February 2009 Archives

Yesterday, we had a panel of three Hmong Concordia students come in to speak to us about their experience as immigrants. They described how they came to the United States, their heritage, and how they view their role in both American and Hmong cultures.

 

Something that was really reinforced in their discussion was the importance of family and community in the Hmong culture, which we have heard from many sources about the Hmong. Even though all of the students were from families of varying degrees of traditional culture, all three of them espoused the importance of the family. It was evident not only in what they described about their families, but also what they said about their goals in life: to help out the family and other Hmong people.

 

I thought it was really interesting how different the three students were from one another. Xang seemed much more Americanized, Xia was more in between the two cultures, and Pa Houa seemed the most traditional of all. Not only were their positions different, but their views of their positions were different as well. Even though Xang was the most Americanized, he seemed to be the most eager to become more Americanized (with independence, financial stability, etc.). I saw Xia as in between the two cultures, but she wanted to stick to her Hmong roots because she was brought up that way. Pa Houa was the same way. It was unexpected that the girls wanted to remain close to a culture where they perhaps have less power than men do. However, I can understand if the girls saw that they were brought up well (in not being allowed to go out and having to help the family), then they would want their children to be brought up well also. Of course, as we saw in the discussion, perhaps Hmong women have much more power than we might expect! I ended up seeing the Hmong culture less as one that makes women less powerful, but more as one that gives men and women very different roles with respective powers. Still, it's a little hard for me to break from my Western views of men and women, and because of that, I do think that women have more power in American culture. This, of course, brings back discussion from The Middle of Everywhere about how American culture does not respect women and other cultures do. This is very interesting to think about...we may give women more power in Western culture but not respect, whereas other cultures seem to respect or honor women but not give them as much power.

Today there was convocation, which was an exhibit of immigrant artwork. The artists were from several different backgrounds, from South America to Saudi Arabia to Asia (in the Hmong community). Also, they had a variety of different art media, including photography, sculpture, painting and printing. However, all of the art pieces served to represent the immigrant experience or juxtapose the old and new cultures.  

I really enjoyed seeing more of Seexeng Lee's art after seeing the piece in the Hmong Center. Also, the painting of the family crossing the Mekong River really brought to life the story of crossing the river from The Latehomecomer. I think that actually seeing the image, especially depicted so tragically with a family losing a member, as opposed to reading about it makes a difference. Clearly, both literature and visual art make important contributions to describing refugee/immigrant experiences.

Something interesting was how the Saudi Arabian artist Hend al-Mansour said that most people cannot fully understand what she is saying in her art because they do not have the experience of both cultures. It is interesting to think that even though an immigrant may describe his or her experiences, and we can hear them, we still miss aspects of their experiences with which we have no relation. Hopefully, though, we can do our best to listen and the immigrants will do their best to explain.

Last Monday in class, we had two speakers, Choua Thao and Long Yang, from the generation of Hmong refugees who emigrated as adults. They spoke to us about their experiences in the 1970's and how they came to leave, and then they told us some things about their experiences in the United States. In particular, they spoke about their careers both there and here.

Long Yang described a lot of things that Dr. Hillmer talked about when he was here, since Mr. Yang worked for the CIA. Also, he made an interesting comment that the U.S. officials told him that he should go to the United States to be safer, and that he would get a job cleaning somewhere. That reminded me of The Middle of Everywhere, when Mary Pipher described people who were powerful or well-educated in their former countries but had to do menial work in this new place. I was glad to hear that Mr. Yang was able to earn a degree and eventually do the work he was skilled enough to do.

Choua Thao definitely gave me some new perspectives about the refugee population. She was someone who would fight for both herself and others in need. I hadn't really thought about refugees being able to advocate for themselves, since being in a new environment could take away confidence, but she showed otherwise. However, in that confidence, I thought that she embodied a lot of American values already. For instance, I thought that her urging us to have a dream and pursue what we wanted (and hopefully earn money doing so) reflected a lot of American individualism and innovation. Perhaps because she had an innate confidence, she was able to adjust better to this new environment. This made her a leader and an advocate for those of similar status in the refugee population.

Last Monday in class, we met in the Hmong center and listened to a presentation by Dr. Lee Pao Xiong. He talked about the Hmong center and how it was established, and then he talked about how he came to the United States from Long Cheng. Then, he gave us a tour of the center and explained what some of the artifacts were.

I thought it was very interesting to have a speaker who had been through some of the things we learned the previous week, such as living in Long Cheng and storming the planes to escape. Also, I think Dr. Xiong is a perfect example showing how we can help recent immigrants succeed. He emphasized how the church sponsor helped his family become established and then how the immigrants would help their own families in the future. Then, I was amazed at his stories of ambition--how he sent his resume out to all of those congress people, and how he listened to the political radio all the time. I think that he was able to have that ambition and take hold of opportunities partly because someone helped his family establish themselves. After reading Mary Pipher's book, I wasn't sure how I could have the opportunity to meet or help any new immigrants, but Dr. Xiong's story reassured me that I could help someone through church, for instance.

Something interesting that was reemphasized was the idea that the Hmong did not want to leave Laos and did not want to come to America. It's interesting because in America, we often think that everyone wants to come here for the opportunities and freedoms we have, and it seems strange to think that some people--like some refugees we have read about--wanted to stay in their own country.  I think that shows a definite difference in values, since these refugees value things about their home countries that are completely different from things in America. This difference in values can make assimilating difficult, but it can also bring interesting new perspectives to America.

Today we went to see Gran Torino. I didn't know much about the movie before seeing it. I had only seen one preview, and from that, I had thought it was some kind of action movie. However, I found that the movie was not centered around the action--the gang violence brought the conflict and escalation of the story--but rather, the story focused much more on the relationship of Walt with Thao and Sue's family.

I was able to connect this movie to a lot of what we've been learning in class about the Hmong and from The Middle of Everywhere and The Latehomecomer. I felt that I knew a lot about the Hmong culture--the things that Walt discovered after spending time with the family. For example, I knew who the shaman was, and I knew that the Hmong were hill people who had fought in the Vietnam War and then immigrated to the United States. What was most interesting, though, were the connections I found to the books. I loved the depiction of the community in the Hmong family and how it contrasted so much with Walt's own family. Also, I remember several immigrants in The Middle of Everywhere talking about respecting elders and how American children often do not. I saw that in the difference between how Thao and Walt's grandchildren treated adults.

Something new I gained from the movie was a greater understanding of the difficulties that Hmong encounter in the United States. The other sources we've looked at have mostly talked about language, culture, or financial difficulties. However, we haven't heard much about the troubles that come from other Hmong--trying to resist the pressure to join a gang for protection and community. I am interested in learning more about that conflict.

Something else interesting that the movie showed was the compatibility between traditional Hmong and older American culture. As Walt said, he had more in common with the Hmong family than with his own spoiled family. Walt connected to the work ethic and respect for elders that Thao had. Also, I think Walt was drawn to the community of the Hmong family and rejected the disconnected life of his own family (like when he called his son, and his son had no time to talk). I thought this was a really interesting idea in the movie. Overall, I thought the movie explored many interesting ideas, and I enjoyed it a lot.