Week 3_Harry Kang_A01

First time reading the article Navigating Graduate Education as a First-Generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography written by Manee Moua, it really reminds me of the “privilege oppressed” we have discussed before. As one of the minorities, Moua was born being “privileged”. As an Asian America, specifically Hmong American, she was expected by people around to be more successful in whatever she does, and of course including education. These so-called privileges have been bringing less financial and academic supports to students like Moua with a minority race identity during their higher education like graduate, which suggests the oppressions applied to them. She also mentioned that a lack of modern Hmong American study and research is misleading people’s understanding of Hmong American families.

I actually felt her when Moua talks about her first year of doctoral program and her family’s cultural tradition of “training” daughters, even though I am a son and I am only Asian, not American. Similar scene simply happens to every Asian, especially those non-American and only 1^st or 2^nd generation of Asian American, who wants to “survive” here. Due to our “privileges” and oppressions, we must keep in mind at anytime that we have to work much and much harder than others just in order to avoid “weird looks” or being ignored. However, even though we have been trying so hard to prove and show our true values, people often just don’t recognize them, which I find very disappointing.

Question: As a non-American Asian, I really didn’t know a lot about Asian Americans. Do they more often identify themselves based on their homelands/races or their ethnicity like Hmong?

References:

Moua, M.(N/A). Navigating Graduate Education as a First-Generation, Hmong American Woman: An Autoethnography. Hmong Studies Journal, vol19(1): 1-25.

Hmong: Where is Home? (2017). A Hmong Woman. Available at[Online]: https://ahmongwoman.com/2017/08/02/hmong-where-is-home/