Nuanced, Layered, Complex, and in Motion: South Asian American Students' Belonging at a Historically Women's College

This study focused on South Asian American students' experiences of belonging at a historically women's college (HWC) in the United States. The purpose of this study was to understand where, how, and with whom South Asian American undergraduate students experience and enact belonging at historically women's colleges. The research questions that guided this study are: (1) How do South Asian American undergraduate students feel belonging at historically women's colleges?, and (2) How does the campus environment shape South Asian American undergraduate students' feelings of belonging? I sought to problematize current notions of belonging as simplistic and requiring assimilation to dominant structures within higher education and instead consider belonging as complex feelings, emotions, and experiences. I utilized four tenets of Asian American feminism to guide this study: restive orientation, coalitional praxis, in/visibility, and multiplicity. I also engaged an Asian American and Pacific Islander feminist epistemology. This was an arts-based study utilizing photovoice methods, including engaging participants as co-researchers. Two co-researchers from Agnes Scott College participated fully with this study. We engaged in six 90-minute Zoom meetings covering training, photo sharing, and photo discussion/analysis. The findings demonstrate that feelings and experiences of belonging are nuanced, layered, complex, and in motion. The co-researchers shared their experiences of belonging in relation to people, family and parents, racial and cultural identity, religion and its intersection with sexuality, white queer culture on campus, achievement culturally and on campus. And much more. Through these example and their discussions, they demonstrated the necessity of reorienting how we approach and understand belonging in higher education and student affairs. The findings and implications from this study point to the need of engaging in a restive orientation to dismantle oppressions in higher education and belonging and of considering South Asian American students through a lens of multiplicity. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]