Week 3_Wesley Lee_A01

Mouavangsou's article brought to attention how neglected Hmong history is in the United States. I have friends who are Cham and Hmong, ethnic groups from the regions of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and they have to explain over and over again their culture, religion, and practices because it is so different from mainstream perspectives of what is "Asian." Oftentimes, people will forget what ethnicity they were or mischaracterize them as something else. Sometimes, my friend would not even try to explain unless someone asked specifically.

There were also situations where my friends would be discovering facts about the history of their people and be completely surprised because that information never came from their parents or from school. For example, my Cham friend did some reading and discovered that the Cham Empire was once a strong sea empire in Southeast Asia. She was very excited about learning that information, but was also simultaneously disappointed because of how few of them there are now due to the genocide of her people. I thin there should be more coverage of underrepresented histories because I have witnessed how empowering it can be to know that information.

Question: While it's not possible to learn the histories of every single ethnicity, what can we do to help ensure most are accurately represented?



References:

- Mouavangsou, K. N. 2016. Hmong Does Not Mean Free: The Miseducation of Hmong Americans. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
- Map of the distribution of the Cham in southeast Asia today [Picture]. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chams#/media/File:Cham_People_in_Vietnam_and_Cambodia.jpg