DOCUMENT RESUME ED 270 509 UD 024 855 AUTHOR ... - ERIC

STAGES OF HMONG CULTURAL ADAPTATION 9United States are products of this history, with someindividuals and groups having been more strongly influencedby developments in one stage or another.THE PEOPLE OF MOOS PLAISIn the early 1950s there was a cluster of four Hmongvillages two days travel (but only sixty miles directflight) north of Luang Prabang, the Royal Capital ofLaos. This cluster is usually called Moos Plais1 by itsformer inhabitants now in the Twin Cities. The villagesat Moos Plais were relatively stable and prosperous.There was enough land so that people did not have to migrate.They had a surplus rice crop, raised animals andgrew opium. I would like to illustrate briefly the stagesof adaptation by reciting a few bits of these maple'sexperience.At least three developments epitomized the transitionof Moos Plais from the Laos traditional stage to theLaos adaptive stage. The earliest to develop was regularand frequent trade relations with the Lao. The traditionalLaos period included extensive trade, of course.Bu in the Laos adaptive stage, Hmong did not depend soexclusively on traders coming to them; they also went toLao towns in very much larger numbers and with greaterfrequency.Next was cooperation with the French/Lao militaryeffort. Initially it was simply a matter of Hmong menpatrolling under the leadership of their own headmen toambush occasional bands of Pathet Lao and to defend theirvillages, but during the early 1950s the French/Laoforces set up a multi-ethnic garrison at Moos Plais, withten French officers led by a colonel. Lao officers andtechnicians were also stationed there, as were troopsfrom other mountain peoples in addition to Hmong. Helicoptersbegan to come with increasing frequency.An airstripwas built, shortening the trip from Luang Prabangto a few minutes. Eventually the Lao and French officersat Moos Plais were replaced by Hmong under the commandof General yang Pao, and the garrison was suppliedby American pilots.The third major indication of the Laos adaptivestage was in the establishment of a Lao school in Moos21