Examining White Supremacy and Colonialism Within Hmong Studies

• In Event: Different Words, Same Song: Ecologies of Whiteness Within Higher Education

Abstract

The literature on Hmong Studies have been dominated by white anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. Educational research about Hmong people following this trajectory have situated Hmong students and communities within deficit frameworks based on profound cultural differences. Despite recent shifts toward humanizing approaches in studying the educational experiences of Hmong people, the field of Hmong Studies and implementation of Hmong Studies courses in higher education remain dominated by whiteness and colonial ideologies. Amidst the rise of Hmong Studies programs across several Midwestern universities, this paper considers how whiteness maintains power and evades critiques within Hmong Studies despite students’ push for critical interrogation of white supremacy and colonial power within Hmong Studies courses.
Theoretical Framework
Drawing from critical race theorists’ contributions to whiteness studies (Allen & Liou, 2019; DiAngelo, 2018; Matias, 2016), this paper analyzes how white supremacy and colonial power manifest in Hmong Studies research, curricula, and educational practices in higher education. Specifically, this paper interrogates how the colonial project continues as a social norm within Hmong Studies and how whiteness remains at the center of justifying Hmong-related courses at predominately white liberal art colleges.
Methods and Data Sources
In addition to reviewing recent literature published in the Hmong Studies Journal and examining the types of Hmong Studies courses offered at several liberal arts universities in the Midwest, this autoethnography will provide an account of the history of Hmong Studies programming and training in the last decades. I draw on my position as an educational researcher and student activist to reflect on my experiences in building Hmong Studies as an academic field, developing Hmong Studies courses, and collaborating with Hmong Studies scholars.
Results and Significance
The urgency to offer Hmong Studies courses across several Midwestern universities are justified through interest convergence policies and practices as beneficial to the learning objectives of a non-Hmong and predominately white student body. Current Hmong-related course offerings are introductory classes that provide brief historical overviews of Hmong people as Vietnam veterans and refugees. Although more recent iterations are taught through critical frameworks, white students’ learning continues to be the central focus in the promotion and implementation of Hmong Studies. Additionally, I argue that academic training of junior Hmong Studies scholars must also interrogate the racialized and colonial positions of “Hmong Studies experts” and the field’s research practices and curriculum development. This paper contributes to the larger scholarship on ethnic studies by emphasizing how Hmong-specific curricula and scholarship can follow the trajectory of ethnic studies to decenter Whiteness, place issues of race/ethnicity, ethno-racism, and colonization at the center, and prioritize the educational needs of Hmong students (Chapman et al, 2020).
Connection to Conference Theme
Examining the field of Hmong Studies offers critical insights to locating and articulating the ways whiteness is cloaked in universities’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. As educators and researchers strive to build more inclusive educational practices, it is equally important to evaluate how higher education has benefitted from minoritized students and to implement equitable systemic changes that redistribute resources back to students.

Author

• Choua Xiong, University of Wisconsin - Madison