The Localized History Project is a New York State funded youth participatory action research project investigating the extent to which AANHPI history is taught in K-12 history classrooms in NY State, and presenting youth driven curriculum alternatives to test driven curricula. Localized History is committed to a community-centered approach, such that the eventual curriculum will be collectively built with intergenerational partners, inclusive of teachers, students, families, and community organizations.
2023-2024 Highlights
We conceptualized and executed the Youth Action Board (YAB) and the Professional Advisory Board (PAB), two models of ensuring community leadership in the Localized History project. In our Youth Action Board, young people in high school and early years of college across New York State convened monthly to discuss the changes necessary to the existing (or lack thereof) AANHPI curriculum in NY State. Since December 2023, 30 youth across New York are represented in the YAB, including students from the NYC school district, Utica, Albany, Syracuse, Westchester, and Long Island. Additionally, we conducted Teacher Focus Groups with New York City educators.
Follow the Localized History Project on Instagram (@localizedhistory) for updates.
Project Team
Shreya Sunderram (K-12 Project Director)
Based in New York City, Shreya Sunderram is an educator and scholar-activist who investigates the ways that colonialism, racism, and structures of violence are upheld within sites of knowledge production—K-12 schools, academia, museums—and how youth driven classrooms, curriculum, and worldbuilding are the key to dismantling harm. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the CUNY Graduate Center in the Urban Education program. Her most recent publication in the Journal of Curriculum Studies discusses the ways in which The New York State Regents Exam perpetuates colonialism and narrative erasure of the Global South.
Eva Schmidt (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
Eva Schmidt is an undergraduate student in the CUNY BA program at Hunter College/CUNY studying mixed methods research and Asian American studies. Originally from Arizona, with a background in the performing arts, she continually looks for ways to blend and find connections within her varied interests. Inspired by her personal experiences, she seeks to contribute to the field in a meaningful and representative way where voices, often marginalized and underrepresented, are amplified and celebrated.
Jake Xie (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
Jake Xie is an undergraduate student in the Macaulay Honors Program at Brooklyn College/CUNY, majoring in Psychology with minors in Children’s Studies and Sociology. Raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn which hosts one of New York City’s largest Chinatowns, Jake places great importance on preserving cultural heritage through oral history. As a second-generation Chinese-American, Jake is committed to uncovering and showcasing the lived experiences of the AANHPI community. His overarching aim is to make meaningful contributions to a more inclusive and rich classroom curriculum in New York State.
The Localized History Project is a partnership between the Asian American / Asian Research Institute – CUNY (AAARI-CUNY), and the Coalition for Asian American Children + Families (CACF)
