Hmong, Laotian, and Karen History Harvest - The Meaning of Home
Mentor 1
Arijit Sen
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
The Hmong, Laotian, Karen history harvest is a part of a bigger project called “Picturing Milwaukee”. Picturing Milwaukee is a project that collects stories and relaying tales of places and neighborhoods in Milwaukee. The objective of this project is to conjure up –or picture– various neighborhoods of Milwaukee like designs in a wonderfully complex quilt. The purpose of this project is to examine how the local and the urban relate to each other – how a street fits into a larger urban narrative.
The history harvest research began in Fall 2018, where research assistants interviewed Southeast Asians (Hmong, Laotian, and Karen refugees) who now live in the Milwaukee neighborhoods. The Southeast Asians were gathered and interviewed in the St. Michael’s Church in Milwaukee. Results of this interview portrayed the evolution of their definition of home as their values and beliefs were preserved and applied to their new home in the US. The interview was conducted orally (podcast) and valued belongings (e.g. traditional clothing, gardening tools) were photographed. The participants reported a higher quality of life here due to better job opportunities and education. They feel more secure in a free country like the US than they did in Southeast Asia, where they were living in fear of being imprisoned or killed by their oppressors. Despite the fact, Milwaukee has had a positive impact on their lives as they now call it home, they still miss and long for more memories in their first home in Southeast Asia. In addition, their transition to the US was difficult due to language and cultural barriers. Understanding this relationship between the whole and its parts is important because it signifies how individuals construct a sense of place and how places produce the larger world.
Hmong, Laotian, and Karen History Harvest - The Meaning of Home
Union Wisconsin Room
The Hmong, Laotian, Karen history harvest is a part of a bigger project called “Picturing Milwaukee”. Picturing Milwaukee is a project that collects stories and relaying tales of places and neighborhoods in Milwaukee. The objective of this project is to conjure up –or picture– various neighborhoods of Milwaukee like designs in a wonderfully complex quilt. The purpose of this project is to examine how the local and the urban relate to each other – how a street fits into a larger urban narrative.
The history harvest research began in Fall 2018, where research assistants interviewed Southeast Asians (Hmong, Laotian, and Karen refugees) who now live in the Milwaukee neighborhoods. The Southeast Asians were gathered and interviewed in the St. Michael’s Church in Milwaukee. Results of this interview portrayed the evolution of their definition of home as their values and beliefs were preserved and applied to their new home in the US. The interview was conducted orally (podcast) and valued belongings (e.g. traditional clothing, gardening tools) were photographed. The participants reported a higher quality of life here due to better job opportunities and education. They feel more secure in a free country like the US than they did in Southeast Asia, where they were living in fear of being imprisoned or killed by their oppressors. Despite the fact, Milwaukee has had a positive impact on their lives as they now call it home, they still miss and long for more memories in their first home in Southeast Asia. In addition, their transition to the US was difficult due to language and cultural barriers. Understanding this relationship between the whole and its parts is important because it signifies how individuals construct a sense of place and how places produce the larger world.
