Always on the Phone: The Invisible Role of Hmong Women in Diasporic Media Industries

Abstract

This article examines the emerging media institution of Hmong teleconference radio, a global form of mobile communication that is largely operated and accessed by Hmong American women. Interviews with Hmong Americans about this participatory form of mass media reveal the ways in which it is opening new pathways for diasporic communication, but also the ways that it is criticized and delegitimized. It argues that Hmong teleconference radio offers a rich case study for analyzing mobile phone cultures in a digital era, ultimately showing how women's labor and entrepreneurship within the mobile media realm can be minimized or altogether obscured through gendered hierarchies of value.