Reclaiming Diasporic Identity

Sangmi Lee is an assistant professor of anthropology at Arizona State University.

“The author uses highly original methods to address the complexities, nuances, and challenges of understanding identities and senses of belonging among the Hmong diaspora. The linking of the Hmong communities in central Laos and Sacramento, California, is a particularly novel approach that pushes forward new understandings of community and belonging that transcends borders.”--Vanessa L. Fong, author of Paradise Redefined: Transnational Chinese Students and the Quest for Flexible Citizenship in the Developed World

• Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Making of the Hmong Diaspora: History, Multiple Homelands, and Ambivalent Belonging Hmong Diasporic History and Multiple Homeland Narratives Locating the Hmong Diaspora in Ambivalent Local Belongings  Part Ⅱ. Transnational Ethnic and Cultural Continuity An “Imagined” Community of Transnational Kin: Hmong Kinship Continuities in the Diaspora Compassionate Money: Monetarized Longing and Emotional Remittances in the Transnational Familial Economy From Local to Transnational: Hmong Shamanism and Spiritual Rituals across Borders  Part III. Cultural Difference and Discursive Fragmentation Cultural Differences in the Diaspora: Hmong Funerals and the Nation-State Diaspora’s National Affiliations: Relative Belonging to the Nation-State and Discursive Fragmentation Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index