This study investigated Hmong American adolescents' perceptions of their mother as helping them understand race as Asian American youths in an urban context. Twenty-four Hmong American adolescents ages 14 to 18 (M = 15.8; 67% female; 54% U.S. born, 46% born in Southeast Asia) participated in semi-structured interviews, following approval of the…

Although scholars have studied migrant children who translate for their families, less is known about how these experiences matter for life-long literacy experiences. This article argues that child language brokers develop advanced skills in literacy and rhetoric from which they draw throughout their lives, in multiple contexts.

Using a sample of 119 Hmong students, this study employed multiple linear regression analysis to examine the role of ethnic identity, principled policy beliefs, self-interest, and gender in Hmong college students' support for college affirmative action policies designed to benefit their own group. Results indicated principled policy beliefs as…

This article presents the institutional and historical context, methods, findings, and action-consequences of 'Our HMoob American College Paj Ntaub,' a qualitative, student-led Participatory Action Research (PAR) project documenting the sociocultural and institutional factors that influence HMoob American college students' experiences at the…

Since 1975, over 3 million refugees have entered the United States, yet schools are unequipped to recognize and comprehend refugee communities' life circumstances as shaped by structural and symbolic violence. The educational experiences of second-generation Hmong American refugees highlight this neglect and its potential consequences for…

The Hmong people are an ethnic group from Southeast Asia. Hmong Americans came to this country as refugees from Laos. Serving as the fabric of the Hmong community, the "1.5 generation" is the unique generation of those born in Laos or Thai refugee camps and transported to America in their childhood. They represent the link between their…

While scholars have noted the levels of educational attainment of Hmong Americans compared to East Asian Americans as well as the overall population, this focus has undermined the achievements of Hmong Americans. To shift the discourse on Hmong American students and provide a liberatory perspective, I examined the student-initiated organizing…

This study describes a method for collecting data from nonliterate, non-English-speaking populations. Our audio computer-assisted self-interview instrument with color-labeled response categories was designed for use with helper assistance. The study included 30 dyads of nonliterate older Hmong respondents and family helpers answering questions…

This paper analyzes metalinguistic comments of two young Hmong Americans in the Minneapolis-St Paul area regarding their identity negotiation using tactics of intersubjectivity (Bucholtz & Hall 2004a, 2004b, 2005), the notion of brought-along identity (Williams 2008) and Zhang's (2017) sociohistorical perspectives in analyzing linguistic…

Hmong Americans are originally a preliterate, seminomadic, and agrarian ethnic hill tribe from Southeast Asia and have now been in the United States for the last four decades. From the 1960s to the mid 1970s, the Hmong joined forces with the U.S. during the Secret War in Laos. After the U.S. pulled out of Laos in 1975, the new Laotian regime began…

This study draws on racial formation theory and theories of racialized masculinities to situate how two early-career male teachers of color from refugee backgrounds (Hmong and Somali) have made sense of conflicting gendered and racialized expectations in predominantly white and feminized professional spaces. Issues of intersectionality, power, and…

This qualitative thematic analysis study examined the motivations of first-generation college graduate Hmong American students in their educational attainment. Currently, Hmong American students are facing cultural and institutional barriers which continue to impact access to and achievement in college. Although there is an educational disparity,…

While research on Asian American students has overwhelmingly emphasized family ties as an important contributor to student success in high school, what it neglects is how family ties can constrain students in their educational endeavors. Based on a study of 30 low-income Hmong American high school students, I argue that poverty can create…

Background/Context: Community-based youth theater programs afford youth opportunities to explore and "author" new identities by "performing writing." Yet, we know much less about the ways in which immigrant youth are exploring struggles and changes within their families and ethnic community. We particularly lack research about…

Hmong people in the United States of America have started to emerge on the national scene thanks to the recent rise of Hmong politicians winning State representative, senate, and assembly seats. The Hmong-American experience in the United States is a rollercoaster experience. While we have made America our home for the past 45 years, our presence…