Sib Piav Neej Neeg: Co-Constructing Young Hmong American Women's Narratives with Young Hmong American Women Storytellers

Abstract

Many studies on Hmong American youth represent what Eve Tuck (2009) describes as damage-centered research. Damage-centered research focuses on the problems and deficits of a community rather than the complexities. This study centers Hmong knowledge, values, and traditional ways of inquiry, and challenges the current portrayals of young Hmong American women as victims of culture, disengaged from community, and uninterested in Hmong oral traditions. Eight young Hmong American women storytellers participated in this study, sharing the complexities, contradictions, and desires of their lived experiences. This study highlights the ways in which young Hmong American women resist, maintain, shape, and transform cultural practices, expectations, and traditions.