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Abstract
This study draws on critical (Connor et al., 2016; Iftikar & Museus, 2018) and decolonial feminist theories (De Jong et al., 2019; Dillard, 2000; Rhee, 2020) to explore in-depth the knowing of Chinese immigrant mothers and their strengths in raising children with disabilities in the United States. Specifically, this inquiry provides an intersectional perspective on Chinese immigrant mothers’ experiences to gain a deeper understanding of their epistemology. Methodologically, I developed “video-cued qi ethnography” to center participants’ voices and ways of knowing based on Tobin et al.’s (1989) and Kaomea et al.’s (2019) work on video-cued ethnography. Qi is a Chinese concept that means breath, spirit and life force. I draw on qi as 1) connectivity towards wholeness and 2) movement towards harmony to generate and analyze data that is interdependent and continuous. By using video-cued qi ethnography, findings in this study reveal how the mothers were guided by their cultural knowledges in raising their children and conceptualizing disability. This inquiry suggests ways for educators and service providers in special/inclusive education to devise culturally responsive approaches in collaborating with historically marginalized communities. Under the backdrop of increasing anti-Asian racism and xenophobic violence in the United States, this inquiry also provides a space for (re)membering (Dillard, 2016) Asian immigrant women and finding collective healing for Asian American educators and researchers. As a Chinese immigrant scholar and researcher, I present the result of this inquiry in culturally situated ways through photos, quotes, narratives, and poetry to reclaim our identities, stories, knowledges, and legacies in the Chinese immigrant community and beyond.