| CONTENTS Discussing: Contemporary Issues Challenging: Women Issues Reading: Research Article Learning: History Guessing: Proverbs & Riddles Studying: Literature Visiting: Photo Gallery Admiring: Art Gallery Listening to: Hmong Radios Enjoying: Tales for Children Taking: Courses of Cult & Language |
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| TOPICS OF 2003 January Kuv phooj ywg tus zoo tshaj Mon meilleur ami ou la problématique de l'amitié My Best Friend: Issues on Love and Friendship February 15 Neeg no yeej paub tsis tag txog nws tus kheej "L'homme est obscur à lui-même": un essai à partir d'un texte d'Alain "Human Being is obscure to itself": an essay on Alain's Text (Alain is a French Philosopher) (Guest Writer: Zhang Xiao Director, Institute of Culture of Minorities, Guizhou, China) Hmoob suav thiab Hmoob poob teb chaw puas yog ib pab ib pawg neeg, tuav ib lub npe? Le fondement et les caractéristiques de l'identité miao et hmong Common Basis and Characteristics of Miao and Overseas Hmong Identity April 15 Maiv thawj tug hlub Le premier amour de May May's First Love August 20 Poj niam ib txoj kev ua rau nws mus ntseeg ntuj Une raison des femmes Hmong pour se convertir au christianisme A Hmong Women's Reason to Convert to Christianity September 17 Kev tshuaj ntsuam, luj khoom thiab suav nyiaj Systèmes de mesure et de poids Traditional Systems of Measuring and of Weighing October 25 Ib zaj paj huam hais txog Hmong Asmeslivkas cov neeg laus dej siab dej ntsws daj dee Une histoire de l'amour des Hmong de troisième âge A Piece of Hmong Elderly Love November 4 Niam Nkauj Ntsuab Paj Nra Yaj Miss Hmong Pada Yang November 5 Kev cob qhia poj niam hmoob rov los pab haiv neeg hmoob Encouragement pour les femmes hmong aux actions collectives Encouragement for Hmong Women to Collective Actions November 7 Hmong kev txhawb nqa teb chaws Asmeslivkas; daim Bill 78 Amendement de l'acte AB78 pour introduire la "Guerre Secrète" au Laos aux écoles publiques de la Californie Bill 78 to Introducing the "Secret War" in Laos at California Public Schools Daim ntawv tuav kev sib hlub rau NujSisLoob thiab Nkauj Ntsuab Contract de marriage entre Nushilong et Gaojoua Contract of marriage between Nusheelong and Gaojua Vim licas Saub tsis nrog hmoob nyob? Pourquoi Shao a t-il abondonné les Hmong? Why did Shao leave Hmong people? Hmoob cov teeb meem cov loj tshaj Les problématiques les plus sensibles chez les Hmong Americains Hmong American Most Sensitive Issues - Census 2000 December 22 Kuv kev ntshaw rau peb Hmoob rau lub xyoo tshiab 2004 Mes souhaits de bonne année 2004: être conscient(e) des besoins d'élever une nouvelle génération de Hmong intellectuals My Wish for 2004: Becoming Aware of the Need to Rise a New Generation of Hmong Intellectuals |
| CONTEMPORARY ISSUES Analysis of Hmong American Most Sensitive Issues This paper has been presented during lecturings at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute - 2003 In basing on the Census data 2000 and my research with Hmong communities in California and in Minnesota, I here presented some of the most salient aspects in term of important issues in the Hmong American community. I. When Numbers Talk, .... Number of Hmong in the US in 1990 in 2000 94,439 186,310 Rate of increasing 97.3% (in 10 years) There are 95,000 males 91,000 females The median age of the total population: 16.1 years (The median age in the US in 2000 is 35.3 years) People under 18 years old: 56% People between 18 and 24 years old: 13% Total population of youth under 24 years old: 69% People between 25 and 44 years old: 20.4% People between 45 and 64 years old: 7.8% People over 64 years old: 2.8% Total population in the working age: 28.8% Household average size: 6.3 people (The highest size in the US) Distribution in State and Cities: CA 35% Fresno 12.1% Sacramento 9% MN 22.4% Twin Cities 21.8% WI 18.1% NC 4.3% II. ... Which Issues Do They Unveil? Hmong population in the US is very young (16.1 years old in average). There are more children than adults (1 adult for 3 children). Does it mean there is --and will be -- a lack of support from adults and Elderly to the education of the new generations? One needs to pose this question. Besides, it is a certainty that there is lack of qualified adults from now on. The profle of Hmong American population appears a following: a very young population with a low level of education and a high rate of birth (at least 4 children per couple). The biggest challenge for the Hmong community for the coming years will be to increase qualified adults to provide appropriate support to children.. The emerging problems concern different sectors: (some sectors may not be as important as in number such as gay and lesbian issues but they may have a more visible psychological consequency in the community): + Less healthy Elderly because of current cardiovascular epidemic and Post-Trauma Stress Disorder due to after-war in Southeast Asia: The consequence is that there is less available Elderly to assume the transmission of culture, of language and of historical past and of values, + Lack of support and of mentoring to develop a more professional leadership, + New or growing issues related to urban settings that Hmong community and parents do not know how to handle: isolation of Elderly, single mother, child care, mixing marriage, early or late divorce, polygamy, illegal migration, gang, teenager's prostitution, gambling or drugs issues, + Lack of appropriateness in community services: most of the existing non-profit organizations have been created in the years of 1980's, and this for a population with a profile of refugee. As the 3rd and the 4th generations are more acculturated and less aware of their parents' reasons to come to the US, they now experimente confusion in defining their ethnic identity and in understanding their own cultural heritage in a more comprehensive approach, + Persistance of early marriage and of early pregnancy following by potential divorce. This induces barriers to higher education, especially for women, and generates other invisible but permanent problems such as family conflicts in term of misunderstanding due to intellectual and cultural gaps between parents and children, + New gender behaviors such as lesbian and gay issues that Hmong community is not yet ready to conceive and so to tolerate, +. Teenagers' suicides and adults' suicides with predominance of domestic violence between gender, + Internal political conflicts that divide Hmong in various socio-political fractions, + Misuses and Misunderstanding of mainstream society legal system, + Diversity in term of religious choices that, instead of favoring tolerance, generates religious conflict inside the Hmong community. III. The Hmong Paradox According to outsiders, researchers, journalists or others, Hmong community seems well adapted to the new sitting because there are visible and successful leaders such as the election of Mee Moua, a female lawyer in Twin cities, as state senator. It is also this ability to advocate and to stand up for issues inside the Southeast Asian community that put the Hmong people among the most aggressive and successful group. But if one takes distance from the few figures of success, there are lot of failures hidden among the average Hmong people. And media seems only retain the best and the worst of this community so that mainstream society finally associates stereotypes more than understands the complexity of a becoming new migrant community. Inside the Hmong community, the truly educated leaders are numbered. The clan and male domination constitutes the social structure that generates social recognition and support. Hmong women stay out of the core of the ethnic group's power. The new generation of leaders lacks cultural competency on its own culture and, most of them do not know how to relate their two worlds together so that they can appropriately communicate. According to the census 2000 and my observations of Hmong issues since 1999, Hmong community reveals to be one of the poorest group among the Southeast Asian groups on the economic and the health levels. Because of internal conflict on sub-ethnic division based on dialectal difference, on religious, economic and/or cultural issues, this ethnic group comes to divide into small fractions and so to weaken more the unstable and fragile inter-clan and sub-ethnic group support. This division often constitutes an obsticle for the community to stand up for urgent and common causes, for example the case during the support for the Bill AB 78 where there was a division between White Hmong and Green Hmong who are respectively two ethnic sub-groups speaking two different dialects however understandable at least at about 80%. At the beginning, the Bill used the ethnonym "Hmong" as the key word of ethnic identification because it was for the Hmong community in Fresno that the Bill has been initiated. Because of the this division, the term "Hmong" was replaced by "Southeast Asian" in the Bill to politically avoid Hmong community internal conflicts. The American model of activism based on artists or politicians' voices creates an activism lacking comprehension, among many of the community leaders, in approaching Hmong issues as a whole. The Elderly do not succeed to connect to the modern aspects of Hmong culture, and the young leaders are not capable to embrace the community as a whole, with cultural, symbolic, economic, political, artistic dimensions. As for intellectuals, academic scholars, they did not reach yet position of outstanding scholars with indepency in term of financial support and time, they are finally unable to promote more intellectual debats using a more scientific approach regarding questions of diversity in beliefs, of ethnicity and of sub-divisions in term of language and of culture difference, of readaptation of traditions, of rituals and of promoting understanding between Hmong community and Maintream society. In addition, many social events such as conferences organised by major national organizations to address community issues request so high registration fees (more than $100). In such situation, the poorest of the community members, especially parents, could not attend such events where there is a chance for the whole community to develop common vision. Instead of promoting understanding, this example shows that such an approach by promoting an elite, simply generates social gaps and creates economic classes inside the community, and in long term, it will generate a society living in two speeds: the rich will become richer, and the poor, poorer without the traditinal social support due to the individualization that occurs in the same time social/clan/lineage differenciation. IV. What Expect In the Coming Years? If the rate of birth is still maintained in the year of 2010, the Hmong population will be younger with less adults to take care of the younger ones. (I did not highlight this very urgent issue of cardiovascular diseases among adults, Elderly and community outstanding leaders that constitutes an important factor of death. It may mean more adults will die in coming years. There will be less leaders to fulfill the needs of mentors and of role models.) The urgent needs will be to educate Hmong youth = not to marry so earlier (Girls continue to get married at 14 to 15 years old) = to have individual's higher expectation in term of education and of excellence in the academic skills = Dare to dream for one's life = and to learn how to use the various social capital in term of social and academic connections and legal assistance from Hmong side as well as from the Mainstream side to obtain financial support, leadership skills to go further in their vocation. There are needs to educate parents to have better parenting skills so that they will support their children during the critical age of teenager. Hmong ways of socializing children need to be rethought in a more adapted approach to enhance their children's success and well being. New structures such as cultural centers with a more academic perspective or recreative centers need to be built to offer appropriate spaces and to develop long-term projects for children to learn more about their culture, their language and the current changes so that they will come to enhance their knowledge of their double culture and their quest of identity, and to relate their double heritage as an asset to succeed in the mainstream society. There is need to develop critical thinking skills and community commitment on behalf of leaders and professionals to improve their professionalism, enhancement of female leadership, efficiency in term of collaborative projects and academic abilities to better lead issues as well as people, students and parents to develop more professionalism. I think over these visible issues, there are other invisible issues that Hmong people need to become more aware and to find courage to apply: being more tolerant toward differences in term of non-traditional choices such as marriage choices, being more desinterested in term of quest of knowledge, sharing welfare instead of using the poorest and the sickest people to build personal financial success in using mainstream social support, surpassing conservatism in term of clan solidarity and going further for solidarity based on common values and visions, and reaching the understanding of cultural heritage as a changing thing where culture is a product of creativity and of invention. Kao-Ly Yang PhD 11/24/2003 BACK TO THE TOP |
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