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PREFACEThe second Hmong Research Conference, held at theUniversity of Minnesota on November 17-19, 1983, drewfour hundred people. While this number was far beyondour expectations, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised.The presence of more than sixty thousand Hmongin the United Statesall engaged in the struggle to existin a culture whose social, political and economicstructures are so different from their ownhas attractedattention from many groups. Among them are educators,academic researchers, shop owners, social workers, churchcongregations, appreciators of the arts, health care providers,landlords and neighbors. Their interests rangefrom seeking solutions for immediate resettlement problemssuch as providing medical care to theoretical considerationsof the structure of the Hmong language.The conference, entitled "The Hmong in Transition,"had as its focus the formal presentation of the researchpapers collected in this volume. It also encouraged informalexchanges between those involved in helping theHmong resettle in all parts of the country. How much helpis too much help, they asked of each other. Can theHmong adapt to a new culture and also preserve their traditions?What will become of Hmong children who arebeing taught one set of values at home and another atschool? Will the Hmong be caught in the vicious cycle ofpoverty that afflicts some other minority groups in thiscountry?When this book is published, it will be almost tenyears since the first mass exodus of Hmong from Laos,precipitated by the communist Pathet Lao takeover of theLaotian government. Scholars have now had almost a decadeto study the effects of this upheaval on the Hmongnot only in the United States but also in other places oftheir exile around the world. This volume includes informationabout Hmong in France, Australia and Thailand aswell as the United States. Particularly noteworthy isthat the Hmong, whose history was borne for centuriesonly in the hearts and minds and spoken words of its people,have now been surrounded by the written word.xi11The