ABSTRACT This media review explores Vera Brunner-Sung’s film Bitterroot. The review examines themes such as the role of family on Hmong American life in Montana, impact of fissures and fractures of identity and gender, Montana’s physical landscape and environment within the film’s narrative, emotions and affect structuring the cinematography, and interracial friendships among some of the film’s protagonists. Bitterroot contributes to the narrative plenitude of Asian American and Hmong American representation within film and media studies.

ABSTRACT This multiple case study examines how two Hmong American families’ churches influence their heritage language maintenance (HLM) efforts through an ecological lens of language policy. Multiple interviews and audio recorded family interactions were utilised to understand the two domains’ – church and home – linguistic ecologies by analysing their beliefs and practices and how they interact to promote or hinder HLM. The findings reveal that for both families, the two domains were complementary and shared similar beliefs, goals and practices. However, while Family A shifted towards English, Family B was committed to Hmong HLM, and a major contributing factor was the language of religion at their church. The use of Hmong as the language of religion for Family B drove their investment in HLM and became another supporting domain, whereas Family A’s church’s shift towards English as the language of religion hindered their HLM goals. The study concludes with a call for more research on the intersection of religion and family language policy.

Re-membering Culture: Erasure and Renewal in Hmong American Education is a valuable contribution to the growing field of critical Hmong studies and education studies in general. This ethnographic study critically examines power dynamics between U.S. schools and Hmong Americans by centering narratives that highlight Hmong knowledge systems. The book provides insights from over 50 Hmong American leaders, parents, students, and district staff (Hmong and non-Hmong) that exemplifies re-membering, the recovery of culture and history to reclaim rights, space, and voice in the present. Although education is often seen as the great equalizer, especially for immigrants and refugees, the realities of persistent racial equity gaps among Hmong Americans challenge this liberal narrative on schooling. The author offers a nuanced analysis of how schools contribute to the erasure of Hmong culture and identity. The book provides examples of how the Hmong community has refused hegemonic logic and re- claimed their culture and identity to dismantle the assumption that Western schools are designed for all students to succeed.

Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) often reports lower prevalence among Asian Americans compared to other racial and ethnic groups. However, most studies fail to account for the socioeconomic inequality and cultural heterogeneity in Asian American populations, which may influence the prevalence of ACEs and positive childhood experiences (PCEs). This study compared exposures to ACEs and PCEs among Asian American emerging adults (18-25years) from three ethnic groups: Asian Indian, Chinese, and Hmong and examined factors associated with disparities in ACEs and PCEs. A total of 814 Asian American emerging adults self-identified as Asian Indian, Chinese, or Hmong Americans were recruited online. Participants completed online surveys measuring ACEs (Philadelphia ACE Survey), PCEs (Benevolent Childhood Experience scale), and childhood socioeconomic position (CSEP). Overall, 58.9% of participants reported exposures to four or more ACEs. Hmong participants reported significantly more ACEs and fewer PCEs than Asian Indian participants (ACE score, p < .001; PCE score, p = .005) and Chinese participants (ACE score, p < .001; PCE score, p < .001). CSEP factors accounted for some of the variations in the disparities of ACEs and PCEs among the three ethnic groups. ACEs and PCEs were prevalent in this diverse sample of Asian American emerging adults. Significant disparities in ACE and PCE exposures across the three ethnic groups highlight the importance of accounting for Asian ethnicity and CSEP in future studies.

Rapid globalization continues to endanger minority languages and cultures, which serve not only as tools for communication but also as vessels of cultural identity, oral history, and traditional wisdom. This study investigates the gendered dynamics of cultural and linguistic preservation within Hmong American communities. Drawing on 32 survey responses, it analyzes patterns of language use, cultural practice, and shifting gender expectations across generations. The findings reveal that while traditional roles persist, men in ritual leadership and women in domestic and caregiving roles, these boundaries are increasingly blurred. Women emerge as central figures in intergenerational transmission of language and culture, often engaging more actively in diverse contexts beyond the home. The study also identifies a growing sense of shared responsibility between genders, reflecting evolving norms within the diaspora. However, challenges remain, including a gender gap in fluency, limited initiative for active language use, and changing participation in cultural rituals. These findings suggest both tensions and opportunities in sustaining heritage across generations. This research contributes to broader conversations about adaptation, identity, and inclusion in diasporic communities, highlighting how gender functions not just as a social role, but as a key lens through which cultural continuity is shaped.

Re‐membering culture: Erasure and renewal in Hmong American education By BicNgo. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2024. 248 pp.

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates among Hmong American adolescents are significantly lower than national averages, despite higher cervical cancer rates in this population. eHealth can improve vaccine uptake, especially in the COVID-19 era. Our community-based participatory research team developed and evaluated a culturally-tailored website (https://hmonghpv.com) featuring educational modules on HPV and HPV vaccines in Hmong and English for Hmong adolescents and their parents. This pilot study aimed to determine the most effective dissemination and implementation (D&I) strategies within schools and primary care clinics using community-engaged methods, including community-based participatory research (CBPR), an understudied area in D&I research. CBPR has been underutilized in D&I research, yet its participatory approach ensures that marginalized voices are included, offering valuable insights for implementing and sustaining culturally adapted interventions to enhance uptake and long-term impact.MethodsOur CBPR team included Hmong researchers, university researchers, a public health advocate, and a family medicine physician-researcher. We conducted pre- and post-implementation interviews with six user organizations and seven disseminator community-based organizations to guide the development and assessment of D&I strategies for the website. Using template analysis, we analyzed the pre-implementation data. We then partnered with the user organizations to co-design individualized D&I plans that they implemented during an eight-week pilot period. We used Google Analytics and a Qualtrics survey to assess website use post-implementation.ResultsDuring implementation, user organizations promoted the website to 300 new users, who spent an average of nearly 12 min on the site. The most robust dissemination (n = 117) occurred in a Hmong charter school that integrated the website into their health education curriculum. Post-implementation interviews revealed that D&I plans that fit into clinic workflows and school curricula had the most robust implementation, and that clinic staff found discussing HPV vaccines most useful during adolescent preventive health visits. Challenges included time constraints, lower receptivity to vaccine conversations at non-preventive visits, and adolescents’ preference for alternatives to paper handouts. Disseminator organizations showed strong interest in scaling the website for greater reach in Hmong and non-Hmong populations.ConclusionThis pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of disseminating and implementing a culturally-tailored educational website for HPV education in educational and primary health care settings. Health education curricula in culturally-specific schools proved to be the most effective dissemination modality. A dissemination toolkit with support materials is available to facilitate using the website within educational and primary care contexts. Additionally, using a CBPR approach provided valuable implementation insights to enhance the intervention’s contextual validity and sustainability.

by Bic Ngo Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2024. 248 pp. $27.00 (paper, e-book), $108.00 (cloth). In the novel The Buried Giant by Kazuo [Ishiguro (2015)][1], an old couple embarks on a quest to find a son whom they seem to barely remember. A fog over-takes their memories, and

Immigrant Agency: Hmong American Movements and the Politics of Racialized Incorporation Immigrant Agency: Hmong American Movements and the Politics of Racialized Incorporation, by XiongYang Sao. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2022. 198 pp. $29.95 paper. ISBN: 9781978824041.

Abstract Transnational marriage is a controversial topic in Hmong communities in the United States, Laos, and Thailand, and has sometimes led to intra-ethnic disputes and conflicts. Initially, many of the Hmong American men who travelled overseas to marry Hmong Lao or Thai women were already married. Furthermore, the Hmong American community has frequently come to believe that economic gain is the primary motivation for Hmong Lao/Thai women to marry Hmong American men. On the other hand, some activists have referred to these marriages generally as “abusive transnational marriages.” The association of economic resources with transnational marriage, including remittances, increased bride prices, and opportunities for migration to the United States, has perpetuated negative stereotypes that frequently overshadow the personal stories of many Hmong Lao/Thai women who do not fit with the stereotypes. For these women, marrying a Hmong American man signifies not only personal gain but also economic advancement for their families. This paper reviews the intricacies related to the topic of Hmong transnational marriage between Hmong American men and their Hmong Lao and Hmong Thai brides. In doing so, we argue that it is important to consider the complexity and nuances associated with Hmong transnational marriages, as they take on various forms that go beyond standard stereotypes.

ABSTRACT This article considers two objects at the center of the Hmong ritual life – the wrist strings tied during a khi tes ceremony and the meat of ritually sacrificed animals – and analyzes the diverse ways that Hmong American Christians have understood the significance of these objects and managed the family and community controversies surrounding them. Drawing on oral histories, news media coverage, and archival sources, this article shows how Hmong American Christians held markedly different interpretations of traditional Hmong ritual objects that surfaced the blurry boundary between religion and non-religion. The decision by Catholic and mainline Protestants to view wrist strings and ritual meat as non-religious cultural objects reflected ongoing commitments to maintaining family relationships amid broader transformations in Hmong religious and spiritual life in the late twentieth century. More broadly, this case illustrates the role of materiality in the discursive inventions of religion and non-religion.

Abstract Framed by family language policy (FLP), in conjunction with the Douglas Fir Group's ecological transdisciplinary framework for second language acquisition, this multiple case study investigates the FLPs of two Hmong–American families in relation to a Hmong–English dual‐language program (DLP) where their children are enrolled. Interviews, artifacts, and family‐recorded interactions were utilized to get a full understanding of what factors at the different levels of interaction shaped their FLP. The findings reveal that both sets of parents perceived the relationship between the home and school as a partnership for their children's heritage language development, with the school taking on the onus for Hmong literacy. This resulted in both families’ more secondary role and, thus, home language practices that merely supplement the school content. Importantly, while both sets of parents held similar beliefs regarding the role of the DLP in heritage language maintenance, it was their beliefs in the value of Hmong that led to the different FLPs between the families. The article concludes with limitations and implications for schools interested in wanting to better serve their heritage language learners and families.

Asian American individuals comprise over 40 ethnoracial groups but are regularly aggregated into 1 category within health workforce analysis, thus obscuring substantial inequities in representation. To describe trends in Asian American diversity across the 4 most populous US health professions (physicians, registered nurses, nursing assistants, and home health aides) and to characterize subgroup representation within professions. Serial cross-sectional study from American Community Survey (ACS) population estimates of people reporting health profession occupations from 2007 to 2022. The ACS samples US residents every day, with approximately 3.5 million surveyed each year. Based on their sampling methods, the ACS then produces estimates of the entire US population for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year periods. Data were analyzed from April to August 2024. For each year and subgroup, the proportions of the US population, the profession, and Asian American individuals within the profession were calculated. The representation quotient (RQ) of each subgroup was then calculated, defined as the proportion of the subgroup within the profession of interest divided by the proportion of the subgroup within the US population. Trends were examined over the 15-year period. Over the 15-year period, Indian Americans composed the largest percentage of Asian American physicians (mean [SD], 40.6% [1.6%]), followed by Chinese Americans (mean [SD], 18.9% [1.4%]). Pakistani and Indian Americans had the highest relative representation (mean [SD] RQ, 8.9 [0.9] and 7.8 [0.9], respectively). Conversely, Cambodian and Hmong Americans remained largely underrepresented (mean [SD] RQ, 0.2 [0.2] for both). Filipinx Americans accounted for more than half of Asian American registered nurses and nursing assistants, with high relative representation (mean [SD] RQ, 5.6 (0.3) and 2.9 [0.4], respectively). Bangladeshi and Chinese American relative representation were high among home health aides (mean [SD] RQ, 4.1 [1.5] and 2.7 [0.5], respectively). Asian American individuals accounted for an estimated 22% of physicians (approximately 260 693 respondents), 10% of registered nurses (approximately 420 418 respondents), 4.8% of nursing assistants (approximately 93 913 respondents), and 8.3% of home health aides (approximately 60 968 respondents) in 2022. By examining disaggregated data, this study found persistent inequities among Asian American subgroups in the health workforce. Reducing Asian American populations to a single racialized group erases subgroup differences rooted in histories of racism, colonialism, and xenophobia; enables false narratives of Asian American overrepresentation and success; and hampers progress in advancing health justice.

Abstract: This article explores chemical warfare through Hmong American poet Mai Der Vang's book Yellow Rain . A scientific, political, and cultural incident, "yellow rain," according to countless Hmong survivors, is the name for the yellow sticky chemical substance that fell from the sky across Southeast Asia in the aftermath of the US war in Vietnam. While initial investigations found that yellow rain was a chemical weapon, scientists later dismissed Hmong testimonies to assert that it was, instead, a result of local bee feces. I approach Vang's text as a formulation of an ecocidal poetics that exposes the relationship between local, place based Indigenous knowledge in the context of neocolonial warfare. Dwelling deeply within the ecocidal discourse of US state archival erasure and documentary practices, Yellow Rain materializes Hmong epistemologies of their local ecological system as a form of historical reckoning. Vang's work offers a distinct contribution to critical refugee studies' critiques of US empire.

In this introduction to the special issue on diverse methods for cultural identity, we begin by addressing the evolving complexities of defining oneself amidst modern globalization and immigration. We then preview the current collection of papers, which collectively showcase the complexity of cultural identity by exploring how people, especially adolescents and young adults, navigate a plethora of cultural influences—whether through direct migration or the pervasive impact of global cultures—as they psychologically manage diverse and sometimes conflicting allegiances and worldviews. The studies featured in this issue employ a range of methodologies, from qualitative analyses to mixed-methods approaches, to expand our knowledge of the constitution of contemporary cultural identities beyond common quantitative metrics of self-categorization and group belongingness. For instance, research on Jamaican American adolescents highlights how cultural identity is formed through reciprocal socialization processes and systemic factors such as racism. Similarly, studies involving Hmong American youth and Guatemalan adolescents reveal tensions and creative harmonizations in identity management, challenging notions of a homogenized global culture. We conclude by underscoring the need for future research to take a nuanced, intersectional approach to the study of cultural identity, to explore creative measurement tools that are sensitive to local meaning-making among diverse groups around the world, and to attend to the impact of power dynamics in shaping one’s sense of self in relation to their cultural group(s).

Cervical cancer disparities in stage at presentation for disaggregated Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

ABSTRACT Framed by family language policy and children’s agency, this multiple case study investigates two Hmong American children’s conceptualization of Hmong and the strategies they develop and utilize in their home. Interviews, artifacts, recorded interactions, and video recorded sessions were collected to gain an understanding of how the children viewed and valued Hmong. The findings reveal that while both children understood Hmong as a family language, they differed in their conceptualization of the utility of Hmong, creating their own investment in the heritage language that drove their practices. Importantly, as they negotiate their respective FLPs, they also influence their younger sibling’s heritage language investment and practices.

ABSTRACT The Hmong are an ethnic group with a rich cultural and historical background. They are primarily found in Southeast Asia, particularly in the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Hmong have immigrated to the United States in large numbers as war refugees. The process of their integration into the new culture has engendered the formation of Hmong English writing. This body of literature mainly includes autobiographies, short stories, essays, and poems, most of which depict the Hmong experience of exile, and whose central preoccupation is the pursuit of a homeland. Focused exclusively on the literary works of Hmong Americans, this paper examines classic and experimental texts to amplify independent narratives. Drawing from diaspora literature scholarship by Stuart Hall and Homi K. Bhabha, it positions Hmong American literature as a representative form of diasporic writing. It seeks to unravel the complexities of their cultural transition, identity, and the role of literature in constructing narratives and opens up fresh dimensions in understanding its unique features and contributions.

This study examines what it means to be bicultural to Hmong American emerging adults living in central California. Twenty-four participants ( Mage = 21.92 years) constructed a cultural identity map that portrayed what it means to them to be “Hmong American,” described both their cultural identity map content and their process of constructing it, and completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM). Grounded theory analysis of cultural identity maps and accompanying conversations reveals the pervasiveness of bifurcated biculturalism, or the experience of having split selves. For participants in this study, perceived cultural incompatibility between Hmong and American cultures rendered it necessary to possess two (and sometimes more) distinct cultural identities, and required—for some, almost constant—frame-switching to manage these identities. This article offers an in-depth portrait of three illustrative cases, which represent diversity in terms of gender, social class, and MEIM score. Altogether, findings contribute to scientific understanding of the complex and contradictory nature of biculturalism for Hmong American emerging adults, and speak to the link between ethnic stereotypes and bicultural identity development. Methodologically, this study highlights the utility of identity mapping to examine psychological experiences of biculturalism and other aspects of identity about which people may have hidden, complex, and potentially contradictory stances.

Considering the positive association of a sense of belonging to educational outcomes and lack of Hmong American educational research, this study sought to explore their success stories, sense of belonging, and challenges they surmounted to complete college. Participants identified as Hmong, were 18 years or older, and obtained their bachelor's degree between 2020 and 2022 from a California State University or University of California. The research employed a sequential mixed methods design that included a survey and follow-up interviews. Utilizing grounded theoretical and constant comparative analysis, four interrelated domains of student support that helped to improve Hmong student retention and completion were found: self, relationships, academic and nonacademic. We call this a dynamic, ecological model of support. For successful students, as one domain lacked support, other domain(s) offered increased levels to compensate, increasing the likelihood of retention and completion. Implications for institutions of higher education are discussed.