HMONG STUDIES NEWSLETTER, Spring 2015
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION: The Hmong Studies Newsletter has since 2001 provided a very consistent source of up-to-date information about new works in Hmong Studies and Hmong-related research resources. To access back issues of this online publication dating back to 2001 visit: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-newsletter.html
Hmong Studies Newsletter Editor: Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD
ABOUT THE HMONG STUDIES INTERNET RESOURCE CENTER:
The Hmong Studies Internet Resource Center (www.hmongstudies.org) is the online home of the Hmong Studies Journal academic journal. This unique scholarly site also contains extensive bibliographies in Hmong Studies as well as census data and an online research paper library.
Many of the Hmong Studies articles, books and dissertations listed in this newsletter and on the website may be found at the Hmong Resource Center Library (www.hmonglibrary.org) at the Hmong Cultural Center in Saint Paul, the largest depository of Hmong Studies academic journal articles and graduate theses and dissertations in the United States.
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION: The Hmong Studies Newsletter has since 2001 provided a very consistent source of up-to-date information about new works in Hmong Studies and Hmong-related research resources. To access back issues of this online publication dating back to 2001 visit: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-newsletter.html
Hmong Studies Newsletter Editor: Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD
ABOUT THE HMONG STUDIES INTERNET RESOURCE CENTER:
The Hmong Studies Internet Resource Center (www.hmongstudies.org) is the online home of the Hmong Studies Journal academic journal. This unique scholarly site also contains extensive bibliographies in Hmong Studies as well as census data and an online research paper library.
Many of the Hmong Studies articles, books and dissertations listed in this newsletter and on the website may be found at the Hmong Resource Center Library (www.hmonglibrary.org) at the Hmong Cultural Center in Saint Paul, the largest depository of Hmong Studies academic journal articles and graduate theses and dissertations in the United States.
NEW WORKS IN HMONG STUDIES:
Books/Theses/Reports
Linda Gerdner. (2015). Hmong Story Cloths: Preserving Historical & Cultural Treasures. Atgen Publishing: Schiffer Publishing. The Hmong first began making the story cloths during their time in refugee camps, and featured in this new work are examples of 48 story cloths that provide a comprehensive look at Hmong history and culture. In this volume to be published in June 2015, information about individual story cloths is accompanied by personal stories of artists and descriptions of Hmong cultural artifacts. More information about this new book is available here: http://www.schifferbooks.com/hmong-story-cloths-preserving-historical-cultural-treasures-5774.html
Mai Na M. Lee (2015). Dreams of the Hmong Kingdom: The Quest for Legitimation in French Indochina, 1850–1960. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. A newly published work related to Hmong history in Laos. The publisher provides the following summary: "Countering notions that Hmong history begins and ends with the “Secret War” in Laos of the 1960s and 1970s,Dreams of the Hmong Kingdom reveals how the Hmong experience of modernity is grounded in their sense of their own ancient past, when this now-stateless people had their own king and kingdom, and illuminates their political choices over the course of a century in a highly contested region of Asia... Lee argues that the leadership struggles between Hmong clans destabilized French rule and hastened its demise. Martialing an impressive array of oral interviews conducted in the United States, France, and Southeast Asia, augmented with French archival documents, she demonstrates how, at the margins of empire, minorities such as the Hmong sway the direction of history." More information about this new book is available here: http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5199.htm
Annette Marie-Simmons. (2014). Being Hmong, being American: making sense of U.S. Citizenship. PhD Dissertation, University of Minnesota. This ethnographic graduate study was conducted in one 12th-grade American Government class at a public high school in a large Mid-western city which included several Hmong American students. Multiple data sources were analyzed for themes, patterns, and issues, including classroom observations and document analyses of instructional texts and American Government curriculum utilized in the observed classroom. The author suggests that three significant findings emerged in this study. First, the American Government classroom was a space for civic and political identity construction for Hmong youth. Second, the American Government classroom was not the only active political socialization agent; Hmong youth shaped and negotiated their citizenship identities with others including family members, and in other venues like youth clubs and cultural activities. Third, Hmong youth negotiated their citizenship identities in relationship to race, gender, and class. However, as Hmong youth prepared for adult, democratic citizenship, they experienced little opportunity in their American Government course to practice ways to navigate racialization, gender issues, and economic challenge in their personal lives. View this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/168304
Sarah Turner, Christine Bonnin and Jean Michaud. (2015). Frontier Livelihoods Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands. Seattle: University of Washington Press. This new work assesses the agency, dynamics, and resilience of livelihoods adopted by Hmong communities in Vietnam and in China's Yunnan Province. It covers the reactions to state modernization projects among this ethnic group in two separate national jurisdictions and contributes to a growing body of literature on cross-border relationships between ethnic minorities in the borderlands of China and its neighbors and in Southeast Asia more broadly. More information about this new book is available here: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/TURBOR.html
Phoua Xiong. (2014). The Lived Experience of Second-generation Hmong American Teen Mothers: a Phenomenological Study. M.A. Thesis, University of Minnesota. This graduate study examines the lived experience of five second-generation Hmong American teen mothers. Using a phenomenological approach, the study found that most participants were culturally but not legally married, thus they are not counted in the statistics on teen marriages. Although participants were still teenagers, they considered themselves adults once they were culturally married and/or became mothers. In addition to carrying the responsibilities associated with the roles of wife and mother, they added another significant role in the Hmong culture--that of daughter-in-law. However, even with these demands, most participants had completed high school and were planning to pursue post-secondary degrees. View this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/165649
Academic Journal Articles/Other
Ian G. Baird. (2015). "Translocal Assemblages and the Circulation of the Concept of `Indigenous Peoples' in Laos." Political Geography 46: 54-64. In this article, the author utilizes the analytic of translocal assemblages to investigate the ways that the concept of indigeneity is circulating in Laos. In particular, the author examines multiple issues often tied to indigenous politics: communal land titling and bilingual education, and looks at the extent to which new indigenous identities are being adopted in Laos. The author provides an example of how a Hmong group in the USA with links to Laos is constructing translocal assemblages through an indigenous peoples framework in order to resist the government in Laos.
Ian G. Baird and Pao Vue. (2015). "The Ties that Bind: The Role of Hmong Social Networks in Developing Small-scale Rubber Cultivation in Laos." Mobilities, DOI:10.1080/17450101.2015.1016821. Many ethnic Hmong in Laos have developed small-scale rubber plantations due to high international demand and prices. Using social network theory, the authors assess the role of different types of networks, and their connections to transportation and communications enhancements, in influencing rubber development. The four social networks identified by the authors as being especially important to the Hmong in their study include: lineage, blood ties, clan relations, and ethnic self-identity.. These relations are observed as affecting the tenure and financial arrangements being adopted by small-scale Hmong rubber cultivators, the authors' findings also show considerable variation in the importance of Hmong social networks.
Christine Bonnin and Sarah Turner. (2014). "‘A good wife stays home’: gendered negotiations over state agricultural programmes, upland Vietnam." Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 21(10): 1302-1320. In this article, the authors focus on the gendered consequences of the Vietnamese government's hybrid rice programme for upland farmers including Hmong and Yao. The authors discuss impacts on family relations, increasing intergenerational tensions across genders, and shifting responsibilities and new negotiations between young spouses. These dynamics are further complicated by household economic status, as household members obtain specific opportunities available to them to improve everyday food security.
Catherine Fung (2015). “`Whether or Not Words Were Said' . . . Chai Soua Vang, Gran Torino, and the Problem of Historicizing Racialized Violence." Social Text 122 33(1): 27-48. This article co-examines the 2005 trial of Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong American man who was convicted of murdering six Caucasian hunters in Wisconsin, with the 2008 film Gran Torino, a story of a Korean War veteran who mentors a Hmong American teenager. The author argues that the assessment of the trial transcript and journalistic coverage of the Vang case illustrate the need to establish a history of racial violence in order to explain the altercation in the woods. The author uses speech act theory in her analysis.
Patricia A. Lee King. (2014). "Cultural Differences in Perinatal Experiences for Women with Low Socioeconomic Status." Health and Social Work 39(4): 211-220. In this study, the author explores similarities and differences in perinatal experiences between women with low socioeconomic status (SES) by race, ethnicity, and nativity. The objective was to better understand the sociocultural and environmental contexts of perinatal experiences and potential implications for screening and assessment among women with low SES. A purposive stratified sample of 32 women who were likely to be screened for perinatal depression participated in four focus groups organized by African American, white, Hmong, or Latina race or ethnicity.
Jennifer Kue, Sheryl Thorburn and Karen Levy Keon. (2014). "Research Challenges and Lessons Learned From Conducting Community-Based Research With the Hmong Community." Health Promotion Practice 16(3): DOI: 10.1177/1524839914561515. Our study used a community-based approach to better understand factors that influence breast and cervical cancer screening among Hmong women.The authors discuss lessons learned including the value of involving a cultural insider as an investigator; building community partnerships and support; establishing and working with a community advisory committee; hiring and training bilingual, bicultural staff; and using culturally appropriate materials and methods in a small, kinship-based community.
Sai Latt and Robin Roth. (2015). "Agrarian Change and Ethnic Politics:Restructuring of Hmong and Shan Labour and Agricultural Production in Northern Thailand." Journal of Agrarian Change 15(2): 220-238. This paper examines how the construction of ethnic identity has facilitated the particular form of agrarian intensification and labour restructuring under way in the uplands of Thailand. Agricultural intensification, followed by the promotion of ‘safe’and then ‘organic’ production, has relied upon the societal construction of Hmong farmers as environmentally destructive and in need of development, while Shan labour arriving from Burma are simultaneously constructed as ‘illegal migrants’ (as opposed to refugees), a social nuisance and hard workers, helping to make them into an available, willing and preferred labour force. The authors argue that the construction of ethnic identity in these instances enables the agricultural changes under way and, thus, the processes of agricultural change cannot be understood without careful attention to ethnic politics.
Hee Yun Lee, et al. (2015). Cervical cancer screening behavior among Hmong-American immigrant women. American Journal of Health Behavior 39(3): 301-307. The authors of this study investigated Hmong American immigrant women's utilization of cervical cancer screening, including the impact of cultural health beliefs on screening use. Overall, 164 Hmong-American immigrant women 21 to 65 years of age were recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Midwest. The authors used logistic regression, guided by Andersen's Behavior Model, to examine factors associated with the receipt of a Pap test. The authors found that 67.1% of their informants had received a Pap test within the last 3 years. Fatalism, modesty, education, and marital status were significantly correlated with receiving a Pap test.
R.L. Neitzel, et al. (2015). Safety and Health Hazard Observations in Hmong Farming Operations. Journal of Agromedicine 19(2): 130-149. This study involved the development of an observation-based methodology for systematically evaluating occupational health and safety hazards in agriculture which was pilot-tested on several small-scale Hmong farming operations. Each observation assessed of range of safety and health hazards (e.g., musculoskeletal hazards, dust and pollen, noise, and mechanical hazards), as well as on factors such as type of work area, presence of personal protective equipment, and weather conditions. Thirty-six observations were collected on nine farms.
Reimund C. Serifica. (2014). Dietary Acculturation in Asian Americans. Journal of Cultural Diversity 21(4): 145-151.
The purpose of this literature review was to promote a better understanding of the construct of dietary acculturation in recent years and how it affects dietary intake of the Asian American population including Hmong Americans. Four databases were searched simultaneously by the author using the following key terms: Asian- Americans, dietary practices, eating habits, and dietary acculturation. The author concludes that although the studies presented in this literature review represent the recent researches conducted in Asian populations in the US, the research in dietary acculturation remains sparse.
Michele Schermann. (2015). "Exploring Travel Interests and Constraints among Minnesota Hmong." Research Report, University of Minnesota Tourism Center. This report provides results from initial qualitative explorations of Hmong leisure travel behaviors. Given a self-reported propensity towards outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, Hmong are particularly important to consider in destination areas where the outdoors is a key attraction. Results will inform planning, marketing, and product development for Hmong tourists as a niche group both in the United States and Minnesota. Read this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/170809
Cory William Whitney, Min (Meej Vaj) Vang Sin, Giang Lê Hồng, Can Vu Van, Keith Barber, Lanh Thi Tran. (2014).
"Conservation and Ethnobotanical Knowledge of a Hmong Community in Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic." Ethnobotany Journal 12: 643-658. In 2012 and 2013 participatory ethnobotany explorations were undertaken with herbalists from the Hmong ethnic group of Long Lan village, in Luang Prabang, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. These investigations into the knowledge and experience of indigenous elders of Long Lan and surrounding villages sought to identify the relationship between the spiritual-cultural practices and livelihood uses of plants and their conservation. Information about 74 plant species of 49 families was recorded, including 25 herbs (17 perennial, 8 annual), 20 trees, 17 shrubs, 10 climbers, and 2 ferns. Analysis of quantitative ethnobotany scores indicated positive trends between uses and conservation practices for plants. The study suggests that the traditional Hmong cultural uses for plants may be a mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity in the rapidly deteriorating forests of Luang Prabang in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. View this study online here: http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/view/1017/646
Nicholas Tapp. (2014). "Miao migrants to Shanghai: Multilocality, invisibility and ethnicity." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55(3): 381-399. This articles reports on a research project involving rural–urban labour migrants in Shanghai, China, who are members of ethnic minorities with a particular focus on the role of ethnicity in national labour migration. The author introduces some of the main features of the ethnic nationalities in China and assesses some of the literature on rural–urban migration in China which may be considered as relevant to ethnicity. The case of a Miao minority family in Shanghai is described in detail by the author to argue that what remains important to them in the city is not their formal ethnic affiliation but more so their sub-ethnic identity of connectedness and intimacy which are importantly related to kinship and place.
L. Wongwatcharanukul, et al. (2014). "Factors affecting cervical cancer screening uptake by Hmong hilltribe women in Thailand." Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 15(8): 3753-3756. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to study factors related to cervical cancer screening uptake by Hmong hilltribe women in Lomkao District, Phetchabun Province. Interview data were collected from 547 of these women aged 30-60 years living in the study area and analyzed using multiple logistic regression. The results showed that 64.9% of the study sample had received screening, and that 47.2% had attended due to a cervical screening campaign. The most common reason given for not receiving screening was lack of time. The factors found to be positively associated with uptake were as follows: number of years of school attendance, animistic religious beliefs, a previous pregnancy, receipt of information about cervical cancer screening, and perceived risk of developing cervical cancer.
Books/Theses/Reports
Linda Gerdner. (2015). Hmong Story Cloths: Preserving Historical & Cultural Treasures. Atgen Publishing: Schiffer Publishing. The Hmong first began making the story cloths during their time in refugee camps, and featured in this new work are examples of 48 story cloths that provide a comprehensive look at Hmong history and culture. In this volume to be published in June 2015, information about individual story cloths is accompanied by personal stories of artists and descriptions of Hmong cultural artifacts. More information about this new book is available here: http://www.schifferbooks.com/hmong-story-cloths-preserving-historical-cultural-treasures-5774.html
Mai Na M. Lee (2015). Dreams of the Hmong Kingdom: The Quest for Legitimation in French Indochina, 1850–1960. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. A newly published work related to Hmong history in Laos. The publisher provides the following summary: "Countering notions that Hmong history begins and ends with the “Secret War” in Laos of the 1960s and 1970s,Dreams of the Hmong Kingdom reveals how the Hmong experience of modernity is grounded in their sense of their own ancient past, when this now-stateless people had their own king and kingdom, and illuminates their political choices over the course of a century in a highly contested region of Asia... Lee argues that the leadership struggles between Hmong clans destabilized French rule and hastened its demise. Martialing an impressive array of oral interviews conducted in the United States, France, and Southeast Asia, augmented with French archival documents, she demonstrates how, at the margins of empire, minorities such as the Hmong sway the direction of history." More information about this new book is available here: http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5199.htm
Annette Marie-Simmons. (2014). Being Hmong, being American: making sense of U.S. Citizenship. PhD Dissertation, University of Minnesota. This ethnographic graduate study was conducted in one 12th-grade American Government class at a public high school in a large Mid-western city which included several Hmong American students. Multiple data sources were analyzed for themes, patterns, and issues, including classroom observations and document analyses of instructional texts and American Government curriculum utilized in the observed classroom. The author suggests that three significant findings emerged in this study. First, the American Government classroom was a space for civic and political identity construction for Hmong youth. Second, the American Government classroom was not the only active political socialization agent; Hmong youth shaped and negotiated their citizenship identities with others including family members, and in other venues like youth clubs and cultural activities. Third, Hmong youth negotiated their citizenship identities in relationship to race, gender, and class. However, as Hmong youth prepared for adult, democratic citizenship, they experienced little opportunity in their American Government course to practice ways to navigate racialization, gender issues, and economic challenge in their personal lives. View this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/168304
Sarah Turner, Christine Bonnin and Jean Michaud. (2015). Frontier Livelihoods Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands. Seattle: University of Washington Press. This new work assesses the agency, dynamics, and resilience of livelihoods adopted by Hmong communities in Vietnam and in China's Yunnan Province. It covers the reactions to state modernization projects among this ethnic group in two separate national jurisdictions and contributes to a growing body of literature on cross-border relationships between ethnic minorities in the borderlands of China and its neighbors and in Southeast Asia more broadly. More information about this new book is available here: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/TURBOR.html
Phoua Xiong. (2014). The Lived Experience of Second-generation Hmong American Teen Mothers: a Phenomenological Study. M.A. Thesis, University of Minnesota. This graduate study examines the lived experience of five second-generation Hmong American teen mothers. Using a phenomenological approach, the study found that most participants were culturally but not legally married, thus they are not counted in the statistics on teen marriages. Although participants were still teenagers, they considered themselves adults once they were culturally married and/or became mothers. In addition to carrying the responsibilities associated with the roles of wife and mother, they added another significant role in the Hmong culture--that of daughter-in-law. However, even with these demands, most participants had completed high school and were planning to pursue post-secondary degrees. View this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/165649
Academic Journal Articles/Other
Ian G. Baird. (2015). "Translocal Assemblages and the Circulation of the Concept of `Indigenous Peoples' in Laos." Political Geography 46: 54-64. In this article, the author utilizes the analytic of translocal assemblages to investigate the ways that the concept of indigeneity is circulating in Laos. In particular, the author examines multiple issues often tied to indigenous politics: communal land titling and bilingual education, and looks at the extent to which new indigenous identities are being adopted in Laos. The author provides an example of how a Hmong group in the USA with links to Laos is constructing translocal assemblages through an indigenous peoples framework in order to resist the government in Laos.
Ian G. Baird and Pao Vue. (2015). "The Ties that Bind: The Role of Hmong Social Networks in Developing Small-scale Rubber Cultivation in Laos." Mobilities, DOI:10.1080/17450101.2015.1016821. Many ethnic Hmong in Laos have developed small-scale rubber plantations due to high international demand and prices. Using social network theory, the authors assess the role of different types of networks, and their connections to transportation and communications enhancements, in influencing rubber development. The four social networks identified by the authors as being especially important to the Hmong in their study include: lineage, blood ties, clan relations, and ethnic self-identity.. These relations are observed as affecting the tenure and financial arrangements being adopted by small-scale Hmong rubber cultivators, the authors' findings also show considerable variation in the importance of Hmong social networks.
Christine Bonnin and Sarah Turner. (2014). "‘A good wife stays home’: gendered negotiations over state agricultural programmes, upland Vietnam." Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 21(10): 1302-1320. In this article, the authors focus on the gendered consequences of the Vietnamese government's hybrid rice programme for upland farmers including Hmong and Yao. The authors discuss impacts on family relations, increasing intergenerational tensions across genders, and shifting responsibilities and new negotiations between young spouses. These dynamics are further complicated by household economic status, as household members obtain specific opportunities available to them to improve everyday food security.
Catherine Fung (2015). “`Whether or Not Words Were Said' . . . Chai Soua Vang, Gran Torino, and the Problem of Historicizing Racialized Violence." Social Text 122 33(1): 27-48. This article co-examines the 2005 trial of Chai Soua Vang, a Hmong American man who was convicted of murdering six Caucasian hunters in Wisconsin, with the 2008 film Gran Torino, a story of a Korean War veteran who mentors a Hmong American teenager. The author argues that the assessment of the trial transcript and journalistic coverage of the Vang case illustrate the need to establish a history of racial violence in order to explain the altercation in the woods. The author uses speech act theory in her analysis.
Patricia A. Lee King. (2014). "Cultural Differences in Perinatal Experiences for Women with Low Socioeconomic Status." Health and Social Work 39(4): 211-220. In this study, the author explores similarities and differences in perinatal experiences between women with low socioeconomic status (SES) by race, ethnicity, and nativity. The objective was to better understand the sociocultural and environmental contexts of perinatal experiences and potential implications for screening and assessment among women with low SES. A purposive stratified sample of 32 women who were likely to be screened for perinatal depression participated in four focus groups organized by African American, white, Hmong, or Latina race or ethnicity.
Jennifer Kue, Sheryl Thorburn and Karen Levy Keon. (2014). "Research Challenges and Lessons Learned From Conducting Community-Based Research With the Hmong Community." Health Promotion Practice 16(3): DOI: 10.1177/1524839914561515. Our study used a community-based approach to better understand factors that influence breast and cervical cancer screening among Hmong women.The authors discuss lessons learned including the value of involving a cultural insider as an investigator; building community partnerships and support; establishing and working with a community advisory committee; hiring and training bilingual, bicultural staff; and using culturally appropriate materials and methods in a small, kinship-based community.
Sai Latt and Robin Roth. (2015). "Agrarian Change and Ethnic Politics:Restructuring of Hmong and Shan Labour and Agricultural Production in Northern Thailand." Journal of Agrarian Change 15(2): 220-238. This paper examines how the construction of ethnic identity has facilitated the particular form of agrarian intensification and labour restructuring under way in the uplands of Thailand. Agricultural intensification, followed by the promotion of ‘safe’and then ‘organic’ production, has relied upon the societal construction of Hmong farmers as environmentally destructive and in need of development, while Shan labour arriving from Burma are simultaneously constructed as ‘illegal migrants’ (as opposed to refugees), a social nuisance and hard workers, helping to make them into an available, willing and preferred labour force. The authors argue that the construction of ethnic identity in these instances enables the agricultural changes under way and, thus, the processes of agricultural change cannot be understood without careful attention to ethnic politics.
Hee Yun Lee, et al. (2015). Cervical cancer screening behavior among Hmong-American immigrant women. American Journal of Health Behavior 39(3): 301-307. The authors of this study investigated Hmong American immigrant women's utilization of cervical cancer screening, including the impact of cultural health beliefs on screening use. Overall, 164 Hmong-American immigrant women 21 to 65 years of age were recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Midwest. The authors used logistic regression, guided by Andersen's Behavior Model, to examine factors associated with the receipt of a Pap test. The authors found that 67.1% of their informants had received a Pap test within the last 3 years. Fatalism, modesty, education, and marital status were significantly correlated with receiving a Pap test.
R.L. Neitzel, et al. (2015). Safety and Health Hazard Observations in Hmong Farming Operations. Journal of Agromedicine 19(2): 130-149. This study involved the development of an observation-based methodology for systematically evaluating occupational health and safety hazards in agriculture which was pilot-tested on several small-scale Hmong farming operations. Each observation assessed of range of safety and health hazards (e.g., musculoskeletal hazards, dust and pollen, noise, and mechanical hazards), as well as on factors such as type of work area, presence of personal protective equipment, and weather conditions. Thirty-six observations were collected on nine farms.
Reimund C. Serifica. (2014). Dietary Acculturation in Asian Americans. Journal of Cultural Diversity 21(4): 145-151.
The purpose of this literature review was to promote a better understanding of the construct of dietary acculturation in recent years and how it affects dietary intake of the Asian American population including Hmong Americans. Four databases were searched simultaneously by the author using the following key terms: Asian- Americans, dietary practices, eating habits, and dietary acculturation. The author concludes that although the studies presented in this literature review represent the recent researches conducted in Asian populations in the US, the research in dietary acculturation remains sparse.
Michele Schermann. (2015). "Exploring Travel Interests and Constraints among Minnesota Hmong." Research Report, University of Minnesota Tourism Center. This report provides results from initial qualitative explorations of Hmong leisure travel behaviors. Given a self-reported propensity towards outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, Hmong are particularly important to consider in destination areas where the outdoors is a key attraction. Results will inform planning, marketing, and product development for Hmong tourists as a niche group both in the United States and Minnesota. Read this study online here: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/170809
Cory William Whitney, Min (Meej Vaj) Vang Sin, Giang Lê Hồng, Can Vu Van, Keith Barber, Lanh Thi Tran. (2014).
"Conservation and Ethnobotanical Knowledge of a Hmong Community in Long Lan, Luang Prabang, Lao People's Democratic Republic." Ethnobotany Journal 12: 643-658. In 2012 and 2013 participatory ethnobotany explorations were undertaken with herbalists from the Hmong ethnic group of Long Lan village, in Luang Prabang, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. These investigations into the knowledge and experience of indigenous elders of Long Lan and surrounding villages sought to identify the relationship between the spiritual-cultural practices and livelihood uses of plants and their conservation. Information about 74 plant species of 49 families was recorded, including 25 herbs (17 perennial, 8 annual), 20 trees, 17 shrubs, 10 climbers, and 2 ferns. Analysis of quantitative ethnobotany scores indicated positive trends between uses and conservation practices for plants. The study suggests that the traditional Hmong cultural uses for plants may be a mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity in the rapidly deteriorating forests of Luang Prabang in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. View this study online here: http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/view/1017/646
Nicholas Tapp. (2014). "Miao migrants to Shanghai: Multilocality, invisibility and ethnicity." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55(3): 381-399. This articles reports on a research project involving rural–urban labour migrants in Shanghai, China, who are members of ethnic minorities with a particular focus on the role of ethnicity in national labour migration. The author introduces some of the main features of the ethnic nationalities in China and assesses some of the literature on rural–urban migration in China which may be considered as relevant to ethnicity. The case of a Miao minority family in Shanghai is described in detail by the author to argue that what remains important to them in the city is not their formal ethnic affiliation but more so their sub-ethnic identity of connectedness and intimacy which are importantly related to kinship and place.
L. Wongwatcharanukul, et al. (2014). "Factors affecting cervical cancer screening uptake by Hmong hilltribe women in Thailand." Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 15(8): 3753-3756. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to study factors related to cervical cancer screening uptake by Hmong hilltribe women in Lomkao District, Phetchabun Province. Interview data were collected from 547 of these women aged 30-60 years living in the study area and analyzed using multiple logistic regression. The results showed that 64.9% of the study sample had received screening, and that 47.2% had attended due to a cervical screening campaign. The most common reason given for not receiving screening was lack of time. The factors found to be positively associated with uptake were as follows: number of years of school attendance, animistic religious beliefs, a previous pregnancy, receipt of information about cervical cancer screening, and perceived risk of developing cervical cancer.
HMONG STUDIES JOURNAL PUBLISHES VOLUME 15, ISSUES 1 AND 2:
At the end of December 2014, the Saint Paul-based Hmong Studies Journal published volume 15, issues 1 and issue 2.
Articles in Volume 15, Issue 1 discuss a wide range of important topics in Hmong Studies including the following: The Prevalence of Periodontal Disease in a California Hmong Community; Factors contributing to Hmong American Student Success in Career and Technical Education; The Transnational Production of Hmong American Identity in Chao Fa Movies and Book Reviews of Hog’s Exit:Jerry Daniels, the Hmong and the CIA and Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey through the Hmong Diaspora. View Volume 15, Issue 1 here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-1512014.html
Volume 15, Issue 2 is a special issue commemorating the Hmong Across Borders Conference that was held at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in the Fall of 2013. Special issue co-editors, Dr. Mark Pfeifer, Editor of the Hmong Studies Journal, and Dr. Pa Der Vang, Assistant Professor at the University of Saint Catherine, explained: “This volume is the culmination of a process involving the selection of speeches and papers elaborating on important themes that were the focus of the Hmong Across Borders Conference held at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. These themes included: Cross Comparative Research in Hmong Studies across the Hmong Diaspora in Asia, the United States and elsewhere and emerging work in Critical Hmong Studies.We believe several articles in the volume make major contributions to Hmong research including Dr. Bruce Downing’s keynote on the history of Hmong Studies at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Prasit Leepreecha’s keynote discussion on the relationship between Hmong Studies and transnationalism.” View Volume 15, Issue 2 here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-1522014-special-hmong-across-borders-conference-issue.html
Articles in Volume 15, Issue 1 discuss a wide range of important topics in Hmong Studies including the following: The Prevalence of Periodontal Disease in a California Hmong Community; Factors contributing to Hmong American Student Success in Career and Technical Education; The Transnational Production of Hmong American Identity in Chao Fa Movies and Book Reviews of Hog’s Exit:Jerry Daniels, the Hmong and the CIA and Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey through the Hmong Diaspora. View Volume 15, Issue 1 here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-1512014.html
Volume 15, Issue 2 is a special issue commemorating the Hmong Across Borders Conference that was held at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in the Fall of 2013. Special issue co-editors, Dr. Mark Pfeifer, Editor of the Hmong Studies Journal, and Dr. Pa Der Vang, Assistant Professor at the University of Saint Catherine, explained: “This volume is the culmination of a process involving the selection of speeches and papers elaborating on important themes that were the focus of the Hmong Across Borders Conference held at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. These themes included: Cross Comparative Research in Hmong Studies across the Hmong Diaspora in Asia, the United States and elsewhere and emerging work in Critical Hmong Studies.We believe several articles in the volume make major contributions to Hmong research including Dr. Bruce Downing’s keynote on the history of Hmong Studies at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Prasit Leepreecha’s keynote discussion on the relationship between Hmong Studies and transnationalism.” View Volume 15, Issue 2 here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-1522014-special-hmong-across-borders-conference-issue.html
HMONG STUDIES VIRTUAL LIBRARY CONTINUES TO GROW:
The Hmong Cultural Center in Saint Paul is pleased to announce the continued expansion and enhancement of the Hmong Studies Virtual Library of links to full-text books, research articles and published reports related to Hmong Studies and Southeast Asian American Studies as part of the website of its Hmong Resource Center Library. The Hmong Studies Virtual Library now consists of source information metadata and links to more than 350 full-text Hmong-related resources available on the internet. The Hmong Studies Virtual Library currently includes in PDF format the complete contents of 168 journal articles, 18 conference panel sessions, 95 dissertations and theses, 38 research reports, and 22 books. Visit the Hmong Studies Virtual Library at http://www.hmonglibrary.org/hmong-studies-virtual-library.html
Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD, of Hmong Cultural Center stated: “Today’s students and scholars often look online first for full-text research as they work on term papers and research projects. The Hmong Studies Virtual Library is a very unique resource that provides more than 350 full-text research resources related to the Hmong in one place. This online library supported in part by a 3 year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation will play an important role in facilitating easy access in one place to full-text resources pertaining to the Hmong and will help the Hmong Resource Center Library at the Hmong Cultural Center continue its mission as a key research institution to community members, students and scholars.”
Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD, of Hmong Cultural Center stated: “Today’s students and scholars often look online first for full-text research as they work on term papers and research projects. The Hmong Studies Virtual Library is a very unique resource that provides more than 350 full-text research resources related to the Hmong in one place. This online library supported in part by a 3 year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation will play an important role in facilitating easy access in one place to full-text resources pertaining to the Hmong and will help the Hmong Resource Center Library at the Hmong Cultural Center continue its mission as a key research institution to community members, students and scholars.”
OTHER NEWS IN HMONG STUDIES:
U.S. Census Bureau releases 2013 Hmong Profile in the American Community Survey:
In October 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Hmong American Profile in the 2013 American Community Survey. Profiles are available for U.S. Hmong, California Hmong and Minnesota Hmong. Access the datasets here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-census-data.html
WWW Hmong Homepage and Hmong Studies Internet Resource Center Merge:
The WWW Hmong Homepage, founded by Craig Rice and one of the oldest Hmong-related websites dating back to the early 1990s has merged with the Hmong Studies Studies Internet Resource Center, which has provided a portal site to Hmong Studies research including a newsletter, bibliographies and census data since 2001. The newly merged research resources website can be founded at both www.hmongstudies.org and www.hmongnet.org
U.S. Census Bureau releases 2013 Hmong Profile in the American Community Survey:
In October 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Hmong American Profile in the 2013 American Community Survey. Profiles are available for U.S. Hmong, California Hmong and Minnesota Hmong. Access the datasets here: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-census-data.html
WWW Hmong Homepage and Hmong Studies Internet Resource Center Merge:
The WWW Hmong Homepage, founded by Craig Rice and one of the oldest Hmong-related websites dating back to the early 1990s has merged with the Hmong Studies Studies Internet Resource Center, which has provided a portal site to Hmong Studies research including a newsletter, bibliographies and census data since 2001. The newly merged research resources website can be founded at both www.hmongstudies.org and www.hmongnet.org
COMPREHENSIVE AND EXPANDED HMONG STUDIES RESEARCH BIBLIOGRAPHIES ARE ONLINE:
Doing research on a Hmong Studies research topic? More than 40 comprehensive and frequently updated online subject bibliographies of Hmong Studies works are available at the following link: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-bibliographies.html
A 2007-Present research bibliography is updated every few months with information about the latest research publications in Hmong Studies, online links to full-text are included where applicable:
http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-publications-from-2007-present.html
Doing research on a Hmong Studies research topic? More than 40 comprehensive and frequently updated online subject bibliographies of Hmong Studies works are available at the following link: http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-bibliographies.html
A 2007-Present research bibliography is updated every few months with information about the latest research publications in Hmong Studies, online links to full-text are included where applicable:
http://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hmong-studies-publications-from-2007-present.html
