AAPI Heritage Month
This May, we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
Explore resources intended to help integrate AAPI voices, stories, and accomplishments into your teaching.
Highlight AAPI Scholars & Cultural Voices
Elevate vibrant AAPI voices this month by actively incorporating AAPI scholars and their research into your course. By highlighting scholars and their work, we empower the next generation of female leaders and thinkers.
- Include writings, art, or research by AAPI scholars, creatives, or leaders in your syllabus.
- Host or stream talks from AAPI professionals or academics to deepen understanding of their perspectives.
- Acknowledge historical struggles such as exclusion laws, the internment of Japanese Americans, or the Model Minority Myth — and their impacts on representation and access.
Integrate AAPI Topics into Coursework and Research Assignments
Actively incorporate AAPI perspectives and contributions into your assignments, research projects, and class discussions.
- Assign students to investigate how immigration patterns, diaspora, and U.S. foreign policy have shaped AAPI experiences and communities.
- Explore the impact of racial stereotyping (e.g., the “model minority” myth) in fields such as education, media studies, or health disparities.
- Use case studies to examine labor movements, civil rights litigation, or environmental justice issues involving AAPI communities.
- Incorporate comparative analyses of cultural production (literature, film, music, digital media) to examine identity formation, intergenerational trauma, and language retention.
- Encourage students in STEM or business to analyze representation and access to leadership roles among AAPI individuals in their respective industries.
Encourage Critical Reflection
There are many ways you can promote student voices in the classroom. From small group work to even larger class activities, engage with students and create thoughtful discussions in your classroom.
- Explore how imperialism, immigration policies, and racialization shape AAPI experiences.
- Invite students to reflect on intersections between AAPI identities, language, and belonging.
- Use oral histories or family migration narratives as creative assignments.