Reclaiming Home: Reconstruction of Hmong Cultural Landscapes
Mentor 1
Arijit Sen
Location
Union 260
Start Date
29-4-2016 12:40 PM
Description
Notions of culture and cultural difference are constantly questioned when exploring how immigrants and refugees recreate their homes in urban America. Core authentic values are expected as results to distinguish Hmong from non-Hmong. Instead, Hmong culture, we found, was constantly being recreated, molded, reframed and represented. Culture was performed within varied contexts and depended on the individual being interviewed. While there may indeed be some core values and beliefs that frame Hmong identity, those values are neither consistently experienced nor unvaryingly expressed by different Hmong individuals. This project is about Hmong Americans who are trying to rebuild their lives in Washington Park, Milwaukee. This project is a continuing research that uses digital technology to provide short documentaries of the life stories of the Hmong residents of Washington Park Neighborhood in the City of Milwaukee. The project starts to render the complex and diverse voices of the Hmong alongside poetry and spoken word examples of the Hmong experience. Through the stories and written pieces, this remix can become a trace of history. This project can begin an imprint on the urban society of who the Hmong people are. In addition to the detailed oral histories, I began documentation of the physical and cultural landscapes of Hmong immigrants in the Washington Park Neighborhood. The products produced will be used to further research on the redevelopment of such cultural landscape. The research aims to bring out the cultural landscapes of the Hmong, acting as a connective thread to tie the Hmong journey in Washington Park and weave these stories into the fabrics of America, illustrating the life, citizenship, and richness in diversity in the inner city. The results of this research will influence and inform city policies, neighborhood narratives and architectural and planning processes.
Reclaiming Home: Reconstruction of Hmong Cultural Landscapes
Union 260
Notions of culture and cultural difference are constantly questioned when exploring how immigrants and refugees recreate their homes in urban America. Core authentic values are expected as results to distinguish Hmong from non-Hmong. Instead, Hmong culture, we found, was constantly being recreated, molded, reframed and represented. Culture was performed within varied contexts and depended on the individual being interviewed. While there may indeed be some core values and beliefs that frame Hmong identity, those values are neither consistently experienced nor unvaryingly expressed by different Hmong individuals. This project is about Hmong Americans who are trying to rebuild their lives in Washington Park, Milwaukee. This project is a continuing research that uses digital technology to provide short documentaries of the life stories of the Hmong residents of Washington Park Neighborhood in the City of Milwaukee. The project starts to render the complex and diverse voices of the Hmong alongside poetry and spoken word examples of the Hmong experience. Through the stories and written pieces, this remix can become a trace of history. This project can begin an imprint on the urban society of who the Hmong people are. In addition to the detailed oral histories, I began documentation of the physical and cultural landscapes of Hmong immigrants in the Washington Park Neighborhood. The products produced will be used to further research on the redevelopment of such cultural landscape. The research aims to bring out the cultural landscapes of the Hmong, acting as a connective thread to tie the Hmong journey in Washington Park and weave these stories into the fabrics of America, illustrating the life, citizenship, and richness in diversity in the inner city. The results of this research will influence and inform city policies, neighborhood narratives and architectural and planning processes.
