Toward HMoob-centered Inquiries: Reclaiming HMoob American Educational Scholarship and Curriculum

Abstract

As the intersecting field of HMoob (Hmong/Mong) Studies/Hmong American Studies, Southeast Asian American Studies, and Education Studies grow, there is also an increased desire to learn, read, and produce scholarship by HMoob people. Throughout our graduate journeys and as early career scholars and educators at the intersections of Critical HMoob Studies and Education Studies, we—Choua and Kaozong—have yearned for scholarship on HMoob that is not just about representation but includes research that recognizes HMoob strengths and assets. Specifically, we craved scholarly knowledge that employed HMoob assets to interrogate racist, colonial discourses and decenter whiteness. This special issue centers HMoob (Hmong/Mong) epistemologies and ontologies in HMoob American education research to produce “new narratives and imaginaries” (Vue & Mouavangsou, 2021, p. 273). We aim to provide empirical, theoretical, epistemological, ontological, and methodological HMoob-centered approaches in scholarship and curriculum building. While there are existing scholarships that aim to understand and advocate for HMoob American education, we call for a critical analysis of this genealogy. HMoob scholarship, especially those that seek social justice change, should not be grounded nor should it produce deficit and/or damage-centered discourses on the communities it is advocating for.