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.e.the U.S.nuclear family) and applied them uncritically to the Hmong community.Mary Cohn (1986:201) exemplifies thisethnocentric perspective when she writes, “Whether or not this group[Hmong youth] will continue to marry young, drop out and start large families is uncertain, but the way this issue is resolved may have a large impact on their own self-sufficiency and adjustment and on the economic and social adjustment of the next generation of Hmong.”She discounts the fact that many Hmong youth are delaying marriage, having smaller families and continuing their education.Secondly, she presumes that some Hmong family patterns are a hindrance to socioeconomic advancement.Her statement incorrectly links a lack of education with large families.Unfortunately, some Hmong-Americans have also adopted this wider societal view, which labels their culture as traditional and dysfunctional, and consequently they are confused about their family relationships and cultural identity.I offer a more complex analysis of family and kinship patterns (from the perspective of Hmong-American people) and as a result reach a more encouraging, grounded interpretation.The durability of Hmong kinship in the West may be attributed to the ideological and material advantages it offers.Some have speculated the kinship organization of the Hmong might enhance refugeeadaptation.Timothy Dunnigan, a cultural anthropologist, who has worked with Hmong-American refugees in Minnesota writes,“evidence indicates that the segmentary kinship of the Hmong allows for great flexibility in responding to changing conditions, and may provide the Hmong with the means for surviving in urban America as a distinct ethnic group” (Dunnigan 1982:126).Pointing to the elasticity of existing kinship ties, Dunnigan (1986:49) suggests, “The willingness of the Hmong to recognize even the most distant ties of consanguinity and affinity has been crucial in reestablishing family mutual assistance groups that were decimated and scattered due to war, refugee flight and resettlement.”Hmong History and Culture55Despite the durability of Hmong kinship in the United States, it is important to acknowledge that the cultural misunderstanding and hostility many Hmong experience from American individuals andinstitutions influence which aspects of Hmong culture will bemaintained and which practices may disappear.Cultural conflict is the central theme in journalist Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down ( 1997).This book tells the tragic story of cross-cultural conflict between the California medical establishment and one epileptic Hmong girl and her family.Fadiman eloquently describes the spiritual life and adjustment issues facing Hmong refugees and evokes reader empathy.She gives less attention to describing the process of social change and adaptation that Hmong people have experienced.The reader is left with the impression that Hmong people are trapped by cultural and language barriers which is not the case.Jeremy Hein has studied discrimination towards Hmong inWisconsin and his disturbing research results point to the prevalent racist and nativist encounters many Hmong face daily.His extended case study documents rampant discrimination including one or more of the following: verbal harassment, poor service, police mistreatment, rejection, and physical harassment (Hein, 2000).Besides cultural conflict with mainstream American culture, elders worry that Hmong language and culture will disappear as youngHmong people adapt to American society.More and more American-born Hmong are not fluent speakers and writers of Hmong language and do not even know the proper kinship terms.Dunnigan and Vang (1980) suggest that maintenance of the Hmong language is tied to its function in ritual processes and particularly to rituals associated with the extended family.Understanding more about how Hmong kinship is functioning in the United States may shed light on other markers of Hmong identity such as the ability to speak the native language.The connection between Hmong kinship and spiritual life needsfurther study.Writing about social life before resettlement, states, “A Hmong’s religion cannot be separated from his social groupings, and his relations with other Hmong are meaningful only in terms of whether or not they share similar ancestral rites.Therefore, he cannot do without his kinsman and a good knowledge of their rituals in order to56Kinship Networks Among Hmong-American Refugeescarry out his Hmong existence” (Lee 1986:57).Veneration of ancestors is believed to be mandatory for the fortune of a family or kin groups (Lee 1999a) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]