Queer Refugeeism: Constructions of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Hmong Diaspora

Abstract

Queer Refugeeism examines how the “refugee” figure relates to Hmong American racial, gendered, and sexual formation, belonging, and politics in the U.S. Examining various discourses around gender and sexuality such as rape, abusive transnational marriages, polygamy, and underage marriages, Part I crafts out ideological formations of race, gender, and sexuality in Hmong American communities. Queer Refugeeism uses texts such as newspaper documents, Hmong American ethnic cultural productions, and legislative bills to explicate a discourse of hyperheterosexuality that renders Hmong American culture and Hmong Americans as racially, gendered, and sexually deviant subjects. Part II turns to the material as I weave in youth narratives and community activism with secondary sources to expound how queer Hmong American youths are intertwined within dominant and Hmong American cultural discourses regarding race, gender, and sexuality. I argue against essentialist framinings of culture that posit Hmong Americans as perpetual refugees incompatible with queer modernity while showcasing how queer Hmong American youths are remaking culture and belonging on their own terms. Overall, Queer Refugeeism tackles how race, gender, and sexuality are integral to Hmong American refugee and queer youth belonging within the U.S.