans and multiethnicity: A vision of
America’s future? Social Forces, 73(4), 1365–1383. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/73.4.1365
Spiller, L. (2012). “How can we teach them when they won’t listen?” How teacher beliefs about
Pasifika values and Pasifika ways of learning affect student behaviour and achievement.
Set: Research Information for Teachers, 2012(3), 59–66.
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 151

Squire, A. (2018). “Pacific Islanders-Only” dinner desegregated after media enquiries.
Retrieved from https://claremontindependent.com/pacific-islanders-only-dinner-
desegregated-media-enquiries/
Staats, C., Capatosto, K., Wright R. A., & Contractor, D. (2015). State of the science: Implicit
bias review 2015. Retrieved from http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/
2015/05/ 2015-kirwan-implicit-bias.pdf
Statistics Niue. (2012). Religion. Retrieved from https://niue.prism.spc.int/index.php?option=
com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=292
Suaalii-Sauni, T., & Fulu-Aiolupotea, S. M. (2014). Decolonising Pacific research, building
Pacific research communities and developing Pacific research tools: The case of the
Talanoa and the Faafaletui in Samoa. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 55(3), 331–344.
https://doi.org/10.1111/apv.12061
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M., Nadal, K. L., &
Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical
practice. The American Psychologist,62(4), 271–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-
066X.62.4.271
Sutton, E. M., & McCluskey-Titus, P. (2010). Campus culture center directors’ perspectives on
advancement, current issues, and future directions. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers
in higher education perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp. 157–177).
Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Swain, T., & Trompf, G. (1995). The Religions of Oceania. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Tierney, W. G. (1992). An anthropological analysis of student participation in college. The
Journal of Higher Education, 63(6), 603–618. https://doi.org/10.2307/1982046
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 152

Tierney, W. G. (1999). Models of minority college-going and retention: Cultural integrity versus
cultural suicide. The Journal of Negro Education, 68(1), 80–91.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2668211
Tinto, V. (1988). Stages of student departure: Reflections on the longitudinal character of student
leaving. The Journal of Higher Education, 59(4), 438–455. https://doi.org/10.2307/1981
920
Tran, A. G. T. T., Miyake, E. R., Martinez-Morales, V., & Csizmadia, A. (2016). “What are
you?” Multiracial individuals’ responses to racial identification inquiries. Cultural
Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 22(1), 26–37.
https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000031
Trask, H. (1999). From a native daughter: Colonialism and sovereignty in Hawaiʻi / Haunani-
Kay Trask. (2nd ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational
Review,79(3), 409–428. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15
Tunufa’i, L. (2016). Pacific research: Rethinking the Talanoa “methodology.” New Zealand
Sociology, 31(7), 227–240.
Uehara, D. L., Chugen, J., & Raatior, V. S. (2018). Perceptions of Pacific Islander students in
higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 11(2), 182–191.
https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000057
University of California. (2018). Disaggregated data. Retrieved from
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/disaggregated-data
University of California. (2019). UC’s mission. Retrieved from https://ucop.edu/uc-
mission/index.html
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 153

University of Hawai’i. (2019a). Degrees, table 0, board of regents approved, degrees and
certificates awarded. Retrieved from https://www.hawaii.edu/institutionalresearch/
degreeReport.action?reportId=MAPS_DEG_TOC
University of Hawai’i. (2019b). Enrollment, table 5, selected student characteristics, spring
2019, all ethnicities, all majors. Retrieved from
https://www.hawaii.edu/institutionalresearch/ enrReport.action?reportId=ENRT00
University of Hawai’i. (2019c). Our 10 campuses. Retrieved from https://www.hawaii.edu/
University of Hawai’i at Hilo. (2009). Mission and vision statements from the UH system.
Retrieved from https://hilo.hawaii.edu/strategicplan/documents/SPC18_10_Annex_I_
UHS_Mission_and_Vision.pdf
University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. (2019). Center for Pacific Islands Studies. Retrieved from
https://hawaii.edu/cpis/about-the-center/mission-history/
USC Alumni Association. (2017). USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association. Retrieved from
https://alumni.usc.edu/apaa/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Race reporting for the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
population by selected categories, 2010 Census Summary File 1. Retrieved from
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/QTP9/0100000US
U.S. Census Bureau. (2014a). Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010,
2010 Demographic Profile Data. Retrieved from
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0100000US

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 154

U.S. Census Bureau. (2014b). Race and Hispanic or Latino: 2010 – United States – States; and
Puerto Rico, 2010 Census Summary File 1. Retrieved from
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/GCTP3.US01PR/0100000
US
U.S. Census Bureau. (2018). ACS demographic and housing estimates, 2013-2017 American
Community Survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved from
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_5YR/DP05/0100000US
USC Student Affairs. (2017). Alternative Break: Hawai’i. Retrieved from
https://apass.usc.edu/spring-programs/hawaii/
U.S. Department of Education. (2018). Table 306.50. Total fall
enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by control and classification of
institution, level of enrollment, and race/ethnicity of student: 2017. Retrieved from
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_306.50.asp
U.S. Department of State. (2012). Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor. International
Religious Freedom Report for 2012. American Samoa. Retrieved from
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/208572.pdf
Vaioleti, T. M. (2006). Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on pacific
research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12, 21–34.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00443
Vakalahi, H. F. O. (2009). Pacific Islander American students: Caught between a rock and a hard
place? Children and Youth Services Review, 31(12), 1258–1263.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.05.011
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 155

World Council of Churches. (2019). Congregational Christian Church of Niue. Retrieved from
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/congregational-christian-church-of-
niue
Wright, D. H., & Spickard, P. (2002). Pacific Islander Americans and Asian American Identities.
In R. Bonus (Ed.), Contemporary Asian American Communities : Intersections and
Divergences (pp. 105–119). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Wright, E. K. (2018). ‘It was a process of decolonization and that’s about as clear as I can put it’:
Kuleana-centered higher education and the meanings of Hawaiianess. In Minthorn, R., &
Shotton, H. (Eds.), Reclaiming indigenous research in higher education. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Wright, E. K., & Balutski, B. J. N. (2013). The Role of Context, Critical Theory, and Counter-
Narratives in Understanding Pacific Islander Indigeneity. In S. D. Museus (Ed.), The
misrepresented minority: new insights on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the
implications for higher education (1st ed., pp. 140–157). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Wright, E. K., & Balutski, B. J. N. (2015). Ka ‘Ikena a ka Hawai’i: Toward a Kānaka ‘Ōiwi
critical race theory. In K. A. R. K. N. Oliveira & E. K. Wright (Eds.), Kanaka ‘Ōiwi
Methodologies: Mo’olelo and Metaphor (pp. 86–108). Honolulu, HI: University of
Hawaii Press. https://doi.org/10.21313/hawaii/9780824855857.003.0006
Yamauchi, L. A. (1998). Individualism, collectivism, and cultural compatibility: Implications for
counselors and teachers. The Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, 36(4),
189–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2164-4683.1998.tb00391.x

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 156

Yan, W., & Museus, S. D. (2013). Asian American and Pacific Islander faculty and the glass
ceiling in the academy. In S. D. Museus, D. C. Maramba, & R. T. Teranishi (Eds.), The
misrepresented minority: New insights on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and
the implications for higher education (pp. 252–268). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Yoo, H. C., Miller, M. J., & Yip, P. (2015). Validation of the internalization of the model
minority myth measure (IM-4) and its link to academic performance and psychological
adjustment among Asian American adolescents. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority
Psychology, 21(2), 237–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037648
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community
cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
Yosso, T. J., & Lopez, C. B. (2010). Counterspaces in a hostile place: A critical race theory
analysis of campus culture centers. In L. D. Patton (Ed.), Culture centers in higher
education: Perspectives on identity, theory, and practice (1st ed., pp. 83–104). Sterling,
VA: Stylus.
Yuh, J. (2005). Ethnic identity and its relation to self-esteem and ego identity among college
students in a multiethnic region. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(6), 1111–
1131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02162.x
Yuval-Davis, N. (2012). Dialogical epistemology-an intersectional resistance to the “oppression
olympics.” Gender and Society, 26(1), 46–54.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243211427701

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 157

APPENDIX
Interview Protocol and Interview Questions
Testimonio methodology: The interview questions for the interviewer and the participants will
be informed through open-dialogue conversations throughout the duration of the Fall 2018
semester. Below are interview questions that reflect the research questions and can be expanded
and/or updated as informed through the open-dialogue and interaction with cultural advisor that
will take place.
Instructions: Good morning/afternoon, my name is John Bacolores and I am an Ed.D. Doctoral
Candidate in the Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership at USC. Thank you
for coming. The purpose of this interview is to get your perceptions of your experiences within
your college/university’s AAPI/API/APA cultural centers. For your answers, please answer in as
much detail as you can. There are no correct or incorrect, neither acceptable nor unacceptable
answers. I can assure you that this is a safe space for you to say what you really think and feel.
Do you have any questions for me about the study?
Tape Recorder Instructions: With your permission, I would like to tape-record our
conversation. The purpose of this is so I can accurately represent your thoughts and feelings
while simultaneously carry an in-depth and meaningful conversation with you. I will make sure
that all of your comments will remain confidential. I will compile a report which contains all
students’ comments without any personal identification information to protect your identity. Is
this ok with you?
Consent Form Instructions: Since this research is for my dissertation, there is a consent form
that you would sign. This consent form outlines what the study is about, what you will be asked,
the potential risks and benefits regarding your participation, compensation, and confidentiality.
You will be given a copy of this form for your records. However, you are free to skip any
question or stop the interview at any time. Do you have any questions at the moment?
Reminder for Researcher: Research Questions (RQs):
How do NHPI student groups organize around their identity? How do they see themselves in
relation to AAPI/API/APA centers?
How is the relationship between NHPI student organizations and AAPI/API/APA cultural
centers on college campuses?
How is inclusivity enacted in the AAPI/API/APA cultural centers, from the perspective of NHPI
college students?
The following questions may or may not be included in the final draft:
● What is the story for the inclusivity of NHPI college students at AAPI/API/APA culture
centers?
● How do NHPI college students conceptualize the terms “AAPI/API/APA” in being
inclusive towards their community?
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 158

● How do NHPI college students perceive the terms “AAPI/API/APA” and their inclusivity
toward the NHPI community?
● How does cultural validation for NHPI students compare to AA students in
AAPI/API/APA cultural centers?
● To what extent are NHPI students’ experiences with AAPI/APA/API cultural centers
related to cultural validation?
Overview of experience and set up:
These first set of interview questions will be about your prior experiences before enrolling at
your current college or university. Let’s begin with the interview questions:
1. How many terms/years have you been a student at your college/university?
a. Probe: Have you consistently enrolled in your time at your college/university?
2. How did you engage with your ethnic identity in high school or at your previous
college/university?
a. Probe: How did you feel about those experiences?
NHPI identity-specific questions transition:
Now that we have discussed your previous experiences in education, let’s talk more about your
cultural identity.

3. Will you tell me a bit about the development of your NHPI identity?
a. Probe: Which experiences/people did you feel helped you come to terms with
other aspects of your identity?
4. Do you know about your family genealogy?
a. If so: Please recount as much as you know.
b. If not: Please explain why.
AAPI/API/APA term-specific questions transition:
Next, let’s dig in deeper from NHPI identity to questions about the general terms
AAPI/API/APA.
5. How would you define the term Asian American/Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI/API)?
a. Probe: From your definition, to what extent are those terms being inclusive
toward NHPI students?
6. Is there a difference between AA and PI?
a. Probe: If so, please explain.
7. Some people would say that PI students are AA because of the terms AAPI/APA/API.
What would you say to them?
a. Probe: How does that make you feel?
8. How would you describe what you think the ideal college experience for PI students
would be like?
a. Probe: What makes you feel that way?
9. Are you finding that attending college as a PI a different experience from what you
expected?
a. Probe: If yes: Please walk me through an example of this experience.
b. Probe: If not: This is what I think I heard you say... Did I understand you
correctly?
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 159

AAPI/API/APA cultural center and NHPI student-led organization-specific questions
transition:
Finally, let’s move on from questions about those terms to thoughts about AAPI/API/APA
cultural centers.

10. How often do you visit the AAPI/APA/API cultural center at your college/university
before?
a. Probe: Please talk about your first-time/memorable experience there.
b. If No: Please explain why you have not visited before.
11. How often do you attend events, meetings, or programs hosted by the NHPI student-led
organization?
a. Probe: Please tell me about your first-time/memorable experience there.
b. If No: Please explain why you have not attended events frequently.
12. To what extent has the AAPI/API/APA cultural center made you feel valued and/or made
you feel like you belonged?
a. Probe: What makes you feel that way?
13. To what extent has the NHPI student-led organization made you feel valued and/or made
you feel like you belonged?
a. Probe: What makes you feel that way?
14. What would the AAPI/APA/API cultural center at your respective campus need to do in
order to better support NHPI students?
a. Probe: What makes you feel that way?
15. How would you describe what you think the ideal relationship between the NHPI
student-led organization and the AAPI/API/APA cultural center would be like?
a. Probe: What makes you feel that way?
16. Do you have additional information that you think will be important to this study?

Closing: Thank you very much for your time. Please let me know if you have any other
questions or concerns.

NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 160

Protocol Table
Research
Question
Interview Question Type of Question
(e.g., Devil’s
advocate, opinion,
etc.)
Citations
To what extent
are NHPI
students’
experiences
with
AAPI/APA/A
PI cultural
centers related
to cultural
validation?
How many terms/years
have you been a student
at your
college/university?
Probe: Have you
consistently enrolled in
your time at your
college/university?
If so: Walk me through
the experience.
If not: Please talk about
your experience there.
Demographics Vakalahi, 2009
How does
cultural
validation for
NHPI students
compare to
AA students in
AAPI/API/AP
A cultural
centers?
How was your experience
in high school/at your
previous
college/university?
Probe: Did you feel
aware about your identity
as NHPI?
If so: Tell me more about
that.
If not: Would you explain
that?
Experience and
behavior
Hune & Yeo, 2010
To what extent
are NHPI
students’
experiences
with
AAPI/APA/A
PI cultural
centers related
to cultural
validation?
What opportunities did
you participate in/were
exposed to learn more
about your NHPI
identity?
Probe: What was it like
learning about your
identity and culture?
Experience and
behavior
Saelua, Wright,
Kukahiko, Thornton, &
Aina, 2016; Saelua,
2012; EPIC & AAAJ,
2014
How does
cultural
validation for
NHPI students
compare to
AA students in
AAPI/API/AP
Do you know about your
family genealogy?
If so: Please recount as
much as you know.
If not: Please explain
why.
Experience and
behavior
Wright & Spickard,
2002; Smith, 2012;
Lipe, 2018; McGrath,
2002
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 161

A cultural
centers?
How is
inclusivity
enacted in the
AAPI/API/AP
A cultural
centers, from
the perspective
of NHPI
college
students?
Have you visited the
AAPI/APA/API cultural
center at your
college/university before?
Probe: If Yes:
Please talk about your
experience there.
Probe: If No:
Please tell me why you
have not visited.
Opinions and values Patton, 2010; Shotton et
al., 2010; Liu et al.,
2010; Lozano, 2010
How do NHPI
college
students
conceptualize
the terms
“AAPI/API/A
PA” in being
inclusive
towards their
community?
What would the
AAPI/APA/API cultural
center at your respective
campus need to do in
order to better support
NHPI students?
Opinions and values Labrador & Wright,
2011; Camacho, 2011;
Wright & Spickard,
2011
How do NHPI
college
students
perceive the
terms
“AAPI/API/A
PA” and their
inclusivity
toward the
NHPI
community?
How would you define
the term Asian
American/Asian Pacific
Islander (AAPI/API)?
Probe: From your
definition, to what extent
are those terms being
inclusive toward NHPI
students?
Opinions and values Labrador & Wright,
2011; Camacho, 2011;
Wright & Spickard,
2011
What is the
story for the
inclusivity of
NHPI college
students at
AAPI/API/AP
A culture
centers?
Some people would say
that PI students are AA
because of the terms
AAPI/APA/API. What
would you say to them?
Devil’s advocate Labrador & Wright,
2011; Camacho, 2011;
Wright & Spickard,
2011; Moniz, 2012
To what extent
are NHPI
students’
experiences
with
How would you describe
what you think the ideal
college experience for PI
students would be like?
Ideal position Yosso & Lopez, 2010;
Yosso, 2005; Patton,
2010; Shotton et al.,
2010; Liu et al., 2010;
Lozano, 2010
NHPI COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AAPI CULTURAL CENTERS 162

AAPI/APA/A
PI cultural
centers related
to cultural
validation?
What is the
story for the
inclusivity of
NHPI college
students at
AAPI/API/AP
A culture
centers?
Are you finding that
attending college as a PI a
different experience from
what you expected?
Probe: If yes:
Please walk me through
an example of this
experience.
Interpretive Vakalahi, 2009;
Mcgrath, 2002

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This collection of stories applies Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) from the Critical Race Theory literature to hear from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) college students about their individual perspectives on the inclusivity of Asian American (and) Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture centers (CC). Through the lens of TribalCrit, the purpose of this research was to understand their opinions behind the terms AAPI/API/APA and the relationship between NHPI student-led organizations and AAPI/API/APA CC. Using testimonios, a qualitative research method where students shared their experiences, six NHPI college students in Southern California were interviewed, audio recorded with permission, and then had their interviews transcribed. Then, students’ responses were analyzed via the Constant Comparative Method to identify themes, which were eventually grouped into key topics. Findings from this study mentioned how NHPI recognized differences in being multiethnic vs. having both parents identify as NHPI, how the terms AAPI/API/APA make NHPI college students feel invisible, and that there should be a relationship between AAPI/API/APA CC and NHPI student-led organizations that focuses on advocacy and leadership. This study highlighted a significant focus on NHPI in AAPI/API/APA spaces, especially in calling upon leaders, students, and members of AAPI/API/APA organizations to use and effectively implement disaggregated data to be intentional and cognizant of how they were being inclusive toward the NHPI community. By doing so, NHPI can be included in discussions surrounding the challenges and successes of education and let their voices be heard.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Experiences of multiracial Asian American and Pacific Islander students at an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution

PDF

Asian American college student well-being: racial identity consciousness as model minorities at an elite university

PDF

Creating opportunities for engagement and building community utilizing geek culture in a residential education department

PDF

Latino/a college student-athletes: Influences on recruitment, enrollment and degree completion

PDF

Asian American and Pacific Islander student-faculty interactions: experiences of first-generation community college students

PDF

School disciplined reimagined: centering Black students in discipline policies

PDF

Assessing the impact of the Puente Project on Latino males in California community colleges

PDF

The Cambodian American college experience: intergenerational transmission of trauma, intergenerational conflict, and multiple worlds and identities

PDF

Federal loan borrowing in community colleges: examining the decision making processes of non‐traditional community college students

PDF

Addressing the education debt: how community college educators utilize culturally relevant pedagogy to support Black and Latinx student success

PDF

Equity and access for veteran's students in the California community colleges

PDF

Parental perspectives on the collegiate sports recruiting process

PDF

Pa’delante, la lucha continúa: resiliency among Latinx college students with past experiences of bullying

PDF

Concept mapping of the sources of perceived impact on community college students' identity development: a students' perspective

PDF

Academic dishonesty among international students: Exploring aspects of language and culture

PDF

""Having the right info"": College readiness as college knowledge among minoritized students in an urban education setting

PDF

The underrepresentation of Asian American Pacific Islanders serving in the senior and executive leadership ranks in the U.S. Navy SEALs

PDF

Native Hawaiian student success in the first-year: the impact of college programs and practices

PDF

Perceptions of campus racial climate as predictors for cross-race interaction at Christian colleges and universities: differences by race/ethnicity, sex, and religiosity

PDF

Beyond persistence and graduation rates: examining the career exploration processes of first-generation college students

Asset Metadata

Creator Bacolores, John Paino (author)

Core Title (In)visiblity in numbers: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander college students and their perspectives on Asian American Pacific Islander culture centers

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 11/22/2019

Defense Date 08/05/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI),cultural centers,data disaggregation,grouping,implicit bias,indigenous genealogy,multiethnic identity,Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI),OAI-PMH Harvest,sense of belonging,stereotypes,TribalCrit

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Hinga, Briana (committee chair), Lanford, Michael (committee member), Tambascia, Tracy Poon (committee member)

Creator Email jbacolor@usc.edu,jbacolores25@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-234733

Unique identifier UC11673892

Identifier etd-BacoloresJ-7952.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-234733 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BacoloresJ-7952.pdf

Dmrecord 234733

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Bacolores, John Paino

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA