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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the blog posts are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

WHEN WILL MISCONCEPTIONS OF HMONG/HMONG AMERICAN WOMEN STOP BEING PERPETUATED?



Sophia Vue Lo
I am reading the book Committed, thinking it was just another book by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love). This book is a follow up to the author's real life journey to finding love in this world.

Initially the book reads just like the usual romance novel about every women's search to know thyself better. Then things turn in the book when she comes across a small group of Hmong women who live in the high mountains of Southeast Asia. She is curious by the marriage system in their culture, and spends time talking to this remote tribe of people, hoping to learn more about what it means to be a "married Hmong women."

And this was her simple conclusion; "I would not trade lives with those [Hmong] women."

How does this author have the audacity to make such a statement about an entire group of people that she barely knew anything about or fully understand? The author clearly did not appreciate my people and our vast, enriching and complex lives.

By Sophia Vue Lo