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This article examines how second–generation Filipino Americans’ educational experiences and school racial context influence their sense of Asian American identity. Drawing on fifty in–depth interviews, I discuss how many Filipino Americans negotiate their individual and collective experiences in relationship to Asian American panethnicity, a process that shifts between high school and college. Within existing research on children of immigrants, studies focus primarily on mechanisms shaping ethnic or national origin identity, while saying relatively less about the factors affecting orientations toward panethnic categories.6 Interdisciplinary perspectives within ethnic studies and cultural studies have addressed the social construction of Asian American identity more directly. Previous scholars have highlighted Filipino Americans’ cultural and political marginalization since the inception of pan–Asian identity in the 1960s, citing their distinct colonial history and socioeconomic patterns as explanations.7 Others have discussed how this schism opens the possibility for Filipino Americans to panethnically align themselves with groups beyond Asian America, including Pacific Islanders, Latinos, and people of color more broadly.8 Ultimately, this article focuses on the educational arena as a key site of Filipino American racial formation. Specifically, I argue that the micro–level interactions and racial stratification of educational spaces mitigate how second–generation Filipino Americans negotiate their panethnic ties with Asian Americans, as well as other racial groups.
