| American policy makers have considered the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees following the Vietnam War to be one of the largest, most dramatic humanitarian efforts in U.S. history. The refugee resettlement process followed a policy of dispersal designed to lessen the burden on particular local communities with the intent to increase the assimilation process. Refugees, however, have resisted this narrative of assimilation by relocating to areas with others from their ethnic communities. Based on archival research and oral history, this dissertation is an interdisciplinary study of Hmong American/refugee community building efforts since the late 1970s vis-a-vis international and federal refugee laws. I examine government policies and programs, resettlement agency strategies, cultural politics of new year celebrations, development of ethnic organizations, political activism and identity formation to illustrate the diversity and multiple sites of agency within this ethnic group since migrating to the United States. I argue that contrary to dominant narratives of refugees a powerless victims, Hmong refugees have been active social, cultural, economic and political agents in reconstructing community in the United States. I examine different sites of power within this community and highlight the diversity of Hmong identities that complicate and contradict previous works of scholarship that emphasize Hmong homogeneity. The goal of this study is not only to provide insights into the everyday life experiences of Hmong Americans/refugees but also to illustrate the ways in which those experiences are suggestive of the lives of many racially and ethnically defined immigrants in the U.S. |
