Hmong and American: Negotiating Identity, Community, and Culture

1. Hmong American Studies: Bringing New Voices into Multicultural Studies

Hmong American Studies Bringing New Voices into Multicultural Studies Vincent K. Her and Mary Louise BuLey-Meissner Hmong and American: From Refugees to Citizens offers a much-needed, updated look at Hmong American life through essays that open the door to a new way of understanding who Hmong people are becoming in this country. Groundbreaking in its approach, this book goes beyond previous anthologies on the Hmong American experience by taking a contemporary look at the life journeys of Hmong American individuals, families, and communities. Dating back to the 1980s, earlier accounts tend to take an outsider’s view of Hmong people, either through political assessment of their involvement in the Vietnam War or sociological evaluation of the assistance that refugee families and communities have required to survive intheUnitedStates.Infact,fromthemid-1970stothepresent,moststudies of Hmong adjustment to American society adhere to this narrow understanding of Hmong culture, identity formation, and community advancement . Consequently, many stereotypes of Hmong people persist: they are the least prepared of all refugee groups to succeed in modern society; they are resistant to change, holding on to time-honored traditions; and theyareunableto assimilatefullyinto Americanculture.Longoverdueisa well-informed reassessment of Hmong lives in modern society, including a concerted effort to overcome such stereotypes by dismantling the fallacies underlying them. This collection fills the need for a new approach. As a whole, Hmong and American brings new voices to multicultural studies as it strives to: ■ Emphasize the experiences of Hmong Americans as U.S. citizens rather than perpetual refugees. Foundational to the collection is the realization that because they have settled here for three generations , this country has become their permanent home. Vincent K. Her & Mary Louise Buley-Meissner ■ Underscore the agency of Hmong Americans in identity formation , community building, and cultural renewal and reform. Across the collection, the authors highlight the voices and viewpoints of Hmong Americans themselves. ■ Purposefully interrelate experiential and scholarly perspectives as contributors speak from their specific locations not only in academic disciplines but also from their experiences in family, community, and social settings. These diverse perspectives are creatively developed and thematically linked. ■ Critically assess how the past and the present are continually being interpreted and re-interpreted in the dynamic process of being and becoming as Hmong Americans situate themselves within the ethnic and racial landscape of the United States.1 Hmong American studies is becoming a respected area of research within the field of Asian American studies and the broader discipline of ethnic studies. Aside from highly specialized anthropological studies, foundational works on the Hmong were published in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. The cultural revitalization, socioeconomic advancement, and rising political influence of Hmong Americans have produced a flurry of books since 2000.2 Missinguntilnow,however,hasbeenateachablecollection,accessibleto college students as well as general readers, with broad coverage of compellingtopicslinkedtothethemeofmulticulturalAmerica —athemeincreasingly important in university courses and public discourse. In response to that need, Hmong and American provides an engaging series of essays with a range of writing styles by authors who are leading scholars, educators, artists, and community activists. History, culture, gender, class, family, and sexual orientation are all part of its consideration of Hmong American identities in modern society. In fact, by the very title of the collection, we are asserting that Hmong people are here to stay. Understanding how they have arrived in this country and what they are choosing to make of their lives is a fascinating story emblematic of and inseparable from the American experience. More than three decades have passed since Hmong refugees began arriving in the United States in 1975. How have their lives changed? What are Hmong American Studies: New Voices the social, cultural, and economic signs suggesting that Hmong have in fact been assimilating into American society? In multicultural America, where change is expected of all immigrants, how is Hmong identity being re-imaginedandre-constructedbyHmongAmericansacrossgenerations? As people rebuild their communities and orient themselves to modern society, does knowledge of history, culture, and tradition remain central to their collective identity? As citizens, how are Hmong Americans contributing to the advancement of American society? In our view, sustained discussions of these questions can promote a more balanced representation and understanding of Hmong American lives as informed by events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By bringing together authors with diverse personal perspectives and interdisciplinary expertise , we hope to lay new ground for scholarship recognizing and framing Hmong experiences as contemporary and global...