Week 7_Joshua Liu_ASA 114

In her work, Diaspora Politics, Homeland Erotics, and the Materializing of Memory, Louisa Schein elaborates on the nature of Hmong practices by discussing the topic of strategic triangulation. This strategy is based on employing multiple methods to achieve the Hmong goal of reestablishing their influence in the highest level of state politics. They also sought to portray themselves as revamped and remodeled version of the previous perception of Hmong people. Schein provides an example of how the Hmong would aim to marry inter-ethnically in order to achieve this goal. These marriages ultimately helped establish a a sense of multiculturalism that strengthened the foundations of partnership and coalition. By establishing themselves as being in a higher class, they hoped to regain their previous political power. Some Hmong immigrants in the U.S. sought to re-obtain social standing by serving as model minorities. Doing so casted China as a relic of the past and the U.S. as an advanced society that people could succeed from.

Question: Based on the actions of Hmong people in the U.S., it seems as though they disregarded the status of other Hmong immigrants in China to gain higher social standing. Is this a recurring theme among diasporas from the same home nation and different host states?