Reflexive Storytelling Methods as Antiracist Research Praxis in Social Work: Methodological Insights From a Virtual Storytelling Workshop With Asian American Youth

Objective: In the wake of political and racial reckonings in the United States, social workers need to better understand how Asian American identity formations that foster and limit young people’s well-being, racial consciousness, and critical hope take shape. Drawing on insights from a storytelling workshop exploring how youths’ Asian American identities have been shaped, we spotlight the affordances of reflexive storytelling as an antiracist social work research method. Method: This workshop was attuned to the systems of power and contexts in which identity is shaped, engaging a “Where I’m from” poetry exercise and story circles. Nine participants (predominantly U.S.-born women in the Midwest, ages 18–22 years) shared narratives about how they make meaning of and experience their Asian American identity. Results: Participants’ narratives reflected shared and meaningfully divergent experiences of identity formation connected to residential context, religion, ethnicity, histories of state violence, and/or exclusion from dominant Asian American narratives. Participants expressed that storytelling facilitated a connected space of mutual care and support in which the heterogeneities and complexities of their lived experiences were embraced rather than flattened. Conclusions: Reflexive storytelling can be particularly resonant for antiracist social work research and practice with Asian American youth navigating deepening social inequity and racial reckoning.