Beschreibung
This is a work of ethnographic reflection on Hmong society, history and
culture, dealing with questions of the self and the notion that a romantic
self inspired the ethos of hedonism associated with the consumer economy.
A Hmong identity is shown to have been historically constructed through
the works of colonial missionaries, linguists, and anthropologists. Yet
Hmong voices have also been powerful in this process. Based on recent
fieldwork in Asia and overseas, the Hmong diaspora is examined. The
modern Hmong self is presented as a prospective one, constructed in
diaspora and through the use of the internet and other modes of modern
communication in a movement towards a virtual future which, despite the
dissonance of voices appealing to an ideal unity, is one still rich with
potentiality.
Nicholas Tapp is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology, The
Australian National University. Previously he lectured at Edinburgh
University and at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has conducted
extensive fieldwork with the Hmong of China, Southeast Asia, and overseas.
