Hmong mortuary practices: Self, place and meaning in urban America
Author(s):
Her, Vincent K.
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, 2005.
Pages:
241
Language:
English
Abstract:
How is cultural memory transmitted, conveyed and sustained? Drawing on Paul Connerton and others, this dissertation considers tradition as a form of memory that lives in, by and through the body. The work highlights the lives of Hmong Americans. Cultural memory is habitual, bodily and performative. It is expressed in the hands and body, in gestures and movements, in narrative, in speech and words, in lineage and social ties, in incantations or offerings, in items of clothing, or in the symbolism of an alcohol drink. Recognizing these techniques of the body is important not only because they constitute meaningful aspects of Hmong culture, history and identity, but also relate to larger theoretical concerns in cultural anthropology and memory studies. Hmong Americans began arriving in this country in 1976 as refugees of the Vietnam War. Presently, the United States is home to 180,000–200,000 Hmong Americans; the largest communities are found in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan. Much has been written about the urban experiences of this group, but their funeral rituals have yet to be sufficiently researched. Here, I will map out events of a funeral, illustrating the myriad ways in which Hmong Americans have had to negotiate meaning and change. A funeral is a communal occasion where people come together to fulfill their obligations to the deceased and to partake in the re-enactment of their tradition. In the process, participants experience first hand what it means to be Hmong and how they may have become a different kind of Hmong, a transformed but recognizable version in urban America of the type of individual and community remembered from Laos. Participation, the act subjecting oneself to the array of ritual activities of a funeral, including its sight, sound and emotions, can have powerful influences on the memory of the body. It can induce nostalgia, evoke consensus, and create continuity out of fragmented memories. As people sense together, they bond together. They become culturally and historically linked, joined by a common vocabulary of belonging.