Abstract:
Hmong are immigrants from Southeast Asia who have been
granted refugee status in the United States. Following the
collapse of Laos in 1975, thousands of Hmong fled in fear of
reprisal from the Pathet Lao for having aided the U.S. military
effort there.
Traditional cultural patterns have been in a state of flux
as Hmong have been forced to migrate to an alien environment.
This study was conducted to record changes in the clothing practices
of Hmong immigrants, as well as changes in. other cultural
practices that are indicative of ethnicity.
Thirty-three Hmong residents of Oregon were interviewed to
obtain information regarding clothing and ethnicity. The influence
of ethnic identity on continued use of traditional costume was
analyzed by means of a chi-square and Fisher's exact test. It was
found that dress and ethnicity are interdependent; low ethnicity
was associated with low use of traditional costume, high ethnicity
was associated with high use of traditional costume.
