The Summer Edition of the Hmong Studies Newsletter from Mark Pfeifer Ph.D., is the online home of the Hmong Studies Journal academic journal. This unique scholarly site at www.hmongstudies.org contains the latest publications, extensive bibliographies, census data and an online research paper library on the topic of Hmong Studies.
New works in books, theses and reports on Hmong studies include:
• Parental Perceptions of Barriers to Immunization among the Hmong Community in Central California, a Ph.D. Dissertation of Dian Baker at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This graduate study investigates the barriers to immunization among the Hmong community in Central California.
• Knowledge of the Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer Among Hmong
Female College-Aged Students, a M.P.H. Thesis of Leepao Khang at California State University, Fresno. This graduate research study assesses Hmong female college students’ knowledge and perceptions of susceptibility of infection for HPV and cervical cancer. The research was conducted among Hmong female students attending CSU-Fresno.
• Meaningful Tone: A Study of Tonal Morphology in Compounds, Form Classes and
Expressive Phases in White Hmong. This new work at the linguistic study of the White Hmong language dialect is now a book from author Martha Ratliff and Northern Illinois Press.
• The Impossibility of Self: An Essay on the Hmong Diaspora. Comparative
Anthropological Studies in Society, Cosmology and Politics, Volume 6. This important volume of work from Nicholas Tapp, Ph.D., and Berlin: Lit Verlag Publishers, consists of an ethnographic reflection on Hmong society, history and culture. It focuses on questions of the self and the notion that a romantic self inspired the ethos of hedonism associated with the consumer economy. www.lit-verlag.de/isbn/3-643-10258-4
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Hmong Refugees: A Client’s Self-rating of
Helpfulness. This Psy.D. Dissertation of Ghia Xiong at Alliant International University, Fresno, examines Hmong refugees perceptions of cognitive-behavioral therapy. The research was conducted at a non-profit organization in Fresno.
New academic journal articles include:
• “Adolescent Secretive Behavior: African American and Hmong Adolescents’ Strategies and Justifications for Managing Parents’ Knowledge about Peers.” This article published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence 20(2): 359-388, is authored by Jeremy P. Bakken and B. Bradford Brown. It is a qualitative study examining African American and Hmong adolescent autonomy seeking behaviors and parent-child communication about activities and relationships with peers.
• “Perception of Barriers to Immunization Among Parents of Hmong Origin in California.” Authors Dian L. Baker, Michelle T. Dang, May Ying Ly and Rafael Diaz published this research study on factors associated with perceptions of barriers to immunization among parents of Hmong origin in California for the American Journal of Public Health 100(5): 839-845.
• “Naming, Re-Naming and Self-Naming Among Hmong-Americans.” This article from Susan Meredith Burt for Names 57 (4): 236-245, assesses naming among Hmong Americans residing in Wisconsin. The researcher observes that name changes may be made for both functional reasons (to protect an individual against ghosts,
spirits or illness) and life status changes.
• “Gifts Intercepted: Biopolitics and Spirit Debt.” This study from Jean Langford
and published in Cultural Anthropology 24(4): 681-711 is based on research conducted with Lao, Khmer, Hmong and Kmhmu emigrants. The author argues that the biopolitical protocol of hospitals and funeral homes negates the social existence of the dead in ways that echo violations of the dead during wartime. The researcher posits that institutionalized violations of the dead in these settings are informed not simply by the sciences of sanitation and death causation but also by latent theological presumptions pertaining to matter and spirit that are largely Protestant in origin.
• Hmong American Adolescents’ Perceptions of Ethnic Socialization Practices.” This study from MyLou Y. Moua and Susie D. Lamborn, published in the Journal of Adolescent Research 25(3): 416-440, explores ethnic socialization practices from the perspectives of Hmong adolescents.
• “Doing ‘Diversity’ at Dynamic High: Problems and Possibilities of Multicultural Education in Practice.” This article by Bic Ngo for Education and Urban Society 42(4): 473-495, assesses how students, teachers and staff understand and address cultural difference at an urban, public high school with large populations of Hmong and Lao students.
• “Seeking to Bridge Two Cultures: The Wisconsin Hmong Cancer Experience.” This study published in the Journal of Cancer Education from authors Tracy A. Schroepfer, Angela Waltz, Hyunjin Noh, Jacqueline Matloub and Viluck Kue, looks at the higher incidence of certain cancers in the Hmong community and the tendency to present these cancers at an advanced stage.
• “Transnational Tense: Immigration and Inequality in American Housing Markets.”
In this study published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(2): 187-208, authors Elvin K. Wyly, Deborah G. Martin, Pablo Mendez and Steven R. Holloway use a case study of the recent rise of home-ownership among Hmong immigrants in St. Paul to assess the interrelations between immigration and the intensified mortgage capitalization of U.S. housing markets. The authors situate their analysis within the broader literature pertaining to urban immigration and housing.
The Hmong Studies Journal has recently reached a non-exclusive agreement to be included in the Asia-Studies Full-Text Online database. Asia-Studies Full-Text Online is the premiere database for the study of modern Asia Pacific. As the exclusive licensee for many of the region’s most prestigious research institutions, Asia-Studies.com brings together thousands of full-text reports covering 55 countries on a multitude of business, government, economic, and social issues.
A moderated message board intended as a forum for information about existing and new research resources in Hmong Studies is available at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hmongstudies.
The Hmong Resource Center Library Web site is at www.hmonglibrary.org and its physical location is at the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is possibly the largest depository of Hmong Studies academic articles and dissertations in the United States.
Contact the Hmong Resource Center in the Hmong Cultural Center offices at 995 University Avenue, Suite 214, St. Paul, MN 55104. Call 651-917-9937. Or contact librarians, Xai Lor and Cher Vue at [email protected]
