When the Hmong refugees encounter the peculiarities of the Western medical system, their entire worldview is called into question. Yet it is mainly the Americans who struggle. The Hmong view of health, healing, and wellness differ so sharply from that of the Americans that it is we who must examine our beliefs, not the Hmong. History has not been kind to the Hmong. Yet in some ways, this cruelty has helped strengthen the culture. After all, the Hmong are known well among the tribes of Southeastern Asia. Part of this knowledge is due to the American use of Hmong during the Vietnam War. As Hamilton-Merritt points out, though, the Americans used the Hmong as pawns and the Hmong paid dearly. When the war ended for the Americans, it did not for the Hmong. Many were killed, and the society lost a significant portion of its elderly and female population. The elimination of elders could potentially spell...

Loss of females impacts not just population growth rates but also alters social roles within the traditional society.
Elders retain verbal and artistic knowledge that cannot be transmitted in any other way. When elders die, cultures can also perish. Languages may fade away. This is now the greatest threat to Hmong society as their exodus continues. The Hmong remaining in Asia undoubtedly cling as strongly to their language, culture, and traditions as ever before. Supported now by tourism, they may fare better in cultural continuity than their counterparts in the United States.

Works Cited

Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

Hamilton-Merritt, Jane. Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992. Bloomington, in: Indiana University Press, 1999.