The Hmong population in the United States arrived as refugees. Their initial displacement occurred as a result of the Secret War in Laos during the Vietnam War. History on the Run, written by Dr. Ma Va, professor and founding chair of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced, highlighted the Hmong Americans' journey during the Secret War in Laos. This book examines the experiences of Hmong refugees in the United States to theorize refugee histories and secrecy, in particular those of the Hmong. Dr. Vang conceptualizes these histories as fugitive histories, as they move and are carried by people who move. Charting the incomplete archives of the war made secret through redacted U.S. state documents, ethnography, film, and literature, Dr. Vang shows how Hmong refugees tell their stories in ways that exist separately
from narratives of U.S. empire, and that cannot be traditionally archived. In so doing, Dr. Vang outlines a methodology for writing histories that foreground refugee epistemologies despite systematic attempts to silence those histories.

Date: Wednesday, April 20
Time: 6 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom

The Hmong Voices Series proposes lectures, readings, and cultural events and seeks to enhance a better understanding of the Hmong current issues. All events are free and open to the public. For special accommodations, contact Dr. Kao-Ly Yang at kayang@csufresno.edu.