“Where Are You From?”: Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze Graphic Novel Counter-Stories of the Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Two Angry Asian Girls

Authors

Talitha Angelica Acaylar Trazo, University of California, Los AngelesFollow
Woohee Kim, University of OxfordFollow

Abstract

This article uses critical race theory (CRT) to analyze two stories about racial microaggressions from Where Are You From?: Short stories about being Asian in America, the graphic novel written and illustrated by Talitha Angelica Acaylar Trazo in fulfillment of her undergraduate honors thesis. Where Are You From? visually historicizes the counter-stories of 48 Asian and Asian American students at a predominantly-white undergraduate institution. In this article, we examine these microaggressions in relation to institutional and structural racism and the intersections of race, gender, and power dynamics between white faculty and Asian female students. Furthermore, we propose that the graphic novel functions as a counter-space where counter-stories, otherwise overlooked or silenced by the institution, can exist, and as a means by which two angry Asian girls resisted racism on a predominantly-white campus.

Recommended Citation

Trazo, Talitha Angelica Acaylar and Woohee Kim. "“Where Are You From?”: Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze Graphic Novel Counter-Stories of the Racial Microaggressions Experienced by Two Angry Asian Girls." Intersections: Critical Issues in Education 3, 2 (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/intersections/vol3/iss2/6