Women in the hmong diaspora

Author(s):

Cha, Dia

Format:

Book section

Citation:

Diversity In Diaspora: Hmong Americans In The Twenty-first Century, (2013). pp. 165-187.

Publisher:

University of Hawaii Press, 2013.

Language:

English

Abstract:

This chapter draws on ethnographic research data gathered since 1992 from an applied anthropological action research project among Hmong women in the refugee camps of Thailand and among female returnees to Laos; a 2002 survey of Hmong American women in the United States; 2004 field research in Laos and China; observations made from annual visits to Thailand and Laos since 2003; a biennial visit to China since 2004; and participant observations of contemporary Hmong American life by the author. Research methods include ethnography, observation, participant observation, survey, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. In 1992, the author spent six months conducting research in Chieng Kham Refugee Camp, Ban Napho Repatriation Center, and Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand and Vientiane, Laos, for a Lao and Hmong repatriate womens' research project supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the American Friends Services Committee. Forty Hmong refugee women in Chieng Kham Refugee Camp participated in the one-on-one interview survey, six women engaged in the in-depth interviews, and twelve focus groups were conducted in Chieng Kham Camp, Ban Napho, Thailand, as well as in Vientiane, Laos. In 2004, the author spent three months traveling to Laos and China to visit Hmong communities in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khouang Provinces in Laos; and in Hunan, Quizhou, and Yunnan Provinces in China. During 2003?2009, the author led students on an annual basis to study abroad in Laos, where they visited and studied in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khuang Provinces. In both 2006 and 2008, she accompanied her students on a Study Abroad Program to China sponsored by St. Cloud State University, in the course of which she visited Quizhou, Hunan, and Yunnan Provinces. It is these provinces that have the largest Hmong/ Miao concentrations in China. In 2002, the author conducted a survey of Hmong American women leaders or emergent leaders, as an adjunct of which she sent a written survey to forty Hmong American women. Fourteen of them responded. These women were and are active in the Hmong American community, and many of them play a leading role in defining contemporary Hmong American society. © 2013 University of Hawai'i Press. All rights reserved.

ISBN:

9780824837778 (ISBN); 9780824835972 (ISBN)

Identifier:

HmongStudies0408