The Fading Hmong Culture: March 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Images of the Hmong people

This photo is taken at the New Year. I am to the last one to the left, wearing my traditional Hmong clothes from my parents' clan. The red hat is what distinguish us as the Hmong "Liab Haus", which means the red hat.

The Hmong people did not have a writing system back them so they sew these story clothes so they can tell stories. In this story cloth, you can see the Laos army invading a Hmong village and shooting them.

In this picture are the "Chao Fa" people, or the people who are hiding in the deep jungle of Laos to hid from the Army.

Annotated Bibliography

Tina Vue

ENGL: 1200-78

April 27, 2012

Project II: Annotated Bibliography

Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen. “Field Guide to Hmong Culture”. Madison Children’s Museum 2004. PDF file.

I found this source relevant to my second blog when I was discussing about the Hmong peoples’ involvement in the Vietnam War. I like how the source briefly covered the main points of how the Hmong people got here in America as refugees during the Vietnam War. The history of the war and the journey to get to America presented in this source is significant to my blogs, because as Hmong-Americans, I feel they need to know how they got here. I find this source credible, because it was put together by Dia Cha, who a professor at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota earned her Ph. D. in Anthropology and ethnic studies. Dia is also Hmong, therefore her knowledge and communication was not as difficult for her to gather information from the Hmong refugees. The source is also administrated by the Madison Children’s Museum, which is also credible, because it is funded by children specialists, whose purpose is to connect children with their families.

Kramer, Joel, [Matt Ehling]. “Celebrating and reflecting on Hmong history, culture”. Minnpost. Minnpost. 28 November 2008. Web. February 29, 2012 <http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2008/11/celebrating-and-reflecting-hmong-history-culture>

This blog had the most relevant to my whole project, although I only used it for my first blog. The author Matt Ehling gathered great points from the Hmong scholars about the Hmong-America generation how they do not fully understand the historical context of the journey their parents took to arrive here in America. It is not like they are taught in school about the details of the Vietnam War or the “Secret War”. This is one of the reasons, why the Hmong culture is slowly fading. I find the ethos of this blog to quite credible, because it has been sponsored by many foundations such as the Blue Cross of Minnesota. Also it is published by Minnpost, a non-profit, nonpartisan enterprise whose purpose is to provide news to the public.

Moua, Gaoli. “Culture spotlight: Hmong clothing stands out with embroider and intricate details”. The Jade Times. A Delta Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. Publication. 18 August 2010. Web. 17 March 2012. < http://www.deltaphilambda.org/newsletter/?p=118>

This blog states the designs and different types of traditional Hmong clothes. I find this source relevant in my forth blog when I was describing about paj ntaub because it plays a part in preserving artifacts of the Hmong culture. Paj ntaub is hand stitched clothes that can be sewn to make traditional Hmong clothes or sewn to make story cloths. Each design represents the different Hmong subgroups depending on the region they come from. Gaoli Moua, the author of this blog is a staff writer and a copy editor of A Delta Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc. Publication. Although her blog might not be as credible, her ethnicity makes her credible because she is Hmong.

Thao, Bo, et al. Donald A. Ranard. “The Hmong: An Introduction to their History and Culture”. The Cultural Orientation Project. 28 July 2004. Web. 16 March 2012. <http://www.cal.org/co/hmong/hlaos.html>

This source was very detailed about the Hmongs’ part in the Vietnam War and the aftermath. It provided the history of the Hmongs about their migration from China to Laos and Laos to America. This source was relevant to my third blog, in the case that it has a nice chunk of information about the Hmong economy, and how they practiced slash-and-burn agriculture. I used that information to compare and contrast about the Hmong’s industrial life styles today. The ethos of this source is highly credible because it has been written by many professors with their doctor degrees such as Bo Thao. Also it has been reviewed many times by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Global Affairs, and many more to make sure the information is accurate.

“The Hmong and Laos: Old wars never die”. The Economist. 15 July 2010. Web. 20 March 2012. < http://www.economist.com/node/16592276>

This article published by the Economist is important to the Hmong community because it shows that the Hmongs are still not at peace. The article clearly states how the war is not truly over for the Hmong people and they still fear persecution if Thai Land refugee camps sent them back into Laos. This article is significant to my second blog as I discuses the Hmong’s migration to America, because it tells us that some are still left behind. As the minority, not many people will care for the Hmong so they need a voice to stand up and say that these Hmong refugee needs a permanent safe home. I found this source to be reliable, because the many families here in America still have families overseas who are still in that situation. The only thing that makes it loose a little credibility is that this article was written two years ago and situations could have change.

“The Hmong Idenity.” Hmong Student Association. Inner Pirate Network. Inner Pirate Administration. 2012. Web. 19 March 2012. < http://innerpirate.ecu.edu/events/the-hmong-identity>

The HSA of East Carolina University wrote a little introduction to the Hmong culture. They try to promote awareness through Hmong dancing and providing presentations about their culture. I wanted to include the Hmong Student Association into my fifth blog, because I found this organization important to the Hmong college students, who want to preserve their culture and are interested in their heritage. This blog might not be as credible since they are just students; however this organization encourages Hmong college students to conform and understand more about their heritage.

Vang, Charlie. “Hmong New Year Celebration”. Hmong International New Year Foundation. H.I.N.Y. 1975- December 2011. Web. 18 March 2012. <http://www.hmongnewyear.us/about-us.php>

The This foundation is relevant to the Hmong community, because they plan the Hmong New Year in California that lasts for a whole week. This is their official website and it is credible because they do sponsor the Hmong New Year. I addressed this source in my forth blog because the Hmong New Year is a traditional event that the Hmong people keep to preserve their culture. This event lures locals to come join the festival and promotes Hmong awareness.

Yang, Yeng. “Focus Group Summary of the Hmong Student Association”. Journal of Southeast. Asian American Education and Advancement, 2011, Volume 6. Pg. 117-118. Web. 19 March 2012. < http://jsaaea.coehd.utsa.edu/index.php/JSAAEA/article/view/124/99>

Yeng Yang wrote an article about how the Hmong-Americans did not have role models and seek for someone who sees from their perspective. I used this scholarly article in my fifth blog, because I agree that some Hmong-Americans are shy from expressing their culture, and needs social support from Hmong role models who were once in their position. This information is important in supporting my main point about the Hmong Student Organization of how these college students works together to express their culture on campus. I find this article credible because the author is Hmong and explains his experiences as well as interviewing other Hmong-Americans.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Blog Five: The Hmong Student Association

There are not many educated Hmong role models in America to help guide the Hmong American students (Yeng Yang 118). The Hmong community is a minority group that is usually unaware of, so it is hard for the Hmong students to talk to someone who will understand their culture and support them. They might find their culture and language not important as they go through college if they cannot relate to other students. Some Universities in America such as East Carolina University includes a Hmong Student Association; which consist of Hmong-American College students, who together as a group promote Hmong awareness and support each other. (The Hmong Identity).

As a member of the Hmong Student Association, I participated in the Hmong Cultural Awareness show, where we presented our history, culture, and traditional Hmong clothes. When preparing for the show, I realized I did not know as much about the Hmong people, as I thought I did, such as the red hat is a traditional piece to my Hmong outfit that symbolizes the Xieng Khouang Province, the region that my parents came from (The Hmong Identity). It is essential that the Hmong Students Association is not only promoting Hmong awareness, but they are preserving culture as well by being role models to the Hmong-Americans who are confused with their cultural identity.

The Hmong-Americans keeping the Hmong culture and language alive helps them create a sense of strong identity (Yang, Yeng 118). The Hmong Student Association supports Hmong students who are confused about their culture and language. With the Hmong Student Association, role models will be rising and together they will have to power to preserve the Hmong culture.

“The Hmong Idenity.” Hmong Student Association. Inner Pirate Network. Inner Pirate Administration. 2012. Web. 19 March 2012. < http://innerpirate.ecu.edu/events/the-hmong-identity>

http://jsaaea.coehd.utsa.edu/index.php/JSAAEA/article/view/124/99

http://innerpirate.ecu.edu/events/the-hmong-identity

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Blog Four: What is the solution to help preserve the Hmong Culture

Blog Four: What is a solution to help preserve the Hmong culture?

“Paj ntaub” is the Hmong word for the beautiful stitched embroidery on the traditional clothes that women would sew and wear (Moua, Gaoli). The Hmong Americans preserves their heritage, by wearing these Hmong clothes to special occasions such as the annually Hmong New Year. In order to preserve the Hmong culture more effectively, the profit that the Hmong Organizations make from the New Year should be used to offer summer classes to teach new generation of Hmong students how to read and write in Hmong.

The Hmong International New Year Foundation is one of the organizations that provide an annually public Hmong New Year that includes venders, sports, and entertainment (Hmong New Year Celebration). With so many sports and entertainment going on, sometimes the young Hmong-Americans forget what the true purpose of the New Year is about. The Hmong New Year means more than just playing soccer, buying sticky rice, or buying the new fashion of Hmong clothes, it is meant to preserve our culture. The New Year celebration is to remind us of that even if the Hmong people do not have a country, we have these events so that our children, and the future generations will never forget who the Hmong people are.

With the profit that the Hmong Organizations make, they should offer Hmong classes during the summer at a school, when public schools are out. These Hmong classes should teach Hmong-Americans and other students how to read and write in Hmong. Also the students should be informed about the history and the importance of preserving the Hmong culture. The classes should also offer cultural activities such sewing traditional Hmong story cloths, cooking Hmong food, and playing traditional Hmong music. The classes should be taught for four hours long, two days a week for the summer to the general public. This project will provide a clearer understanding of the Hmong culture to the young Hmong generation and the importance of the New Year.

The Hmong New Year is an important social event to the Hmong community, since it is their way of expressing their culture. With the classes, preserving the Hmong culture would even be more effective; in this case, they are actually learning about the Hmong culture while applying their knowledge to better understand and enjoy the Hmong New Year with relevance.

Vang, Charlie. “Hmong New Year Celebration”. Hmong International New Year Foundation. H.I.N.Y. 1975- December 2011. Web. 18 March 2012. <http://www.hmongnewyear.us/about-us.php>

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Blog Three: Are people becoming too Americanized?

Blog 3: Are Hmong people becoming too Americanized?

For thousands of years the Hmong people have migrated from country to country and were able to quickly adapt to the environments (Thao, Bo, et al). For this reason, the America culture has influenced and provided a challenge for the Hmongs to hold onto their culture. The first Hmong American generation has lessened the use of the Hmong language, and ignored the relevance of the history of the Hmong people (Ehling, Matt). Being Americanized has benefited the Hmong community such as changing from an agriculture system to an industrialized system, and education; however, we should never ignore our roots.

Deep in the mountains of Laos was where the Hmong people dwelled and highly depended on slash and burn agriculture to support their families, education was not practice (Thao, Bo, et al). Survival skills such as hunting and farming were more relevant than education for the Hmongs who lived in the wilderness. It is the opposite in America how education now is more valued and an industrial economy is more productive in providing needs to society. The Hmong elders has a better understanding now that receiving an education should be taken seriously, because the Hmong people needs role models for the Hmong community. To earn prestige and be valued in America, one must be educated.

The Hmong American generation receives their education through American schools which have a cultural influence on them such as speaking only English. It is not wrong for Hmong Americans to adapt to American behaviors, because we are not only Hmong but American as well.

Being Americanized does not mean forgetting our culture. Loving and respecting your heritage does not mean you have to agree with everything the Hmong culture consists of. It is a good thing that Hmong Americas are becoming more Americanized, but as long as their culture is still valued and preserved.

Thao, Bo, et al. Donald A. Ranard. “The Hmong: An Introduction to their History and Culture”. The Cultural Orientation Project. 28 July 2004. Web. 16 March 2012. <http://www.cal.org/co/hmong/hlaos.html>

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Blog Two: What is Hmong? How did they arrive in America?

Blog Two: Who are the Hmong people and why are they here in America?

Throughout my life there was one question that I always had to answer: “What is Hmong?” As a minority group, who does not have a country, many would believe that I was Chinese or Mongolia. The Hmongs were known as migratory people that dwelled in the south mountains of Asia and suffered the aftermath of the Vietnam War, in which brought them now as refugees in America (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 7). It is important for my generation and I to be able to answer these questions of: who the Hmongs are, why are they important, where are they from, and how did they get here? Hmong-Americans have to understand each their heritage, and one of the best ways is to communicate with their families.

After being pushed out of China, the Hmongs found peace in the mountains of Laos until the Vietnam War during the 1960’s, where communist North Vietnam invaded the other countries around it (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 8). The Hmong Americans should be aware of the Vietnam War and realize that their parents were running away from communism. In the Field Guide to the Hmong Culture, Dia Cha writes about how the Americans created military bases in the Hmong villages supplied weapons, informed, and trained the Hmong people to help them fight the communist government (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 8). I find this source more credible than most westernized books because Dia Cha is a Hmong professor with a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Ethnic studies. Westernized books on the Vietnam War provided little information about the Hmong people, because we are the minority. It is essential that the Hmong-Americans understand the situation and talk to their parents about their journey to America.

When the Americans left the Vietnam War in 1973, taking only some of the Hmong people to America with them; it devastated the Hmong people who were left, because it was the Americans who supplied the Hmong people (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 9). The Hmong people are farmers not soldiers. My parents were the lucky ones who left with the American people. With no weapons, thousands of Hmong people died from prosecution; some hid deep in jungle, or fled to the refugee camps in Thailand (Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen 9). It is important to know about your history, because the refugee camps and the Hmong people who hid in the deep dangerous jungle still exist (The Hmong and Laos: Old wars never die). In the Economist article The Hmong and Lao: Old wars never die, it discusses about how the aftermath of the war is still not over for the Hmongs, because Thailand was going to send them back to Laos, but they still fear prosecution from the Laos government. It is essential the Hmong-Americans to have knowledge about their people and realizing that some Hmongs are left behind in Laos and camps. You might realize that your parents and grandparents are not the only ones who will be counting on you to be their voice.

Cha, Dia, Mai Zong Vue, and Steve Carmen. “Field Guide to Hmong Culture”. Madison Children’s Museum 2004. PDF file.
“The Hmong and Laos: Old wars never die”. The Economist. 15 July 2010. Web. 20 March 2012. < http://www.economist.com/node/16592276>

Monday, March 12, 2012

Blog One: The importance of preserving the Hmong Culture

Tina Vue

April 27, 2012

ENGL 1200-78

Blog One: The importance of preserving the Hmong culture

“As a culture, we need to make conscious choices about how to relate to our history and heritage. If we don’t do this, then those choices will be made for us,” stated A-yia Thoj (Ehling, Matt). When it pertains to one’s culture, everyone wants to contribute to the right choices that will benefit to their people and keep their culture alive. That includes the importance of preserving culture, because it keeps family values, traditions, and language together. Without having a sense of culture, there will be a loss of purpose or a conflict in finding cultural identity (Ehling, Matt). Hmong culture is currently going through the change, where the younger Hmong Americans don’t even speak the traditional language anymore. If the Hmong-Americans do not care to write down their history or speak their language than no one will. It is important to speak the Hmong language and write down the history because both are huge factors in keeping the Hmong culture alive.

In the past thousands years, the Hmong people did not have a written language until recently; in this case, making it harder to track down the Hmong history (Ehling, Matt). Even when researching for Hmong history, the hugest chunk of history found was on the Vietnam War where the United States documented the details of the Secret War. As a child, the elders told us pass down stories because this was their way of passing down the Hmong history. An example would be the aftermath of the Vietnam War. “While there is no evidence that the promise was ever written down almost every Hmong who fought in the war can repeat some version of it,” (Thao, Bo, et al.). In other words, most Hmongs would agree that the Americans made a promise to help them with the Vietnam War; however it is not documented down in the American’s history. I feel it is our responsibility to document these stories and their experiences; since we are fortunate to have public education that teaches us how to read and write in English. The young Hmong generation has very little knowledge about how the war and how they got here in America, because western sources do not have much information about the Hmong people (Ehling, Matt). If the young Hmong generation does not keep passing down stories then once the elders are gone, so will the Hmong history.

My mother always encouraged me to speak Hmong whenever I was home and speak English at school, because she was afraid that I would forget to speak our own traditional language. The Hmong community does not have their own country to put up signs written in Hmong or schools that teaches the Hmong language. The Hmong Americans will have to learn from their parents or their elders and pass on the language. Language lost is an important issue, because language is what individually defines a culture. Also, the elders highly depend on their children to translate English to Hmong for them. My generation is the voice of the elders.

The Hmong culture is definitely in the hands of the young Hmong generation. We have the choice to preserve our culture. If we do not take the effort to learn our language and document our history, then the Hmong culture will cease to exist to us or to anyone. The Hmong community will be looked as irrelevant and their choices will not matter in America.

Works Cited:

Kramer, Joel, [Matt Ehling]. Celebrating and reflecting on Hmong history, culture. Minnpost. Minnpost. 28 November 2008. Web. February 29, 2012 <http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2008/11/celebrating-and-reflecting-hmong-history-culture>

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Ideas for the importance of preserving the Hmong Culture

· Who? The Hmong Culture

· What? The Hmong people are becoming more Americanized and is losing their culture, language, purpose, and voice.

· How? (HSA) The Hmong Society Association, New Year, parents requiring their children to speak Hmong at home.

· Audience (stakeholders): The young Hmong generation.

· Why? It is important for the young Hmong generation to preserve the Hmong culture.

- In the past thousands of years the Hmong people did not have a written language. That is why it is so hard to track down the Hmong history. I myself have trouble finding the Hmong history because they were not able to write down their history. As children, the elders tells us past down story to keep our culture alive. I feel it is the young Hmong generations’ responsibility to document these stories and experiences, because we are taught how to write. It will make it easier for the young generation of Hmong people to understand our history. We are their voice.

- Language lost is an important issue, because it is slowly dying out. Again relating to the elders, who have trouble speaking English, they really depend on the younger Hmong community to help with translation. We cannot just ignore our culture, it is part of us. It is what defines us in our values, decisions, traditions, languages, and cultures.

- It is important to preserve for the young Hmong generation to preserve the Hmong culture because if we don’t we will be forgotten. We don’t have a country to put up signs in Hmong, or schools that teaches us Hmong. We need to listen to our parents experiences, maybe we will understand them and value culture more. The Hmong culture will not mean anything if it does not mean anything to the Hmong people themselves.