Alice Kuang A01 Week 2: The Impact of the Model Minority Myth on the Hmong

Alice Kuang
Section A01
Week 2

In Kaozong N. Mouaangsou's Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of the Hmong, she explains the role of the education system in not only creating an ideal of financially stability for the Hmong, but also its role as a mechanism of physical and internal division of the Hmong community, through miseducation about the Hmong people and the subsequent miseducation of the Hmong people through various historical, sociological, and structural factors.

As a second generation Chinese American and daughter of immigrant parents, I related with the notion of education as a roadway for financial stability and "success," as this ideal is present amongst many Chinese cultures as well. However, unlike the common sentiments amongst the Hmong, academia success did not equate to emasculation. Rather, men were uplifted in their academic attainments more than women, and Chinese women like myself often used academic success as a way to rekindle the gender disparities present in my own home and communities, much like Kaozong did.

Another commonality I shared was with the lack of visibility of minorities in the Western, Eurocentric education curriculum, and the sweeping generalizations and miseducation that did come with limited visibility. Specifically, as a Chinese American with Cantonese roots, I rarely learned about Asian Americans like myself, the history of my ancestral region, and the many regional nuances.

Although I do share these similarities and sentiments, this piece prompted me to be reflective of my own positionality---on the impact of being the more "high achieving & visibilized Asian" (i.e. model minority myth) within the dominant Western narrative, as this perpetuates the erasure and miseducation of more marginalized identities like that of the Hmong. Kaozong writes about her own miseducation of the Hmong as, "...a useful way of distinguishing themselves (the Hmong) within the panethnic Asian American conglomeration (33)." Unfortunately, the expense of this struggle for visibility is the continuous rewriting of the Hmong identity, which is lost once again in the history of colonialism. Thus, within this dominant, colonial narrative, especially that has led to erasure by miseducation and conglomeration, it becomes imperative for the Hmong to continuously tell their stories, learn about their culture (from not just the educational system, but from their communities), restructure the educational system, and continuously define themselves, for themselves.

Question: For the Hmong, education and academic success are seen as a necessity for survival, but yet it is also seen as emasculation for many Hmong men. How do the Hmong (& even myself as an Asian American and those of other identities) relate these parts of the Hmong identity/narrative, and also introduce the necessary Hmong representation in the education system in the process?

References:

Mouavangsou, K. N. (2016). The Mis-Education of the Hmong in America (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Davis).