Presenter:
 Mai H. Vang, Special Assistant to the Chancellor
for Equity and Affirmative Action
210 Old Main
715.346.2002
www.uwsp.edu/equity/EAAoffice.htm
 Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis,
UW-Madison (in progress)
 B.S. and M.S.E., Elementary Education, UW-Stevens
Point
ED 205 Presentation: The Hmong
 Personal experience
 Population
 History
 Language
 Clanship
 Religion
 Best practices for Hmong students
Hmong in America: Refugees of War
 “A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to
such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the
country of his former habitual residence as a result of such
events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to
it." (United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees web site)
Population (World)
Asia

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China – 6,000,000
Vietnam – 787,604
Laos – 315,000
Thailand – 124,000
Burma – 2-3,000
Western Nations

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United States – 200,000-250,000
France – 8,000
Australia – 1,800
Canada – 767
French Guyana – 500-1,000
Germany – 70
(Tapp, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)
Population (USA)
Top 10 Hmong Populations by State
 1. California – 65,095
 2. Minnesota – 41,800
 3. Wisconsin – 33,791
 4. North Carolina – 7,093
 5. Michigan – 5,383
 6. Colorado – 3,000
 7. Oregon – 2,101
 8. Georgia – 1,468
 9. Washington – 1,294
 10. Massachusetts – 1,127
(U.S. 200 Census, 2000)
Population (WI)
33,791 Hmongs living in WI.
Hmong community counts about 50,000 Hmongs living in
 2000 US census:

WI.
 Language and culture cited as probable causes for undercount.
(Lee, 2005)
 In 2004, United Refugee Services estimated about
to 3,700
refugees to immigrate to WI.
2,500
Demographics
 Median Age: 16.1 Years (35.3 years among the U.S.
Pop.)
 Age: 56 % of the Hmong Population is under 18
Years Old (25.7% of the U.S. Pop.)
 Average Hmong Household Size per
Housing Unit: 6.27 persons (2.59 persons among the
U.S. Pop.)
History
 2000-2700 B.C.
 Mesopotamian: Middle East origin
 “Tab xuabzeb hav suabpuam”
 China & Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Ancient China
 Hmong occupied the Yellow River region.
 Ruled with a loose federation with republican
features.
 Left in the later parts of 18th Century due to ethnic
persecution.
Timeline (1776-present)
 1776-1860 A.D.: migrate out of China

1963-1975: The Vietnam Conflict and the Secret War

1975: migrate out of Laos into Thailand

1976 to Present Time: migrate to the U.S., France, Australia,
French Guyana, Canada, and Germany

December 2003: resettlement of 15,000 Hmong refugees

June 2004: First Hmong refugees arrived in Minnesota, California,
Wisconsin and other states
Language
 Sino-Tibetan language, 1300 B.C.
 Monosyllabic and tonal
(examples: Japanese, Korean, Norwegian and
Swedish)
 Barrows from Ancient Chinese Mandarin
(example: “txivlaum huabxeeb”)
Written Language
 Original written language was lost
 Paj Ntaub (flower cloths)
 Developed in 1950, F. M. Savina (Quincy, 1997)
 Eight tone marks (b, -, s, j, v, m, g, d)
Religion
 Traditional Belief system (70%): three elements:
Animism- “all life is produced by a spiritual force” or
“all things in nature have souls”
Ancestor worship
Shamanism
 Other religions practiced: Christianity (1/3),
Buddhism or Islam
(Percentages are provided by Lee and Pfeifer, 2006)
Family
 Delineated roles
 Patrilineality
 Clans
Clanship
 Basic social and political organization
 12 original clans
 Branched out to 20 clans worldwide, 18 in the US
(Thao, 1999)
Clanship continued…
 Members of given clan are viewed as relatives (Lee,
2005)
 Individual takes his or her father's clan name and
remains a member for life (Patrilineal)
However, Hmong women who marry take on the
identities of their husbands' clans
 Clans provide social support, mutual assistance, and
legal and mediation assistance
(Lee and Pfeifer, 2006)
Communication
 Most families do not teach reading and writing in the
Hmong language.
 Certain research argue that Hmong learners lean
toward being visual learners
 High value placed on education but there may be a
lack of resources or personal experience to
personally teach their children academic skills
 Communication must be established between
parents and schools to better understand and
respect the other’s potential role
 Intergenerational conflicts: families and elders vs.
peer culture
Best practices
 Cultural practices: i.e., gender roles, handshakes, eye contact,
and humble behavior (silent period)
 Medicinal marks (cupping) and religious accessories
 Diversity: subgroups, i.e., dialect, religion, socioeconomics
(funding), and generation
 Stereotypes: popular account of being primitive and static
people
 School functions: evening social with purpose of learning school
forms/procedures and roles of individual students (oldest child
policy)
Celebrate Diversity!
Resources

Hamilton-Merritt, J. (1993). Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, The Americans, and the Secret War for Laos, 1942-1992. Bloomington.
Indian University Press.

Lee, Stacey J. (2005). Up Against Whiteness: Race, School, and Immigrant Youth. New York: Teachers College Press.

Lee, Stacy J. (2001). More than “Model Minorities” or “Delinquents”: A Look at Hmong American High School Students. Harvard
Educational Review, 71(3), 505-527.

McClain, Leslie & Xiong, Kao. (2005). Continuing the Promise: Recruiting and Preparing Hmong American Educators for North Central
Wisconsin. Hmong Studies Journal, 6:1-16.

Qincy, K. (1997). Hmong: History of a People. Eastern Washington University Press.

Thao, Paoze. (1999). Mong Education at the Crossroads. Lanham: University Press of America.

Building Bridges: Teaching about the Hmong in Our Community
http://hmongstudies.org/BuildingBridgesGeneralPresentation2006Version.pdf

Hmong Center
http://www.hmongcenter.org/

Hmong Net
http://www.hmongnet.org/hmong-au/ozintro.htm

OHCHR
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/o_c_ref.htm

www.refugeesusa.org/uploadedFiles/Investigate/Publications_and_Archives/Refugee_Reports/St...