Week 3_Analei Garcia_A01

Analei Garcia

Section A01

Week 3

In “Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography”, Manee Moua talked about her experience and the misconceptions about Hmong Americans in academia. One of the biggest misconceptions ties back to the stereotype about how Asian Americans are the model minority and that they are all doing well. While this stereotype may seem good, this stereotype categorizes diverse persons together and undermines all the struggles that AAPI and SEAA do face, especially those who are first or second generation.

Moua also mentioned that there is limited research on Hmong Americans in college, as most research focuses on the experiences from K-12. She talked about one study that explores the obstacles and challenges that Hmong graduate students encounter, many of the obstacles being the unawareness of how to find resources, financial hardships and fulfilling their cultural and gender expectations placed upon them by their families. The latter part made me realize that norms and how someone is brought up can really affect them in their future decisions. In addition, I understood that many people start to follow the role expected of them, without them even noticing their actions. For example, Moua mentioned that some graduate students follow the formula as a graduate student because throughout their lives, they are used to fulfilling the roles that are expected of them. Moua talked about how before she did not believe she was “good” graduate student because she did not follow the expectations of what a graduate student "should be". I think it is important to bring awareness about how social norms can bring negative feelings and hinder some from achieving more than what is expected. In contrast, Moua also spoke about how there are also opportunities to succeed. Success in academia is often associated with scholarly networking and having counselors who understand the needs of their students. For Hmong students, it is crucial to have a support system that understands the specific needs and experiences of being Hmong. Reading this made me appreciate the Student Community Center at UC Davis a lot more. I am glad that they are open to supporting those who have specific needs and are a great place to seek resources.

Question: In what ways can we provide more resources for Asian students who want to seek higher education? In addition, how can we make these students more aware that these resources are available to them?

Moua, M. (n.d) Navigating Graduate Education as a First-generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography. Hmong Studies Journal, Volume 19(1). 1-25.

(n.d) Student Community Center. Davis, California: UC Davis. Retrieved from https://ces.ucdavis.edu/Public/explore/scc/