ETHN 110: Asian American Experience

Reflection on Integrating Community Engagement into Academic Career: 3-stage Action Plan

In ETHN 110: Asian American Experience, students analyze the historical experiences of Asian American migrants to the United States, exploring themes of labor, exclusion, resistance, and identity. I have taught this course before, but I would now like to incorporate a community-engaged component in order to enrich student understanding and help them build concrete skills and experiences. At the same time, I would also like to leverage my existing skills and interests in oral history to develop a longer-term Asian American community archive, ideally hosted here at Sacramento State.

One of the key goals of this project is to establish and nurture community partnerships that will support and guide an oral history project. I am currently a board member of the Korean Independence Legacy, an organization dedicated to preserving the history of Korean resistance to Japanese colonialism and honoring Korean American contributions to that legacy. In addition, I have recently made a promising connection with Kansha History, which is committed to sharing stories of Japanese American farmers during World War II. I would also like to initiate new collaborations with other local Asian American organizations in the greater Sacramento region.

Another major goal of the project is to co-create a living oral history archive that documents the resilience, struggles, and contributions of Asian American communities. By involving students in the production, analysis, and dissemination of oral histories, the project will not only provide meaningful experiential learning but also deepen the ties between Sac State and local organizations. My hope is that this archive will be a sustainable and evolving resource that supports both Asian American studies scholarship and community engagement.

Here is my 3-stage Community-Engaged Action Plan.

Examples From My Action Plan
Example 1	Example 2: CEL Principles for planning a community-engaged course
Screenshot of Korean Independence Legacy's website, to represent future collaborations.	Reciprocal & Collaborative Partnership Reciprocal partnerships and collaborative processes shape the community activities and course design to enhance student learning. Mutual Benefit CEL contributes back to the community itself. Student community involvement has a specific and intended benefit to the common interests of society. Academically Relevant Student community involvement is relevant to and integrated with the discipline-based academic learning goals. Civic Learning Goals Civic learning goals are articulated and develop students' capacities to understand and address critical social issues. Reflection Facilitates Learning Critical reflection activities and assignments integrate classroom and community learning. Integrated Assessment Student learning assessment addresses both the discipline-based and civic learning goals and includes learning from community involvement.

Moving Forward

Participation in this Faculty Learning Community (FLC) introduced me to collaborative frameworks and pedagogical tools of community-engaged learning. It was also very helpful for introducing me to institutional resources and expectations for CEL, and I enjoyed connecting with and learning from co-participants; hearing about other people's projects was one of my favorite aspects of the FLC.

Faculty Biography

Rachel smiling at the camera.

Rachel Haejin Lim is Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University, Sacramento. A two-time Fulbright Scholar to South Korea and México, Dr. Lim writes and teaches on Korean diasporas in the Américas, Asian American and Asian diasporic histories, comparative and relational racial formations in the United States and México, and transnational migrations in global perspective. Her writing has appeared in a variety of peer-reviewed and public outlets, including Oxford Bibliographies in Latin American Studies, Verge: Studies in Global Asias, Journal of Asian American Studies, and The Washington Post.

This work was supported by the Community Engagement Center, the Career Center, and the Anchor/Community-Engaged University Collaborative

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