"It Finally Put the Hmong People in a Spotlight": Hmong Youth Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in a Theater Program

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-19 - Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans SIG Roundtable: Southeast Asian American Experiences

Abstract

This paper draws on ethnographic research at a Hmong co-ethnic community-based organization to illuminate the ways in which the lives, interests, and cultures of Hmong immigrant youth are addressed in the work of a youth theater arts program. It is guided by two primary questions: How does a theater arts program serving Hmong American youth provide opportunities to explore issues of culture and relations of power? What are the complexities of cultural (re)presentation at the intersection of race and ethnicity? It significantly contributes to the scholarship on the ways in which the teaching and learning activities of arts programs in co-ethnic organizations allow youth to critically explore and (re)present the complexity of their cultural identities.

Authors

• Bic H. Ngo, University of Minnesota

• Erin Lee Dyke, University of Minnesota

• Jana LoBello, University of Minnesota