Storytelling for Asian–White Multiracial American College Students’ Racial Identity

Abstract

This pilot study aims to explore how participatory digital storytelling can be used as an intervention to address race-based stress stemming from White supremacy and monoracism and describe the potential experiential effects on racial identity among Asian–White multiracial American college students. Specifically, we employed testimonio, or a liberation psychology-informed approach in a sample of 10 Asian–White multiracial American college students. The intervention consisted of four group sessions: (a) orienting (overview of liberation psychology and storytelling), (b) creating (self-reflection on personal stories and group discussion), (c) narrating (story sharing and filming), and (d) reflecting (watching and reacting to digital stories). Using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021), we categorized 10 participants’ stories into four themes reflecting Asian–White multiracial identity statuses: (a) identity invalidation, (b) identity justification, (c) identity validation, and (d) identity integration. Implications for psychological and educational practices, ideas for advocacy, and suggestions for research are discussed.