Hmong-American New Year's dress: A material culture approach
Author(s):
Lynch, Annette Ferne
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of Minnesota, 1992.
Pages:
239
Language:
English
Abstract:
The Hmong American community in the twin Minnesota cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis is brought together once a year in late November for a focused and significant display of cohesiveness during the public celebration of New Year. The New Year celebration at the St. Paul Civic Center is the largest public display of the newly vitalized versions of the old styles of dress formerly worn by the Hmong when they lived in Laos. American dress is now worn on an everyday basis and the old style Lao Hmong dress has become holiday attire publicly displayed during this annual holiday. The purpose of this study was to interpret the meaning of Hmong American New Year's dress using a material culture approach stressing the role of expressive objects in resolving underlying cultural conflict and in so doing not only serving to reflect but to formulate what it means to be Hmong in America. The interpretation focuses upon the role of dress in resolving conflict between generations and conflict centered upon female gender roles in the United States. The concepts of tradition and ethnicity--as central to an understanding of an art form with links to an immigrant homeland created by an American ethnic group--are integral to this interpretation. As of February, 1991 the Minnesota State Refugee Office unofficial estimate of Hmong living in Minnesota was approximately 21,000 with 95% living within the St. Paul/Minneapolis metropolitan area. A range of fieldwork techniques were used to conduct this study including participant observation at three New Year celebrations and at family gatherings in Hmong American homes as well as visual analysis of photographs and content analysis of formal and informal interview data.