HMONG STUDIES NEWSLETTER, WINTER 2021
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.
Most 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. The library also includes a Hmong Studies Virtual Library which includes links to full-text of hundreds of Hmong-related research studies. Hmong Cultural Center also includes a comprehensive museum that teaches visitors about Hmong culture and history and folk arts. (https://www.hmonghistorycenter.org/)
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.
Most 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. The library also includes a Hmong Studies Virtual Library which includes links to full-text of hundreds of Hmong-related research studies. Hmong Cultural Center also includes a comprehensive museum that teaches visitors about Hmong culture and history and folk arts. (https://www.hmonghistorycenter.org/)
RECENT WORKS IN HMONG STUDIES:
Books/Theses/Reports
Mao Sea Lee. (2020). Untwining Threads: Second Wave Hmong Parents' Conceptualizations of Ways to Support Their Adolescent Children's Education. PhD Dissertation, Northern Illinois University. This graduate research study identifies the support systems for adolescents' education within second wave Hmong refugee families. The researcher focuses on both the instrument support and psychological care these parents provide to their children while also interpreting why their parents choose to provide the studied resources.
Maria Cristina Saulo. (2020). Hmong Women Down Under Diaspora, Gender and Agency in Contemporary Australia. PhD Thesis, Australian National University. This graduate research consists of an ethnographic study into the life-experiences of five first-generation Hmong refugee women now living in Australia. Hmong migrant women’s narratives of mobility, displacement and resettlement provide the basis for the author to analyze successive phases of migration among her research informants, as they took place from Laos to their arrival in Sydney and Canberra.
Chia Youyee Vang and Paul Yang. (2020). Prisoner of Wars: A Hmong Fighter Pilot's Story of Escaping Death and Confronting Life. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. From the abstract: "Retired Captain Pao Yang was a Hmong airman trained by the U.S. Air Force and CIA to fly T-28D aircraft for the U.S. Secret War in Laos. However, his plane was shot down during a mission in June 1972. Yang survived, but enemy forces captured him and sent him to a POW camp in northeastern Laos. He remained imprisoned for four years after the United States withdrew from Vietnam because he fought on the American side of the war.Prisoner of Wars shows the impact the U.S. Secret War in Laos had on Hmong combatants and their families. Chia Vang uses oral histories that poignantly recount Yang’s story and the deeply personal struggles his loved ones—who feared he had died—experienced in both Southeast Asia and the United States. As Yang eventually rebuilt his life in America, he grappled with issues of freedom and trauma.Yang’s life provides a unique lens through which to better understand the lasting impact of the wars in Southeast Asia and the diverse journeys that migrants from Asia made over the last two centuries. Prisoner of Wars makes visible an aspect of the collateral damage that has been left out of dominant Vietnam War narratives."
Yia Vang. (2020). Examining How Power Concepts May Affect the Leader’s Actions and Thoughts for Hmong
Nonprofit Organizations. PhD Dissertation, Northcentral University. The purpose of this graduate research study was to observe how power concepts may have affected leaders’actions and decision making for four Hmong nonprofit organizations headquartered in California.
Lang Yang. (2020). The Hmong Spiritual Formation from Animism to Christianity. PhD Dissertation, Liberty University. This graduate thesis presents a summary of Hmong traditional religious beliefs including a survey of non-Christian Hmong and articulates a methodology for converting Hmong practicing the traditional Animist religion to the Christian faith.
Amy Chang. (2019). The Sociocultural Influences and Attitudes on Ideal Body Image Among Hmong American College Women. MA Thesis, California State University, Sacramento. The purpose of this qualitative graduate research study was to contribute to the research on body image among Hmong Americans by examining and describing contributions to Hmong American college women’s ideal body image and their body attitudes. An exploratory study was conducted to answer two specific research questions: (a) What are the main sociocultural influences on the ideal body image identified by Hmong American college women?, and (b) What are Hmong American college women’s attitudes toward their body based on these perceived sociocultural influences?
Academic Journal Articles/Other
Cong Huang et al. (2020). "The Activity Screening of Hmong Herbs Caesalpinia minax and an Antitumor Effect Study." Hindawi: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2020, 13 pages. The purpose of this study was to screen active sites from roots, stems, and leaves of the Hmong Herbs Caesalpinia minax and to assess their antitumor effect.
Mai Chou Lor et al. (2020). "Completing Self-administered Questionnaires: Hmong Older Adults and Their
Family Helpers." Field Methods 32(3) 253-273. This study describes a method for collecting health-related data from nonliterate, non-English-speaking populations. The researchers utilized an audio computer-assisted self-interview instrument with color-labeled response categories designed for use with helper assistance.
Mai Chou Lor et al. (2020). "“It Hurts as If. . .”: Pain-Associated Language, Visual Characterization, and Storytelling in Hmong Adults." Pain Medicine, 21(8): 1690–1702. The researchers in this study explored how Limited English Proficient Hmong patients communicated their pain to providers in primary care settings. According to the research findings, the Hmong participants described pain using stories that generally had the same dimensions of information that providers require for pain assessment. These included references to time, causality, associated symptoms or related experiences, intensity, and consequences of pain. However, the participants also expressed some pain dimensions in language that was not shared by providers: visual metaphors that were generally in reference to pain quality and fewer words for pain location, intensity, and some qualities.
Yan Liu & Chris K. K. Tan (2020) “Living Ghosts” and how to “Cook” Them: HomoSacer as a “Sociodicy of (Im)purity” among the Miao of Guizhou, China, Asian Studies Review, 44:3, 459-473. Agamben (1998) brought back the homo sacer figure from obscurity in ancient Roman law. Originally conceived as a heuristic
device, this “sacred man” conceptualization has been applied primarily in studies of refugees and prisoners. This research article makes use of the concept in the anthropological realms of kinship and marriage. Some Miao in China’s Guizhou province have been branded as “living ghosts”, because their ancestors allegedly betrayed their village to pillaging rebels. The authors argue that this labeling might have reflected not so much the betrayal, but rather longstanding socioeconomic and political tensions between the Miao and neighbouring ethnic groups.
Simeon S. Magliveras. (2020). "Hmong Textiles, Symmetries, Perception and Culture." Symmetry 12, 18 pages. This research paper investigates the symmetries of Hmong textiles. It proposes a perspective for studying the paj ntaub (pronounced pa’dau) by using anthropological symmetry, the gestalt theory on perception, and ethnographic analysis of the culture, meanings, and the choices in design embedded in the textiles, as well as the process of making of the paj ntaub as representations of yin and yang such as, life and death as an indispensable part to human existence.
June Y.T. Po , Jennifer C. Langill , Sarah Turner & Jean Michaud (2020). "Distilling Culture into Commodity? The Emergent Homemade Alcohol Trade and Gendered Livelihoods in Upland Northern Vietnam." The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 21:5, 397-415. Ethnic minorities in the uplands of northern Vietnam are experiencing rapid state- and market-induced economic and agrarian transformations. These communities are having to make important livelihood adaptations to adjust, while living at Vietnam’s economic and political margins. The authors of this article assess one such market-induced transformation that some upland communities are deciding to engage with, connected to an increasing demand for locally distilled alcohol.
Mai S. Yang and Jan E. Mutchler. (2020). "The High Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Its Correlates With Older Hmong Refugees in the United States." Journal of Aging and Health, 32(7–8): 660–669. The authors investigated depressive symptoms in a sample of older Hmong refugees in the United States, and examined factors shaping risk of depression in this population.
Books/Theses/Reports
Mao Sea Lee. (2020). Untwining Threads: Second Wave Hmong Parents' Conceptualizations of Ways to Support Their Adolescent Children's Education. PhD Dissertation, Northern Illinois University. This graduate research study identifies the support systems for adolescents' education within second wave Hmong refugee families. The researcher focuses on both the instrument support and psychological care these parents provide to their children while also interpreting why their parents choose to provide the studied resources.
Maria Cristina Saulo. (2020). Hmong Women Down Under Diaspora, Gender and Agency in Contemporary Australia. PhD Thesis, Australian National University. This graduate research consists of an ethnographic study into the life-experiences of five first-generation Hmong refugee women now living in Australia. Hmong migrant women’s narratives of mobility, displacement and resettlement provide the basis for the author to analyze successive phases of migration among her research informants, as they took place from Laos to their arrival in Sydney and Canberra.
Chia Youyee Vang and Paul Yang. (2020). Prisoner of Wars: A Hmong Fighter Pilot's Story of Escaping Death and Confronting Life. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. From the abstract: "Retired Captain Pao Yang was a Hmong airman trained by the U.S. Air Force and CIA to fly T-28D aircraft for the U.S. Secret War in Laos. However, his plane was shot down during a mission in June 1972. Yang survived, but enemy forces captured him and sent him to a POW camp in northeastern Laos. He remained imprisoned for four years after the United States withdrew from Vietnam because he fought on the American side of the war.Prisoner of Wars shows the impact the U.S. Secret War in Laos had on Hmong combatants and their families. Chia Vang uses oral histories that poignantly recount Yang’s story and the deeply personal struggles his loved ones—who feared he had died—experienced in both Southeast Asia and the United States. As Yang eventually rebuilt his life in America, he grappled with issues of freedom and trauma.Yang’s life provides a unique lens through which to better understand the lasting impact of the wars in Southeast Asia and the diverse journeys that migrants from Asia made over the last two centuries. Prisoner of Wars makes visible an aspect of the collateral damage that has been left out of dominant Vietnam War narratives."
Yia Vang. (2020). Examining How Power Concepts May Affect the Leader’s Actions and Thoughts for Hmong
Nonprofit Organizations. PhD Dissertation, Northcentral University. The purpose of this graduate research study was to observe how power concepts may have affected leaders’actions and decision making for four Hmong nonprofit organizations headquartered in California.
Lang Yang. (2020). The Hmong Spiritual Formation from Animism to Christianity. PhD Dissertation, Liberty University. This graduate thesis presents a summary of Hmong traditional religious beliefs including a survey of non-Christian Hmong and articulates a methodology for converting Hmong practicing the traditional Animist religion to the Christian faith.
Amy Chang. (2019). The Sociocultural Influences and Attitudes on Ideal Body Image Among Hmong American College Women. MA Thesis, California State University, Sacramento. The purpose of this qualitative graduate research study was to contribute to the research on body image among Hmong Americans by examining and describing contributions to Hmong American college women’s ideal body image and their body attitudes. An exploratory study was conducted to answer two specific research questions: (a) What are the main sociocultural influences on the ideal body image identified by Hmong American college women?, and (b) What are Hmong American college women’s attitudes toward their body based on these perceived sociocultural influences?
Academic Journal Articles/Other
Cong Huang et al. (2020). "The Activity Screening of Hmong Herbs Caesalpinia minax and an Antitumor Effect Study." Hindawi: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2020, 13 pages. The purpose of this study was to screen active sites from roots, stems, and leaves of the Hmong Herbs Caesalpinia minax and to assess their antitumor effect.
Mai Chou Lor et al. (2020). "Completing Self-administered Questionnaires: Hmong Older Adults and Their
Family Helpers." Field Methods 32(3) 253-273. This study describes a method for collecting health-related data from nonliterate, non-English-speaking populations. The researchers utilized an audio computer-assisted self-interview instrument with color-labeled response categories designed for use with helper assistance.
Mai Chou Lor et al. (2020). "“It Hurts as If. . .”: Pain-Associated Language, Visual Characterization, and Storytelling in Hmong Adults." Pain Medicine, 21(8): 1690–1702. The researchers in this study explored how Limited English Proficient Hmong patients communicated their pain to providers in primary care settings. According to the research findings, the Hmong participants described pain using stories that generally had the same dimensions of information that providers require for pain assessment. These included references to time, causality, associated symptoms or related experiences, intensity, and consequences of pain. However, the participants also expressed some pain dimensions in language that was not shared by providers: visual metaphors that were generally in reference to pain quality and fewer words for pain location, intensity, and some qualities.
Yan Liu & Chris K. K. Tan (2020) “Living Ghosts” and how to “Cook” Them: HomoSacer as a “Sociodicy of (Im)purity” among the Miao of Guizhou, China, Asian Studies Review, 44:3, 459-473. Agamben (1998) brought back the homo sacer figure from obscurity in ancient Roman law. Originally conceived as a heuristic
device, this “sacred man” conceptualization has been applied primarily in studies of refugees and prisoners. This research article makes use of the concept in the anthropological realms of kinship and marriage. Some Miao in China’s Guizhou province have been branded as “living ghosts”, because their ancestors allegedly betrayed their village to pillaging rebels. The authors argue that this labeling might have reflected not so much the betrayal, but rather longstanding socioeconomic and political tensions between the Miao and neighbouring ethnic groups.
Simeon S. Magliveras. (2020). "Hmong Textiles, Symmetries, Perception and Culture." Symmetry 12, 18 pages. This research paper investigates the symmetries of Hmong textiles. It proposes a perspective for studying the paj ntaub (pronounced pa’dau) by using anthropological symmetry, the gestalt theory on perception, and ethnographic analysis of the culture, meanings, and the choices in design embedded in the textiles, as well as the process of making of the paj ntaub as representations of yin and yang such as, life and death as an indispensable part to human existence.
June Y.T. Po , Jennifer C. Langill , Sarah Turner & Jean Michaud (2020). "Distilling Culture into Commodity? The Emergent Homemade Alcohol Trade and Gendered Livelihoods in Upland Northern Vietnam." The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 21:5, 397-415. Ethnic minorities in the uplands of northern Vietnam are experiencing rapid state- and market-induced economic and agrarian transformations. These communities are having to make important livelihood adaptations to adjust, while living at Vietnam’s economic and political margins. The authors of this article assess one such market-induced transformation that some upland communities are deciding to engage with, connected to an increasing demand for locally distilled alcohol.
Mai S. Yang and Jan E. Mutchler. (2020). "The High Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Its Correlates With Older Hmong Refugees in the United States." Journal of Aging and Health, 32(7–8): 660–669. The authors investigated depressive symptoms in a sample of older Hmong refugees in the United States, and examined factors shaping risk of depression in this population.
HMONG STUDIES JOURNAL PUBLISHES VOLUME 21 AND VOLUME 22
In the Summer of 2020, the Saint Paul-based Hmong Studies Journal published volume 21 a special issue of papers from the 5th Hmong Studies Consortium Conference which was held at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN in October 2019. View volume 21 here: https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-212020-special-5th-hmong-studies-consortium-international-conference-issue.html
At the end of 2020, the Hmong Studies Journal published volume 22. View volume 22 here: https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-222020.html
At the end of 2020, the Hmong Studies Journal published volume 22. View volume 22 here: https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/hsj-volume-222020.html
NEW ANNOTATED HMONG STUDIES BIBLIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED
Annotated Bibliography of Hmong-Related Works: 2007-2019 has been published by HER Publisher. The book includes annotations of more than 600 Hmong Studies research publications along with author and subject indexes. Order this unique research reference book here: https://herpublisher.com/collections/frontpage/products/annotated-bibliography-of-hmong-related-works-2007-2019
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
