Transnational Aspects Of Iu-mien Refugee Identity (asian Americans)

This study examines how the Iu-Mien, a highland Laotian refugee group, have used transnational forces to construct a global ethnic identity in less than 20 years. Utilizing rich ethnographic data on the Iu-Mien, who are the least known American refugee group in the literature, the study considers the transnational aspects of Iu-Mien traditional identity and social space in Asia; how the transnational forces they have encountered as refugees have resulted in numerous cultural changes; and how their responses to these changes have led to the construction of a transnational identity and social space within the world political system.
The book presents the Iu-Mien as active agents in the shaping of their own identities and communities, and views the Iu-Mien within a global social space no longer discretely delimited within one country or culture area. By emphasizing the innovative strategies used by the Iu-Mien to utilize the transnational forces of Christian conversion, literacy development, and cultural exchange with their ancestral groups in China to create their new global identity, the study provides insights into the dynamics of other groups with transnational connections and identities and helps to identify the political and economic processes that have led to the development of nationalism.