ABSTRACT
The dueling tensions of unity and diversity encapsulate the complicated AsianCrit tenet of strategic (anti)essentialism. This chapter begins with unpacking the concepts of strategic (anti)essentialism according to the three components: essentialism, anti-essentialism, and strategic. Focusing on the idea of self-definition, in choosing pan-ethnic identity affiliations, distancing oneself from one’s Asian American identity or embracing one’s specific ethnic identity across various contexts, this chapter contrasts essentialism when done by outsiders, as a means of flattening Asian American educator experiences, with strategic essentialism (e.g., use of identity labels such as Asian American, person of color) used as a tool of sociopolitical agency and resistance in certain circumstances. The chapter also explores strategic anti-essentialism in which Asian American educators distance themselves from affiliation with Asian American identity as a survival strategy, discuss insider/outsider status related to their ethnic identities, and resist monolithic portrayals of Asian American experiences. While educators across the study identified intentionally in a variety of ways, racially and ethnically, the chapter ends with a key theme throughout the study that Asian American representation was important for Asian American students who sought out these teachers because of a sense of affinity and identification with them.
