The Hmong

Josephine Lim and Mari Stroh

The Beginning

• creation story– 4 gods– flood– barrel– egg

Introduction and History

• tribal people• mountain villages

throughout China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam

• violent history– Chinese– 1890s French

Traditional Hmong Life

• traditional economy– about 6 million, most in

Southern China– slash and burn agriculture

• staple food crops – rice and corn

– nonfood crops – opium poppy

– poultry– pigs– cattle– horses

Traditional Hmong Life cont.

• the village– raised houses in lower

elevations– main room of the house

is cooking hearth– arrangement of houses

always organized– tsevs need to be near

rais, water, other family members’ houses

Social Organization

• patrilineal clans– villages usually the most important organizing

principle– exogamy strictly practiced– Hmong villages have relative lack of cohesion – several clan divisions, probably 18 or 19– patrilineal clans divided into lineages– Hmong household self-contained

Social Organization cont.

• marriage– traditionally arranged – elopement also

traditional– pregnancy 3rd route to

marriage– girls – middle teens,

boys – 18-20 – bride price

Religion

• vast majority animists• the spirits (dabs)

– balance the key to a fulfilling & valuable life– every natural feature has an animated spirit– most important categories of dabs are the

household, medicine, nature, shamanic spirits– altars– magical practitioners (khawvkoobs)– soul (plig)

Religion cont.

• shamans– chosen by shamanic

spirits (dab neeb)

• language & arts– 1950s language

written, several dialects– music – singing, flutes,

queej– elaborate & colorful

traditional dress• central item is the skirt

War in Indochina

• 1940s, Jp attempt to occupy Fr Indochina

• 1945 Laos declares its independence

• 1946 Fr retake Laos– anti-French

movements align w/communists

• Pathet Lao

• 1956 Fr ousted

War in Indochina cont.• 1960s Vietnam

– Hmong recruited by CIA• 1960 Vang Pao

– US secretly bombs Laos – over 2 mil tons

– 1973 Paris Peace Accords

• top-ranking Hmong officers asylum in US

• vast majority of Hmong abandoned

– new Laotian govt sees them as traitors

Refugees and Resettlement

• Pathet Lao takes over• “reeducation camps”• collective farms• govt appointees

replace village leaders

• rebellious Hmong sent to “seminars”

Refugees and Resettlement cont.

• spring 1975 Hmong start going to Thailand– usually, 1-2 months, some take years– only at night – Pathet Lao patrols– land mines– sick, wounded & weak abandoned– roots & insects best food available– to Mekong River, Thai/Laos border

• heavily guarded

– estimated about ½ or fewer survived

Refugees and Resettlement cont.

• by late 1970s, more than 20 refugee camps on Thai border– refugees form Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos – Ban Vinai held nearly 43000 90% Hmong

• Thai govt unwilling to let refugees join local pop.

• 1992 Ban Vinai closes – 11500 Hmong• more than 10000 Hmong flee camps to go

to an area north of Bangkok

Hmong in the United States

• Hmong wanted to remain Hmong

• INS sprinkled Hmong throughout the US– mostly in cold flat lands

• Vang Pao’s suggestion: let Hmong live in groups, raising vegetables & chicken– disregarded, goes against

goal of assimilation

• culture shock

Hmong in the United States cont.

• many migrate to CA, MN, WS– “secondary migration”– biggest motive – finding family

• original resettlement often financed by agencies w/religious affiliations

• elderly suffer

• funeral rituals – soul passage to afterworld– conflicts w/law

Hmong in the United States cont.

• Hmong children – caught between 2 cultures– encouraged to get higher edu– assimilation seen as insult & threat

• Hmong often seen as US’s “least successful refugee”– this is only using economic yardstick