Changing Lives of Refugee Hmong Women [Paperback]

Nancy D. Donnelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

"In an ethnographic study of recent Hmong immigrant families in Seattle, Donnelly examines changing gender roles in both the economic and social spheres as Hmong women adapt to new social conditions and opportunities in the U.S. The author focuses specifically on changing patterns of courtship, marriage arrangements, and economic decision making in the household, and how women incorporate new values while attempting to retain elements of their Hmong identity . . . . An actor-based approach and inclusion of long passages in Hmong women's own words makes Donnelly's ethnographic presentation compelling and highly readable". -- Choice

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Based on her Ph.D. dissertation in anthropology, Donnelly's book relates the results of her research and personal experiences with the Hmong refugees in Seattle. Beginning as an English teacher, she helped many Hmong, a rural people from Laos, deal with the complexities of modern life in the United States. Her research was conducted mostly through interviews with the refugees. Fascinating passages describe such Hmong rituals as the bride wealth negotiations that take place before a wedding and how they have been transformed in a new culture. Donnelly also sees changes in sex roles among the Hmong and expects that more will occur. Her book contains some general discussion of Hmong society and its structures but will be most useful for those interested in women's roles in changing societies. For academic collections.
Gwen Gregory, New Mexico State Univ. Lib, Las Cruces
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1495 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295976217
• ISBN-13: 978-0295976211
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #786,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent ethnography, February 13, 2001

By 

Susan M. Burt (Normal, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Changing Lives of Refugee Hmong Women (Paperback)

Donnelly's work is based on years of work among Hmong immigrants in Seattle, and covers women's lives in terms of economic role and family role and position. Through analysis of two needlework cooperatives' history (and dissolution), and through the analysis of several marriage ceremonies (and stories of the subsequent marriages' success or failure), Donnelly shows how women's actions are grounded in Hmong cultural values and options, even as they make use of the cultural options and interpretations of American society. While traditional Hmong society could be characterized as male-centered-marriage negotiations, for example, were arranged by the male elders of the clans involved, even if the young men had taken the initiative to find their brides-the transplanting of thousands of Hmong to the U.S. has led to the development of more egalitarian and romantic notions of marriage, and to the possibility of greater assertiveness on the part of Hmong women. Yet Donnelly is able to point to folktales in which women do act assertively, so a model for this kind of behavior is available within the Hmong tradition. All cultures contain such seeming contradictions, Donnelly asserts, and indeed, the presence of alternative models of behavior within a traditional culture gives that culture "resiliency that may let that culture survive even traumatic shifts of circumstance." (191) Thus, even with changing circumstances, language, economic opportunities, education, and religion, Hmong culture contains within it the possibility of continued Hmong cultural identity in the U.S. This is an excellent example of enlightening and sensitive ethnography.