911爆料网

Sophia Han, an associate professor at the USF College of Education, has received the 2024 Philip C. Chinn Multicultural Book Award from the (NAME) for her book entitled "Supporting Korean American Children in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives from Mother-Educators" (2023) published by . Han was honored at the Awards Banquet during the in Anaheim, CA, on November 16.

"This is my first book, so I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award," said Han. "Within the realm of multicultural education in the United States, Asian American young children have been historically under-appreciated and under-represented. Hence, receiving this book award indicates that the field of multicultural education is recognizing its unique contribution."

Founded in 1990, NAME is a leading organization with a mission to advance and advocate for social justice and educational equity through multicultural education. The Phillip C. Chinn Multicultural Book Award is given to books that foster awareness, acceptance, and affirmation of diversity in society and contribute to the development of the multicultural education field. Han's book was highly applauded for its innovative, culturally responsive, and sustaining scholarly approach to shed light on young Korean American children and their families to disrupt and dispel the pervasive stereotypes of Asian Americans.

"I hope this book not only raises awareness of Asian American children in general but also sheds light on diversity within the group by highlighting Korean American children and families," said Han. "I also hope this book will inspire educators, researchers, and policymakers to positively impact U.S. teacher education policy and practice while forming alliances to make early childhood education more responsive, inclusive, and equitable for all other minoritized young children and families."

Han engages in advocacy-focused scholarship on how Asian American children and families are experiencing and navigating social, racial, and cultural climates and how to implement critical inquiry-oriented and socio-culturally responsive early childhood teacher education in diverse cultural and global contexts. As a Korean American mother-educator, Han explained that writing this book was an act of resistance against pervasive marginalization and stereotypes facing Asian American children.

An aspect of this book that Han is especially proud of is the introduction of Suda. This traditional Korean dialogic practice serves as a culturally responsive, sustaining, and decolonizing research methodology. "It helped illuminate vivid experiences and challenges and highlight diverse strengths and resilience," said Han.

In one of Han's current projects entitled "Resisting Asian American Racism: Empowering Korean American Families through the F2F (Family-to-Family) Suda Program," she is applying the Suda framework to support Korean American families by helping their young children navigate the issues of race, racism, and racial identity development. This project is funded by the , an organization with a mission to close educational opportunity gaps associated with race, ethnicity, and family income.