Melanie
Manuel
ASA 114
001
15
February 2020
Louisa
Schein’s “Diaspora Politics, Homeland Erotics, and the Materializing of Memory”
mentions how the Hmong language was lost due to the Han Chinese not allowing
the teaching of it to younger generations. This barring of the spread of
culture both reminds me of the importance of culture as well as the role that
colonizers play in deterring this spread. It also reminds me of a documentary I
watched about the St. Louis World’s Fair in which indigenous Filipinx folks
were put on display, and how this transport of Filipinx bodies has led to the
loss of the Igorot language and culture. While there are many other tribes,
just the fact that their histories aren’t being spoken about is enough to show
the influence and extent of this kind of silencing. To this day, I think there
are gaps in the histories of Hmong folks and Filipinx folks. It is especially
hard when Hmong history isn’t mentioned in textbooks or their roles in the Secret
War. I also think it is hard for Hmong folks, because they don’t have a
specific country to call a predominantly Hmong country – they’re perpetually
displaced, which bears the question: When will they, as a South East Asian diaspora,
be acknowledged in the United Stated historical canon, not just as a throwaway
sentence, but as an entire lesson?
I think
doing this is worthwhile, because their lack of presence in history textbooks
can be extremely alienating for Hmong kids going through the education system,
already not accepted in society as different but without understanding their
own histories, potentially as a result of trauma and language barriers, how
might they feel better connected to the diaspora?
I include
an image of the first Hmong American woman to run for Sacramento City Council
this year. Her name is Mai Vang, and she was my former Asian American Legal
History professor from last Winter quarter. She’s an amazing woman who opened
my eyes to the issues faced by the Hmong community since Trump’s administration.
Works
Cited
Schein, L. “Diaspora
Politics, Homeland Erotics, and the Materializing of Memory.” Positions:
East Asia Cultures Critique, vol. 7, no. 3, 1999, pp. 697–731.,
doi:10.1215/10679847-7-3-697.
Images
Used
https://www.sacbee.com/site-services/newsletters/local-news-crime/article234627042.html
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