Hmong Literacy Club

The schools were overcrowded, students were malnourished, and “the federal government neglected to provide Native children with even the most basic necessities in the schools where they resided.” (32) This chapter also discussed the assimilation process. “Government schools taught students to be ashamed of their names, their tribal languages, and even family surnames derived from tribal language.” (29) The next chapters speak of the homesickness many students felt because of the assimilation policies keeping children from returning home on breaks and of the diseases that spread rapidly throughout the schools such as tuberculosis and trachoma. Through the use of letters between students and parents, Child paints a portrait of the emotional hardships families faced from being separated with little

Taking away Native American children’s language caused many challenges at home. Many children were confused, homesick, as well as resentful. Many of the children attending these boarding schools did not understand why their parents sent them to boarding school. For many it was because family members were, “sick then. He don’t want to take care of a little one so he pushed me to school” (Burich 5). Many children would not understand why they were being sent to these schools, especially since the schools were changing their worlds

With the centrality of the family in Hmong culture, having sons or a son is very important as they are the ones who will take on the last name and lead the future generation of the family (Cha, 2010). Cha states, “The clannish nature of Hmong society favors a son. A family that does not have a son is viewed as a burden to the clan and community, because such a family will not contribute much to the community,” (p. 24). In the culture, the son(s) will take care of the parents as the daughter will get married and move to live with the husband’s family. Religion also plays a role since the traditional belief is that although the daughter can take care of the parents physically when they are alive, they cannot take care of them spiritually after they pass away. This is because the daughter becomes a part of the other family and cannot worship her parents’ spirits after death (Cha, 2010).

In “The Good Immigrant student “, Bich Minh Nguyen talks about how her life was a child and how her life was like living in a white neighborhood in Michigan. At first when they had recently move to Michigan her Latina stepmother had a strong belief on bilingual education so Bich and her sister were sent to a school that had a bilingual educational program because her step mother feared that they would forget how to speak Vietnamese. There for the girls attended that school but there problem was not that they didn’t understand English but it was that they had trouble understanding Vietnamese they decided to not attend their bilingual classes anymore and the stepmother realized that the girls weren’t interested in learnig both languages.

Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a

Lia Lee born and raised in America, but brought up as a Hmong, faced health issues specifically epilepsy. Her parents who practice the Hmong culture had a different view on how to handle Lia critical condition. Hmong did not believe in traditional medicine but believed in Txiv neeb, person with a healing spirit. Not only do they believe in a person with healing spirit to help cure their illness but also consider epilepsy as power; “Their seizures are thought to be evidence that they have the power to perceive things other people cannot see, as well as facilitating their entry into trances, a prerequisite for their journeys into the realm of the unseen” (Fadiman, 1998, p.21). Right at this moment is where you can tell conflict is going to occur.

For many Hmong people, immigrating to the United States of America is a large form of stress as it involves adapting to new cultures and new environments. In the documentary, the Split Horn, a Hmong shaman and his family immigrates to the United States to pursue a better life for themselves. The immense change from living in the countryside of Laos to moving to Wisconsin, America affects the family greatly. As the Hmong shaman tries to preserve his ancient traditions and culture, his children embrace the American one, finding partners and converting to Christianity, not necessarily following Hmong guidelines. When Paja Thao, the Hmong shaman’s children go their separate ways, abandoning Hmong culture, Paja falls into a state of depression. The understanding of depression in Hmong culture contrasts with the biomedical model of health drastically, resulting in consequences such as the impotence to receive medical assistance, lack of knowledge and education, resulting in untreated diseases such as chronic illnesses.

Social scientists believe that there are anywhere between six and seven million Hmong around the world. The Hmong never had a country that they could call their “home” country and to this day this is still the case. Until relatively modern times, the majority of the Hmong people resided in the mountains of Southern China, Laos, Thailand, and northern Vietnam. As an ethnic group, the Hmong are fascinating in this sense. Today there is a large Hmong population in the United States. However, unlike a majority of the other Asian American communities present in America, the Hmong reached American soil through much difficulty and hardships. As observed in the experiences of many other immigrant groups, becoming a part of American society is not an easy task. In order to understand the circumstances of Hmong Americans today, one must comprehend the different political, economic, and social pressures that may have aided or hindered these people’s integration into American society. The first part of my paper will consist of a brief background of the Hmong. Grasping the background will allow for a thorough analysis of the reasons for Hmong immigration and the issues that they may have faced attempting to establish their own individual identity in the United States.

For some time, I had no opinion on preserving the Hmong language. I believed if the eighteen Hmong clan leaders were going to do something about, then they will. Neb hais tias vim kuv tsis hais lus hmoob kuv tsis muas suab nrov qhia tig neeg kuv xav dabtsi tias. This changed when my family decided to move out of my grandparent’s house in 2011 to North Minneapolis, Minnesota. When we moved, it just felt like the whole world became whole again. In the beginning, I attended Hmong International Academy to finish my middle school years with no hopes gaining anything from this academy, however, this being a charter Hmong school it was required for all students attending to take Hmong language classes, and like a flower blooming in the Spring I came back alive with

At birth, the Hmong view their newborns as a gift and extremely special. At birth, it is called “Mus Thawj thiab, “go become again” or more simple, “reincarnation,” is a traditional Hmong belief (Bankston 2000). When a child is born, they are automatically seen as a gift and reborn as a reincarnated soul. Though, if a child dies after three days of living there are “no funeral ceremonies…since the child did not have a soul yet” (Bankston 2000). The Hmong believe if the child lives past three days, their soul is present though if they die, the infant never had a soul to begin with. If the child lives past day three, then a shaman is brought in and he “evokes a soul to be be reincarnated in the baby’s body” (Bankston 2000). This is considered

The Hmong people are a people of diaspora and are an ethnic minority group who, have been a group of people who were basically unknown up until three decades ago. They are of unknown origin and are often misplaced from country to country and often have to assume many different hyphenated identities to fit in with the mainstream culture. As Hmong Americans they have gone from being unable to read and write to being educated; which has led to Hmong writers, congressmen and women, to scholars, and to many other respectable occupations. Though, before being able to become a writer or a scholar, a Hmong American student is often troubled and stressed about their ethnic identity and that can lead to struggles in their academics. This topic is important to me because being a Hmong American and a college student; these two aspects of life are playing a big role in my life right now. Through my paper there is one question that I am hoping to answer and the question is: How does having a hyphenated identity affect Hmong American students in their academics?

Even though I am a Hmong person, I still need to do more research about the Hmong Population in Minnesota. At the University of Minnesota, Morris, I took a class called Southeast Asian’s history, which the professor went over a brief history of Hmong people. In this class we had to do a presentation and write a paper at the end, so I chose to do my research on Hmong people. By doing this research I learned about their history and why they came to the United States. In addition, I learned about other Southeast Asian’s history from the dominant groups to the minority groups. At ILCM, I was not working with Hmong clients only, I helped other immigrants coming from Africa to Asia. “Minnesota is home to more than 400,000 immigrants and refugee”

The main purpose of this article is for the nurses to provide a successful caring for the minority. Hmong are one of the largest minority group to lived in the United States. In order for the health professional to provide care for them. As Torry Cobb said, they need to be aware of the “history, culture, social structure and belief systems” of the Hmong people. The health care providers need to respect the Hmong American medical practices because they believe in their own use of traditional medication and using the shaman will help heal their spirit and physical illness. They also do believe in the western medication, but sometimes they don’t have confidence in the health care system because of their beliefs and practices. In addition to that,

While I have read this book before for a previous class, I felt that it was important to reread this book. Since first semester of my first year, my knowledge has increased, giving me a better understanding. In chapter one the author discussed how the birthing process would have taken place if Foua had given birth in Loas. The Hmong understands of the pregnancy and labor process is hard to try and understand why compared to the United States understanding of child bearing. What I would consider a simple pregnancy craving, Foua believed that the if she didn’t fulfill that craving, the baby would suffer a consequence. For example in the book it states, “If she craved chicken flesh and did not eat it, her child would have a blemish near its ear.”

Upon their arrival, Hmong faced “multiple social, cultural, educational, economic, and institutional barriers and challenges” (Hmong National Development, 2004; Lee, Jung, Su, Tran, & Bahrassa, 2009, p. 559). As the Hmong settled down in the United States, they found that education was vital for their children’s future (Lee & Green, 2008). A study conducted by Reder (1982) found that “73% [of Hmong adults]