Contemporary Women's Roles through Hmong, Vietnamese, and American Eyes
Author(s):
Long, Lisa A
Format:
Journal article
Citation:
Frontiers, Volume 29, Issue 1 (2008). pp. 1-36.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Compares images of Vietnamese-American women in Lan Cao's 1997 novel, Monkey Bridge, with representations of Viet women in two Vietnamese publications & the Vietnamese Women's Museum in Hanoi. In addition, photographic essays by Hmong girls at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi are considered alongside selections by Hmong-American women in various anthologies. The focus is on the practical & ethical implications of Southeast Asian women's gender roles, especially when viewed through perceptions of the Vietnam War. Extreme differences among the texts & contrasting versions of Hmong & Vietnamese histories are pointed out. The strengths of individual women are often hidden in colonizing views of Southeast Asian women & Western portrayals of women in socialist Vietnam are far worse than the reality. However, women's work & private lives have been co-opted by Eastern militarism & economic needs "far more viscerally than they have been by Western cultural arrogance." Vietnamese-American women tend to emphasize the gains of Western feminism & the weakness of their native cultures while also struggling with the weaknesses of the former & the strengths of the latter. J. Lindroth