Zomia and the Hmong

I've read passing references to "Zomia," but had not known about the source of its current popularity until reading interesting review in the Chronicle of Higher Education: "The Battle Over Zomia," by Ruth Hammond. It discusses James C. Scott's book, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (Yale University Press, 2009). 


According to the article, his thesis is that the ethnic groups in the highlands of Southeast Asia are  "barbarians by design, using their culture, farming practices, egalitarian political structures, prophet-led rebellions, and even their lack of writing systems to put distance between themselves and the states that wished to engulf them."


Since I haven't read the book, I can't comment in detail, but there are a few interesting points worth drawing out. (Also, the Hmong feature prominently in the book and two leaders in Hmong Studies comment in the review.)


One point that stands out is the discussion of ethnicity. Based on the review, it sounds like Scott is looking critically at ethnic identity in the context of politics. One critic in the piece suggests that this reduces the meaning of ethnicity for people within the group. The article continues:

Scott counters that what he has done in dissecting the hill peoples' identities "has been done for almost every other ethnic group, in terms of deconstructing their history and showing that ethnicity is a kind of positioning and a performance.
"It's usually a mistake," he says, "to imagine that there is a great deal of genetic and genealogical continuity."
His book, he insists, does nothing to diminish those groups' claims to autonomy, land rights, and recognition: "I think that every identity is historically constructed, and, in fact, you can argue that that is in a sense even more noble and worthy of recognition: the self-creation of an ethnic group."

The idea of the "self-creation of an ethnic group" puts me in mind of Siu-Woo Cheung's article "“Miao Identity in Western Guizhou: Indigenism and the Politics of Appropriation in Southwest China during the Republican Period" from Hmong/Miao in Asia, in which he discusses how the modern Miao nationality was borne out of political necessity. The creation of the Hmong and Miao ethnicities continues today and can be seen in media (movies, music, etc.), scholarship, and of course through communication on the Internet. 

On a personal level, our ethnicity can provide a sense of rootedness--an inherited link to the past. Yet, as Scott points out, the genetic thread is a weak one and examples of non-Hmong people becoming Hmong by joining the community (through marriage or otherwise) can be found throughout history, as well as today. Culture is mutable, as is language. When viewed in this light, the frailty of ethnicity as a concept is apparent. 

Jean Michaud is quoted in the article as is Mai Na Lee, and both scholars provide several examples from Hmong history that counter Scott's claim about the political origins of ethnicity. This includes the idea that hilltribe people gave up written language to preserve political autonomy. (As Dr. Lee documents, written language has been something of an obsession for many Hmong people throughout history--certainly not something that was given up willingly.) At the same time, it sounds like most of his work was done in Myanmar, so examples from Hmong culture are not the best to prove his points. Certainly, the Hmong of Southeast Asia have always maintained an independent identity, even when integrating themselves into state power systems.

The article is though-provoking and I look forward to tracking down some leads to learn more about the idea of Zomia and how it relates to Hmong studies.

Cooking from the Heart: Reviews and Recipes

I just received my copy of Sheng Yang and Sami Scripter's Hmong cookbook, Cooking from the Heart, and it doesn't disappoint. I haven't read all of it yet, but I've enjoyed skipping around, looking at the recipes for some of my favorite foods (all of which make my mouth water). Besides being a joy to read (and a pratical cookbook), there is enough context to make it helpful resource for learning about Hmong cultural practices, both traditional and modern. The role of food in rituals is described as well as food practices associated with health and illness. It's also a book about the friendship between Yang and Scripter and the creativity of the individual cooks they worked with. Even the book itself is beautifully designed and well-organized.

There have been a number of positive reivews around the web, but one of the best is from The Heavy Table, a Twin Cities-based website. The review is broken up into two pages. In A Day in the Kitchen of a Hmong Family, the reviewer tags along with a Hmong family as they shop for the day and prepare a big dinner. Among other stops, they visit the International Hmong Market on Como, a sprawling, labyrinthine collection of stalls containing everything from karaoke to qeej (not to mention an amazing variety of food). While the book isn't the main focus here, the review does conclude with a recipe for papaya salad and another recipe based on the cooking of the Hmong family in the review. Of great interest to everyone, a video is included that demonstrates how to de-bone a chicken wing so it can be stuffed with eggroll filling and baked. (The one time I got to help out with this time consuming, but worthwhile task, we later deep-fried the wings in a giant vat of oil.)

The review of the book featured on the site is equally rich and detailed. It also includes two more recipes as well as links to other websites
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Yang and Scripter were recently interviewed by Lynne Rossetto Kasper of The Splendid Table and their segment will be airing sometime in July. It's clear the book has already been a success and more great things are in store for the authors.

Pictured: My personal speciality, fawm kauv. By the way, blogger Mozemoua has several nice posts on Hmong cooking (which include much nicer pictures than the above).

The qeej in America - a new article about tradition in practice

Thao, Yer J. (2006). “Culture and Knowledge of the Sacred Instrument Qeej in the Mong-American Community.” Asian Folklore Studies 65(2): 249-267.

Abstract:
This study aims to describe the importance of the oral tradition of the sacred instrument Qeej to Mong culture. It is an attempt to help preserve Mong oral traditions and facilitate the continuing practice of traditional funeral rites, in which the Qeej plays a central role by guiding the soul of the deceased to the realm of the ancestors. The Mong who live the United States are faced with a pressing dilemma--how to maintain oral traditions and culture in a society that privileges literacy-based learning. The Qeej provides an important case study as it is crucial to the Mong culture and its traditions cannot be translated into print. Recently, younger Mong have started playing the Qeej for amusement in secular contexts, a practice that threatens traditional customs. The Mong Cultural Program in Long Beach, California, makes a noteworthy effort at preserving the oral traditions of the Qeej.

In 2000, when I interviewed Joe Bee Xiong (a Hmong community leader in Eau Claire, WI), he felt that within a couple of decades qeej playing would pass out of practice in the Hmong-American community. Just 7 years later, that prediction has been derailed by the efforts of Hmong cultural associations across the country. It is interesting that most of these qeej education programs are still based on oral instruction - a continuation of traditional educational methods. Now a qeej master teaches a classroom full of young students rather than a single apprentice, but notation has yet to be widely accepted. That isn't to say that many forms of qeej notation have not been developed. In fact, a qeej class I attended at UW-Madison made extensive use of a novel notation system using numbers and diacritics. The teacher was younger than the typical master and it could be that this style of teaching will become more prominent as the next generation of educators takes over.

Thao's ethnographic study offers an insider's look at one of these programs where traditional knowledge is communicated in traditional channels despite the new context. It is also a hopeful work that documents an emerging group of young musicians who will one day become experts in a demanding art form. Thao details the process of demonstration and imitation that takes place in the classroom - which includes not only patterns of fingerings and sounds, but also movements of the entire body. While the information and vocabulary Thao presents is not necessarily new, it is good to see it applied in the context of performance and learning rather than a general description of qeej. Thao also draws together several of the divergent origin myths of the qeej in one section of the article including a new one that he collected. His assertion that comparing these stories can lead to an accurate theory of qeej origin isn't borne out by his methods, however.

Throughout the paper, Thao insists that historically the qeej was used only in funeral rituals and that the performance of the qeej in non-ritual settings is a recent development. He goes on to suggest that this is because "young Mong are acculturating to the dominant culture and slowly abandoning their own culture." This critical stance against the use of qeej for "entertainment" is at odds with existing literature on the qeej, much of which Thao cites. These other authors give examples of the qeej being performed at New Year celebrations, births, and other festivals. There is also a longstanding tradition among many qeej players that the instrument used to be played at weddings, but that this body of ritual music has been lost. It is clear that Thao takes his cue from the experts he interviewed, who seem to associate the performance of qeej in non-funeral rituals as being tied to Chinese and Lao practices of performing cultural practices for the entertainment of government officials - something that denigrates the seriousness of qeej performance in the funeral ritual. Yet, the use of the qeej in multiple contexts has gone on for as long as people can remember and the sanctity of the funeral ritual remains intact. Perhaps such sentiments are a reaction against the popularization of qeej performances that feature choreographed dance moves rather than musical skill, as often seen at New Year celebrations.

The paper is notable as one of the first scholarly articles on Hmong music published by a Hmong author - or more appropriately, Mong author. Thao uses only the Mong ethnonym throughout the article - reflecting both the Blue Mong (Moob Leeg) community he studied and a point of view that the entire ethnic group should be referred to as Mong. Thao does not problematize this tricky issue of nomenclature, but rather states it as a fact. It will be interesting to see how such ideas influence the work of other scholars.

Thao mentions in passing that only males can learning to play the qeej, an issue that deserves more scrutiny. I have spoken with other qeej players who suggest that women aren't forbidden to learn, but that it isn't that common. I have even met young women who hope to one day learn to play the instrument themselves. The issue of gender in the performance of Hmong/Mong music remains sorely overlooked. I also have to take issue with Thao's reliance on Keith Quincy's History of People in the section of the paper devoted to Hmong history. While it makes for an exciting read, History is anything but a reliable source of information, as has been well documented in a variety of sources. It is sad to see this book cited so frequently in discussions of Hmong history and even in scholarly writing.
(For a recent debunking of Quincy, see: Entenmann, Robert. The Myth of Sonom, the Hmong King. Hmong Studies Journal 6 (2005). 2 October, 2006 .)

Still, the article is an important contribution to the study of Hmong/Mong-American music and refreshing look at tradition from the standpoint of practice rather than theory.