Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ethnographic Film Proposal: Hmong in America


He Who Knows: Hmong Shamanism and Culture in America

I propose to create an ethnographic film about the Hmong in America, with a focus on religious and medical rituals and practices. It will update Taggart Siegel’s film, Between Two Worlds: The Hmong Shamans in America (1985), whose focus was on both newly arrived refugee shamans and shamans that had been in America for approximately 5 years or less. His film focuses on bringing the Hmong’s traditions from their homeland straight into America and trying to adjust. My film will focus on the current state of affairs in the Hmong people’s religious and medical lives today, after moving and settling in to their new homeland: America. Now that America is where the Hmong second generation’s children call home, I want to see how their traditions have adapted to the new setting and the new surrounding culture, as well as what has remained the same. I will focus on Shamans and the people that visit them, as well as the people that do not. I will focus on how families socialize, and how their traditions have survived and transformed over time.

Introduction

I propose to create an ethnographic film about the Hmong in America, with a focus on religious and medical rituals and practices. It will update Taggart Siegel’s film, Between Two Worlds: The Hmong Shamans in America (1985), whose focus was on both newly arrived refugee shamans and shamans that had been in America for approximately 5 years or less. His film focuses on bringing the Hmong’s traditions from their homeland straight into America and trying to adjust. My film will focus on the current state of affairs in the Hmong people’s religious and medical lives today, after moving and settling in to their new homeland – America. Now that America is where the Hmong second generation’s children call home, I want to see how their traditions have adapted to the new setting and the new surrounding culture, as well as what has remained the same. I will focus on Shamans and the people that visit them, as well as the people that do not. I will focus on how families socialize, and how their traditions have survived and transformed over time.

The people of the growing Hmong community have been in the United State since 1975. The Hmong came to the United States as refugees from Laos, Thailand, China, and Vietnam after suffering from a series of terrible events and political trouble following their support of the United States in the Vietnam War. Sponsored by churches to come to Fresno, California, and St Paul, Minnesota, the Hmong refugees left Laos and Thailand when the U.S. recognized their great sacrifice to us (at the expense of their safety) in the Vietnam War and officially began accepting refugees. The population is densest in those cities mentioned above, with other large populations in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Though a few films have been made chronicling the religious experiences of one or more families and shamans of the Hmong people in America, none have been as reflexive, as accurate, or as all encompassing as mine aspires to be. I want to make a film that explores both the older and especially the newer generations of Hmong in the United States, using ethnography (Poltyk) and literature as a jumping off point. My film will explore the current state of religious ritual, social culture, modern technology and medicine, and immigration in the Hmong community. It will raise (as well as answer) many questions, and serve as an educational piece to be shown for decades in the classroom as well as the home.

Previous Films and Ethnographies

Taggart Siegel, a filmmaker and Columbia College Chicago MFA graduate, made a film called Between Two Worlds: The Hmong Shaman in America, using Jo Ann Poltyk’s ethnography, New Pioneers in the Heartland: Hmong life in Wisconsin as a reference, following a few individual shamans in various towns (often living in tenement buildings) in the Midwest, specifically Illinois. The film focuses on the struggle to keep ancient tradition, stay alive with the threat of SUNDS (sudden unexpected death syndrome), which affects young Hmong men in their sleep due to shamanistic conflict with new medicine and night terrors, and the missionaries at work trying to convert the Hmong from their “old ways.” He also made another film, Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America (2001), about a Hmong shaman coming to America to make a new home from the mountains of Laos, Paja Thao. Paja Thao, a shaman who tries to keep his ancient traditions in tact, comes to America with his family and settles in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he becomes vital to the shamanistic rituals for the Hmong community already in place. Over 17 years, Siegel keeps track of the family’s journey – the new world, the challenges they face with American cultural advances like television, and most of all, the family’s religious struggle to keep together as a unit for the health and wellness of their father, Paja.

While Taggart Siegel’s first film deals with Poltyk’s ethnography, and his second is a wonderful exploration of one family’s journey, I propose something different – something more relevant and updated. The first film does not go into enough detail about each shaman, and the second goes into great detail (five years worth) about only one. One of the problems that will be remedied with my film will be the division of time and effort amongst families. I plan to follow (3 or 4 times a year for a couple of weeks at a time) 4 or 5 Hmong families – one or two with shamans in them – that are connected socially in some way. It will be a challenge to find so many willing parties, but not impossible.

The Hmong people are still persecuted today in Laos after Thailand forced them to go back across the borders into Laotian Government hands once again. The U.N. and the majority of the International community looked down on Thailand for this, but they had not signed the U.N. refugee agreement, and therefore did not have to comply (George and Chiang). The Hmong that made it to America when they did still have ties to their homeland, and care very much about the injustice that is happening as we speak – work camps, Hmong grave desecrations, terrible health conditions, surveillance, among other things (Veng). This split between two worlds that Siegel explored, I will explore more thoroughly. How does this effect the newer generations?

My Film

He Who Knows: Hmong Shamanism and Culture in America will follow around 5 families to find out what their religious practices, social practices, and hopes for the future are today. Unlike the first film, modeled by the anthropologist Dwight Conquergood (Siegel’s partner in the project), I will have no narration to shape or alter the audience’s impression of Hmong culture. This ethnographic film will aim to be as reflexive and true to the Hmong’s impressions and thoughts of themselves as possible. The film will also focus more on the younger generations of Hmong in the families, as they are the future of the Hmong in America

The Hmong culture’s medical and shamanistic traditions have long been a source of conflict with American society and cultures, so my film will also explore how that conflict is changing, and how is has affected people already within the healthcare system. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, is a book about a young Hmong girl refugee in America, her medical condition, and the complications that arise due to cultural misunderstanding. The book will also play a role in informing my film’s content on this issue. I want to explore the families’ experiences wit medicine vs. shamnism in the United States, and find out how health has changed, or been affected, since their days as refugees on the move.

Itemized Budget

250 Hours of mini DV tape $300

Canon GL 2 Camcorder $1,741

Litepanel: Micro On-Camera Dimmable 5600K LED Video Light $260

Transportation to Wisconsin by hybrid car, gas @ $40 a tank, 10 RTs $1,200

Food (Crew) and Lodging (minimal) $40 a day, 35 days total (3 people) $4,200

Informant Fees, Gifts, Miscellaneous $1,500

Total $9,201

Conclusion

Many educators have reviewed the previous films on the Hmong people and found them to be as incredibly helpful, educational, and invaluable in their classrooms anywhere from grammar school to university level. Anthropologists and academics have studied the importance of ethnographic film for decades, but the effectiveness can change from film to film. This largely depends on the filmmaker’s ethical boundaries in response to the public or audience’s changing expectations (Ruby, 138). My film will not only aim to be the most truthful and consensual portrayal of Hmong life, but the most varied and fair portrayal by way of the number of subjects in the film. By this I refer to an emic perspective, a reflexive shooting process, and indigenous input. I thank you for considering my proposal, and hope you will consider the great benefit, awareness, and general value this film will bring about surrounding the Hmong population in America.

Works Cited

Between Two Worlds: A Hmong Shaman in America. Dir. Taggart Siegel. Prod. Dwight Conquergood. 1996. Online Format.

Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: a Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. Print.

George, William Lloyd, and Chiang Mai. "Why Thailand Is Sending Hmong Refugees Back to Laos - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Time and CNN, 24 July 2010. Web. 12 May 2011. .

Koltyk, Jo Ann. New Pioneers in the Heartland: Hmong Life in Wisconsin. 1995. Print.

Lee, Txong Pao, and Mark E. Pfeifer. "Building Bridges: Teaching about the Hmong in Our Communities." Hmong Studies. 2006. Web. 11 May 2011. .

Rauhala, Emily. "Vang Pao, Guerrilla Fighter and Hmong Leader, Dead at 81 - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Time and CNN, 7 Jan. 2011. Web. 12 May 2011. .

Ruby, Jay. Picturing Culture: Explorations of Film & Anthropology. Chicago [u.a.: Univ. of Chicago, 2000. Print.

Split Horn: : Life of a Hmong Shaman in America. Dir. Taggart Siegel. PBS, 2001.

Veng, Seng T. "Dear Hmong Times,." Hmong Times. 23 Oct. 2007. Web. 12 May 2011. .

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