Julie Keown Bomar Kinship Networks Among Hmong Am

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.By substance, participants referred to personal identity, codes of conduct, and relationships with others.In terms of form, they mentioned dress, ritual, and language fluency.In Chapter 4, I shared some young peoples’ thoughts on losing their culture and how this dismayed their elders.Knowing that language is preserved in writing and is being taught in universities reassures some Hmong people that it will not be lost entirely, but many parents are still worried that their children may not be able to speak Hmong fluently.The parents of one young woman in this study warned her that when she really needed her culture, she wasn’t going to have it:Well, they tell me that you should speak Hmong because youare Hmong and should learn the Hmong culture because oneday you will [want to] be able to use it and you won’t know it.One day you are going to have to pay to learn your ownculture and your own Hmong.I realize it now, because I amtaking that Hmong [language] class! That comes back to me, Irealize what he said was true, because I have to pay to takethat Hmong class.Some cultural traditions may be easier to maintain than others.The textile art form, paj ntaub or flower cloth, carries tremendous cultural and personal history.Elaborate needlework is devoted to significant life events such as birth, marriage and death, and stitched story clothes tell historical narratives about the Hmong.The intricate techniques take years to learn and are traditionally passed fromLessons For The Future159grandmothers and mothers to the next generation of girls.A young mother told me she thought it was very important to maintain these customs, but she did not know a lot about them herself so she thought the art form would be lost in her family.On the other hand, she said she would be able to teach her children to read, write, and spell Hmong because she was exposed to spoken language at home and learned the written language in college.As luck would have it, just as I am writing this final chapter, a Hmong embroidery class is being offered for the first time in a local school district, alongside a Hmong traditional sports class and a Hmong language class.Learning Hmong cultural traditions and language in the context of formal education is an exciting and promising development in the community and it heralds a newapproach to Hmong cultural resiliency.Hmong marriage and funeral ceremonies seem to be flourishing in the United States although certainly the form has changed to fit the demands of the new society.The ceremonies are more compact than in Laos and participants often incorporate traditions or material productions from U.S.or Lao weddings (clothing, food, decorations, etc.).Younger people generally expressed the desire to have a Hmong wedding ceremony out of respect for their parents, while parents wanted their children to have a traditional wedding because it was meaningful and would help the marriage last.Distinct opinions exist regarding bridewealth, not in terms of its purpose and meaning, but because some people feel the costs are getting out of hand (about $7,000 on average in the Wausau area, for example) and becausebridewealth causes conflict in families if the couple gets divorced in the American way (as discussed in Chapter 5).Hmong funerals in the U.S.are exceedingly important becausethey show respect for the dead and their families.On these occasions, community solidarity and reciprocity are quantitatively andqualitatively expressed.Hmong funerals can draw hundreds or even thousands of mourners from all over the country.The ceremony lasts for days (they could last for weeks in Laos), and calls for great hospitality, decorum, and ritual.“In Minnesota,” one man explained,“the funeral home costs alone are between ten and fifteen thousand dollars, but most of those costs are paid by Hmong people, not the family.Other families come help each other; they will come to the160Kinship Networks Among Hmong-American Refugeesfuneral, bring money, and help.So I think that is important for the people to continue.” Even younger people noted that Hmong funerals were unique:Hmong people help each other a lot and they are there for eachother no matter what compared to the American society.Especially at funerals, I see a lot of support from Hmongpeople, even if they don’t know that Hmong person.Theycome there and they support them and give them money andthat is something that you see.J: Are they virtually strangers?Yeah.Sometimes they don’t even know them, they may havenever seen that person around, but they still go for respect [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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