Week 7 - Chloe Shiau

Louisa Schein's "Diaspora Politics, Homeland Erotics, and the Materializing of Memory" talks about how Hmong in America relate to their homeland and also how there really is no concrete history of Hmong so most of the history is by trusting experience, which relates to how different events and images shape the Hmong Americans as a diasporic community. In the past, the Hmong had no writing systems so that is why it is hard to understand the history of Hmongs, and so one approach was to rely on Chinese historians. Schein also mentions the 1996 Fresno New Year which was significant in Hmong Americans finding their identity. A Lao royal family came and mimicked "parents trying to bring together children scattered throughout the world."

From reading this article, I think that the Hmong are overshadowed by the Chinese. As the Hmong find their history through another country's sources, the history is in the point of view of someone else, not themselves. This causes Hmong Americans to really wonder about their history and thus they do not understand their homeland.

Question: Will the Hmong ever know their real history? How do they feel about relying on the Chinese historians about their past?

Works Cited:
Elliott, Paige. "Second Annual Hmong American Day Celebrates with Song, Art, Dance, and Personal Reflections - Twin Cities Daily Planet." Twin Cities Daily Planet. N.p., 16 May 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. <http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/2nd-annual-hmong-american-day-saint-paul-celebrated-song-art-dance-and-personal-refl/>.

Schein, Louisa. "Diaspora Politics, Homeland Erotics and the Materializing of Memory." 1999. Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique7(3): 697-729.