Claiming Place

Countering the idea of Hmong women as victims, Claiming Place demonstrates how the scholarly emphasis on men as the primary culprits of women's subjugation perpetuates the perception of a Hmong premodern status and renders unintelligible women's nuanced responses to patriarchal strategies of domination in the United States and in Southeast Asia. The contributors expand knowledge about the Hmong lived reality and broaden conversations on sexuality, diaspora, and agency. While these essays center on Hmong experiences, activism, and popular representations, they also underscore the complex gender dynamics between women and men and address the wider concerns of gendered status of the Hmong in historical and contemporary contexts. Organized to highlight themes of history, memory, war, migration, sexuality, selfhood, and belonging, this book moves beyond a critique of Hmong patriarchy and culture to argue that Hmong women have been and continue to be active agents not only in challenging oppressive societal practices within hierarchies of power but also in creating alternative forms of belonging.--From publisher description.