ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Asian American studies community-based learning class where the college students initially emphasized reforming community members to become ‘‘better citizens,’’ and thus replicated unequal positions of privilege in the community partnership. It designs the course drawing from political engagement and democratic organizing principles of Asian American studies to shift the students from a public service framework to a social justice model, assisting students along this continuum is no easy task. This teaching case shows how becoming active citizens is inextricably bound with interrogating power and privilege and how problem-posing pedagogies in Asian American studies courses can be a vehicle for creating social justice and empowering relationships in community-based learning. Simultaneously, Asian American studies reframed the goals of higher education. The integration of problem-posing pedagogies, such as community mapping, into Asian American studies courses can be a strategy for realizing those goals.
