1. Continuity and Change in Hmong Gender Values: Mai’s Story to the Present Wednesday, September 20, 2000

2. Some business w Papers due Monday in lecture w Format of papers: Reports to Medical Center and to Southeast Asia Center w Reading guides being distributed now w Website w Alert about Twilight Years xerox in your Course Reader

3. Mai’s mother’s proposal w Her proposal the guy in Minneapolis w Her pointed plea Mai wasn’t getting any younger Invoking education as a burden For the sake of the kids...

4. What did Mai say? w Did she simply say “no way”?

5. Mai’s reply w She started to weep quietly but with an air of desperation. w Mai’s mother was worried. What was wrong? w Mai said: “Mom, I don’t think he is a nice guy. I think he will be a tyrant at home.” w What Hmong traditions was Mai relying on here?

6. Hmong traditions tapped into by Mai w Respect for elder w Right to have opinion on specific men heard (while not challenging right of parents to determine final choice) w Veiled threat of other possibilities: suicide elopement with unapproved man embarrassing her family by playing the inept woman being unavailable for communication

7. The deal w Mai’s mother: OK, won’t coerce. Won’t tell dad. w BUT: Mai would have to drop this guy in Oswego. w AND: she could take the time she wanted to marry w BUT: she would have to marry a Hmong w What did Mai say?

8. Mai’s reply and feeling w Mai: OK. First priority would be to find a Hmong man. She promised to stop seeing the Oswego guy. w But she would seek one out who would treat her more equally at home, even if she conformed to certain traditions. w AND: the man she chose would not stand in the way of her education and career.

9. Change and continuity w What has stayed the same? w What has changed? w What do you think will happen?

10. Film clip w What is the difference between how the young women and the young man feel about gender inequality? w Do you have the feeling that the women are ready to challenge the perspective of the man? Why or why not? w What does this short clip suggest to you about the prospects for cultural change around gender among the Hmong?