Premium Essay

Hmong Culture Research Paper

Submitted By
Words 1145
Pages 5
Hmong culture is a combination of Chinese, Vietnamese, Laos, and Thai, making them very unique in the basics of culture, where they live, and their global landscape. Hmong people are very unique in a few ways and are not well-known as an Asian culture if you were to ask someone. Although they are not a country, Hmong people have lots of pride in their culture and ancestors. From the fancy traditional clothes to living in the mountains between countries and being separated from China and Vietnam, Hmong people are very independent and are influenced by many countries. Hmong is a very independent Asian culture and community and has very unique and colorful traditional clothes. Traditional women clothes contain long black pants or skirts, hand …show more content…
Just like China, Hmongs believed in herbal treatments for sickness and good health. They believed that eating warm rice with chicken soup and lemon and herbs would cleanse a woman’s body going through pregnancy. It would cleanse out excess blood from her body from causing any future sickness. Also, some popular culture would be Hmong hip hop and import racing (“Racial assimilation and popular culture: Hmong youth (sub)cultures and the persistence of the color line”, 2009). According to Pao Lee, he stated that , “Both hip-hop and import racing are vibrant practices among youth and young adults in Hmong communities across the U.S., and they are deeply racialized forms of popular cultural practices.” Some Hmong folk culture would be instruments like the Qeej instrument which are used to celebrate weddings, new years, and for funerals. Some Hmong instruments are used to tell stories, but most of them are used for the same purposes like the Qeej instrument back then (“Hmong Folk Arts Presentation”, 2004). Although, they have they are quite alike to other cultures, they have their differences in traits and popular and folk

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Hmong Culture Research Paper

...about the Hmong culture, they originally dominated the country of China; however, they were overtaken by other Asian groups (Split Horn). Some Hmong people were enslaved, while majority of the Hmong individuals scattered throughout the world. Hmong families and relatives strayed away from populated areas, and decided to escape to Thailand. With the separation of the Hmong population, Hmong relatives mainly mobilized to Laos or deep into the mountains in Thailand. The estimated Hmong population during that time was 300,000 to 400,000 people (Split Horn). When the Vietnam War began, several Hmong people decided to find different locations to live in, while other Hmong individuals contributed to fight along with the United...

Words: 1572 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

...represents true story of the epileptic Hmong girl and her family displaced from China to the USA. She suffers severe grand mal seizures and eventually becomes vegetative for the rest of her life. Lia Lee’s story was a poignant example that emphasizes the cultural barriers between modern and traditional cultures through their approaches to the life, which results in complete destruction of her brain. The Lees favored traditional treatment that conflicted with the doctors’ treatment by medications. Through conscious ignorance of the proper combined treatment and so-called compliance, it becomes the basis of a tug-of-war for Lia’s life between her doctors and her parents resulting in Lia’s vegetative state. Fadiman uses this conflict as the reflection of the conflict between Western and Eastern medicine and inability to find a compromise in general due to the cultural differences. The author succeeded to represent colliding of the cultures through the characters such as Dang Moua and in the same time to represent primitive culture, unable to compromise, through Foua and Nao Kao. Lia’s condition signifies the result of the conflict and inability to fully understand different cultures and their customs and tradition. Topic #1: In this paper I will discuss the acculturation of Hmong people in United States and how this process takes place based on the previous research and investigations. Acculturation is a process of adjusting to and adopting the culture different from your own (Matsumoto...

Words: 471 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Hmong Vs Western Medicine

...Hmong Culture vs Western Medicine: A Social Constructionist Analysis Throughout Lia Lee’s medical journey, both her doctors and her family struggled to understand one another’s behavior resulting in misunderstandings, alienation, and distrust between the two parties. The social constructionist perspective and related theories on human behavior, such as symbolic interactionism, can be used to analyze the complicated and confusing relationship between the Lee family and the Merced County Medical Center doctors. The social constructionist perspective, as defined in the book Human Behavior and the Social Environment, states that “people construct meaning, sense of self, and a social world through their interactions with each other,” Hustchison, 2019, p 52....

Words: 2708 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Eqweqeqqe

...Praise for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down “Fadiman describes with extraordinary skill the colliding worlds of Western medicine and Hmong culture.” —The New Yorker “This fine book recounts a poignant tragedy…It has no heroes or villains, but it has an abundance of innocent suffering, and it most certainly does have a moral…[A] sad, excellent book.” —Melvin Konner, The New York Times Book Review “An intriguing, spirit-lifting, extraordinary exploration of two cultures in uneasy coexistence…A wonderful aspect of Fadiman’s book is her even-handed, detailed presentation of these disparate cultures and divergent views—not with cool, dispassionate fairness but rather with a warm, involved interest that sees and embraces both sides of each issue…Superb, informal cultural anthropology—eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging.” —Carole Horn, The Washington Post Book World “This is a book that should be deeply disturbing to anyone who has given so much as a moment’s thought to the state of American medicine. But it is much more…People are presented as [Fadiman] saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.” —Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic 3/462 “Anne Fadiman’s phenomenal first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, brings to life the enduring power of parental love in an impoverished refugee family struggling to protect their seriously ill infant daughter and ancient spiritual traditions from the tyranny of welfare bureaucrats and intolerant...

Words: 134140 - Pages: 537

Premium Essay

Hamong World View

...Hmong World View and Social Structure According to Durkheim (1961), the source of what we regard as sacred or religious lies within our own image. The deities and spirits we pay respect to are but "society transfigured" for in the final analysis we only worship our society. It is society which is both the cause and the expression of religious sentiments through regular ritual representations (Aron, 1967: 53) These rights constitute beliefs enacted for the purpose of preserving a sense of belonging for the participants and maintaining them together as a group. They not only tie the members of the group to each other "but also to the past and the future generations" (Cohen, 1871: 180). Religious ideas, in the words of Bachofen (Leaf, 1979: 118), define fundamental relations in society, showing internal structures similar to the actual behaviour or the believers. The supernatural order is in general based on the social relationships of the group. It validates and regulates these relationships, thereby conserving the social orders. In this paper, I will discuss the social organisation of the Hmong of Laos and Thailand in relation to their religious beliefs in order to see if the two spheres mutually interact to maintain the broader social system. It has been said that ancestral spirits are no more than "a projection of the authority system of the living - the lineage elders elevated to a supernatural plane" (Keesing and Keesing 1971: 309). How true is this of the Hmong? I will...

Words: 6450 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Asian Student Population Problem

...Problem: This paper will be discussing reasons why the Asian student population are not earning their bachelor’s degrees. First being, some Asian student may feel as though they are not ready for college. According to Bosworth, Convertino, and Hurwitz (2014; as cited by Nunez & Oliva, 2009; Reid & Moore, 2008), “students from under-represented groups may be academically unprepared for the rigors of a college curriculum.” Secondly, similar to the pervious reason, some Asian students may fear that if they get apply and get accepted into the college of their choice but later drop out of college, they may bring shame into the their family. Therefore, they may choose to not apply to any colleges at all. The third reason why some Asian students...

Words: 578 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Aed201

...Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 0-536-29980-3 Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional, Second Edition, by Donald Kauchak and Paul Eggen Published by Prentice-Hall/Merrill. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc. Learner Diversity Differences in Today’s Students T eachers begin their careers expecting to find classrooms like the ones they experienced when they were students. In some ways classrooms are the same. Students go to school to learn, but they also want to have fun and be with their friends. They expect to work but often need encouragement from their teachers. They’re typical kids. Classrooms are changing, however; the population of our schools is becoming increasingly diverse. Students come from different cultures and speak many different languages at home; they possess a range of abilities and talents; and issues involving differences between boys and girls are receiving increased attention. In this chapter we examine this diversity as we try to answer the following questions: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ What is cultural diversity, and how does it influence student learning? How are the educational experiences of boys and girls different? How do schools accommodate ability differences in learners? What are learning styles, and how should teachers respond to them? Who are learners with exceptionalities, and how can schools best meet their needs? Let’s see how learner diversity influences the lives of teachers. Shannon Wilson, a fifth-grade teacher in a large urban...

Words: 20270 - Pages: 82

Premium Essay

Racism

...criminal justice system we must, first, look at the role that it plays before the criminal reaches the day of sentencing in the court. There are various publications that speak on profiling and actuarial methods which unwillingly get people into the system. Though these are two major components of the discriminatory acts that exist within the criminal justice system, it does not actually begin with these institutionalized methods. It is the laws and crime control policies that create discrimination in the system. It has been witnessed that in some instances these laws and policies are set in favor of the white people and in opposition to the black ones. In this paper, a detailed discussion has been done on the racial disparities in criminal justice system along with its adverse effects to the community. Moreover, this paper also contains the strategies that would help to avoid racism and maintain equality and righteousness. What is meant by Racism and Prejudice? When racial...

Words: 5548 - Pages: 23

Premium Essay

Children of Immigrants

...Immigrants A familiar story of the American narrative and a great theme in psychology of second generation is that the children of immigrants believe that they are the main reason for immigration of their parents who in most cases stake their hopes for future on the success of their children. Perceiving the sacrifices that are made by parents, seemingly on their behalf, not any amount of guilt toward their parents touches the children and drives their motivation to obtain a dynamic which in turn can offer the immigrant parents some level of psychological control over their offspring. Growing up in the immigrant families is usually marked by discordant acculturation, when the children’s learning of new ways and simultaneous loss of immigrant culture outstrips that of parents. When this occurs, linguistic and cultural gaps among them can exacerbate the intergenerational conflicts; make the children feel ashamed of their parents as they attempt to blend with the native friends, and lead to reversal roles, as the children take up adult roles earlier by dint of situations. All families of immigrants must contend with “stress and storm” adolescence and “generation gaps”, and the acculturation to new society. This is often a conflictive and complex process that is full of fault lines that are non-reducible to simplistic elaborations of parental pressure or peer pressure. Nevertheless, at the heart of the matter is the relation between children and their immigrant parents, and contradictions...

Words: 2965 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Children of Immigrants

...Immigrants A familiar story of the American narrative and a great theme in psychology of second generation is that the children of immigrants believe that they are the main reason for immigration of their parents who in most cases stake their hopes for future on the success of their children. Perceiving the sacrifices that are made by parents, seemingly on their behalf, not any amount of guilt toward their parents touches the children and drives their motivation to obtain a dynamic which in turn can offer the immigrant parents some level of psychological control over their offspring. Growing up in the immigrant families is usually marked by discordant acculturation, when the children’s learning of new ways and simultaneous loss of immigrant culture outstrips that of parents. When this occurs, linguistic and cultural gaps among them can exacerbate the intergenerational conflicts; make the children feel ashamed of their parents as they attempt to blend with the native friends, and lead to reversal roles, as the children take up adult roles earlier by dint of situations. All families of immigrants must contend with “stress and storm” adolescence and “generation gaps”, and the acculturation to new society. This is often a conflictive and complex process that is full of fault lines that are non-reducible to simplistic elaborations of parental pressure or peer pressure. Nevertheless, at the heart of the matter is the relation between children and their immigrant parents, and contradictions...

Words: 2965 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Education Diversity

...Teaching year at Lincoln Elementary School for Ms. Branson. She has 30 fifth-graders of whom 13 are girls and 17 are boys, 12 participate in the free and reduced lunch program, 5 are English language learners, and 4 have individualized education programs (IEPs). As she plans her lesson on paragraph writing, she is trying to keep the special needs of each of her students in mind. Because Jessica has a hearing impairment, Ms. Branson decides to make a written outline that includes the important parts of a paragraph and examples of good and bad paragraphs. She also decides to go over the outline several times because Fred and Alex have a reading disability. In her plan, there is also a note to herself to find a bigger pencil and wide-lined paper for Suzy, who requires these modifications according to her IEP. Based on past writing experiences, she expects Monica to finish writing her paragraph pretty quickly, so she needs to think about an appropriate second task to keep her busy and motivated—most likely, a creative writing assignment. Ms. Branson feels about ready for the lesson, except for Jung Ju, a recent immigrant from South Korea. He seems to be falling behind despite her efforts to help him develop English skills. After giving it some thought, she decides to have Jung Ju...

Words: 31653 - Pages: 127

Premium Essay

Children of Immigrants

...Immigrants A familiar story of the American narrative and a great theme in psychology of second generation is that the children of immigrants believe that they are the main reason for immigration of their parents who in most cases stake their hopes for future on the success of their children. Perceiving the sacrifices that are made by parents, seemingly on their behalf, not any amount of guilt toward their parents touches the children and drives their motivation to obtain a dynamic which in turn can offer the immigrant parents some level of psychological control over their offspring. Growing up in the immigrant families is usually marked by discordant acculturation, when the children’s learning of new ways and simultaneous loss of immigrant culture outstrips that of parents. When this occurs, linguistic and cultural gaps among them can exacerbate the intergenerational conflicts; make the children feel ashamed of their parents as they attempt to blend with the native friends, and lead to reversal roles, as the children take up adult roles earlier by dint of situations. All families of immigrants must contend with “stress and storm” adolescence and “generation gaps”, and the acculturation to new society. This is often a conflictive and complex process that is full of fault lines that are non-reducible to simplistic elaborations of parental pressure or peer pressure. Nevertheless, at the heart of the matter is the relation between children and their immigrant parents, and contradictions...

Words: 2965 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Obesity in Children

...English 101 Composition The Greatest Health Risk for America’s Children Christine Webb School of Graduate and Professional Studies Washington Adventist University, Takoma Park Maryland 04/10/2015 Childhood obesity is an important issue because of the staggering proportions that this disease has reached in the past few years. Certain genetic factors paired with changing lifestyles and culture has produced children (and adults) who are generally not as healthy as people were just a few decades ago. Widespread obesity has been the extreme result of these changes. The best wellbeing danger confronting youngsters today is not a horrible infection, for example, Ebola, or an unimaginable injury, for example, misuse; it is weight, which is characterized by the restorative group as the gathering of muscle to fat quotients levels over a quarter century in young men and thirty two percent in young ladies. The equation for keeping up solid weight has never showed signs of change — offset the quantity of calories you expend with the number you blaze. A more noteworthy bit of Americans are not able to adjust the mathematical statement. The levels of youth weight have ascended in the previous decades; in the blink of an eye a quarter century of American children are fat with 80 percent of this gathering bound to wind up stout grown-ups (Del Marco, 2014).The developing sympathy toward heftiness as a general wellbeing sympathy toward youngsters and grown-ups has prompted a...

Words: 2315 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

English as an Official Language of the United States

...of Japan, we do not think the citizens will be speaking Russian. When we think about Germany, it is normal to think the German people will speak German. This issue has created a split in the public opinion; however, this researcher believes that the country will benefit by designating an official language. There are many views on this topic by both US citizens and illegal immigrants. The implications of making a decision to designate a language are far reaching for individual states and the nation as a whole. This research paper will cover the financial aspects of declaring an official language, the choice of what language should be the official language of the US, and the history of designating a language for the United States. This researcher discovered that because we do not have an officially designated language, there are many problems for this country. This country is made up of many people from many cultures that immigrate to it. These cultures speak many different languages, but per the latest census information obtained from American Community Survey (2007 pg 1) “of people 5 years and older %80 of these speak English.” However, how well do they speak English is an important question? Another statistic (US Census 2010) states “the number of Americans who speak English "not at all" jumped from 1.22 million in 1980 to 3.37 million in 2000, a 176 percent increase over 20...

Words: 2421 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Crossing Boundries- Souteast Asian & African Countries

...|VIETNAM |BRUNEI | | [pic] | |CAMBODIA | MALAYSIA Facts and Statistics Ethnic Make-up: Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% Religions: Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8%. Malay Culture and Society: A Multi-Cultural Society Malaysia is a multi-cultural society. The main ethnic groups are the native Malays as well as large populations of Chinese, and Indians. When visiting the country it is clear...

Words: 7047 - Pages: 29