Week 2 — Jennifer Zhang

Jennifer Zhang
SID# 914019640
ASA 002 / A03

In Kaozong N. Mouavagsou's paper, Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans, she discusses how the U.S. educational system negatively impacted Hmong communities on several levels. I could relate on a personal level to many of the topics Mouavagsou discussed, from feeling inferior to her brothers in several ways, to feeling hopeless and alien at the realization of what our patriarchal, White America looks like, to feeling disregarded and of lesser importance due to our educational system failing to recognize the histories and experiences of other Asian communities. The way she ties impacts of the U.S. educational system and influences of miseducation about the Hmong and by the Hmong shed some light on internalized racism—as a Chinese-American woman, I have already recognized that the White American educational system does not do my racial and ethnic community justice when history is being taught in schools, as "constructing America as great has been done at the expense of devaluing other cultures." However, I was reminded by Mouavagsou's paper that these issues do not stem solely from our oppressors, but from within our own communities.

In Linda Trine Vo's article, "Transforming the Ivory Tower," she brought up multiple topics that resonated with me particularly. I found it interesting how she applied the concept of "divide-and-conquer" of different groups against each other in times of tight fiscal budgets, because I had first learned about this method in a human rights class regarding colonialism and exploitation. The part that reminded readers to not assume that "your department or colleagues, even other faculty or color or women faculty will automatically assist or support you" shook me and my beliefs. I think it's incredibly sad that even in supposedly safe, educational spaces, women of color cannot freely rely on others without second doubts. This reflects the different types of oppression—a common theme between the two articles. There is institutional oppression that we see in our unfair U.S. educational system, interpersonal oppression that occurs between people and the way they treat each other, and internalized oppression that the oppressed inflict among each other (such as Mouavagsou's example with miseducation of Hmong by other Hmong people).

I could not find the original picture of the three different types of oppression in the way I first learned about it, but here is a similar, more elaborate one:

Question: How does Kaozong's paper relate to other women of color, specifically Asian women? Would you say those experiences are solely unique to Hmong people, or can it be said that there are immense overlaps between different Asian communities since we are all viewed under the umbrella racial term of "Asian?"

Works Cited:

Mouvangsou, K.N. Hmong does not mean free: The Mis-education of Hmong Americans.

T.O. Tree [Digital Image]. Retrieved April 9, 2017 from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKvxF2uGvQ0nioSR_QtZANVcQfRV-6cc8tVTgeW6Sf3zC09HAb_RtXCwvM4oxpWEurpyl1MTusz3amT7oPeSJD3h-m-1EKfhJoDL7d3piFASiVsqunbSqEoAA02JzTk6hSWI2MgIc684s3/s1600/TO+Tree.png

Vo, L. T. (2012). Transformative Disjunctures in the Academy: Asian American Studies as Praxis. In Stockdill, B., & Danico, M. (Eds.), Transforming the Ivory Tower: Challenging Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia in the Academy (pp. 120-144). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.