In October 2024, I applied for the Hmong Preservation Fellowship with the Ramsey County Historical Society and the Center for Hmong Studies. My proposed project sought to build on the insights and discussions from my dissertation research. My intention was to question, challenge, and deepen our understanding of preservation. Drawing from my background in museum studies and education, I approached this research from both perspectives. From the museum standpoint, I investigated how preservation is defined and enacted within museum settings. From the educational angle, I explored asset-based pedagogies, specifically Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (Paris & Alim, 2014) to consider how we think about culture that not only emphasizes cultures at strengths but how culture is defined.
Culture is widely understood to encompass a variety of elements that shape the identity and practices of a community. Central to this understanding are aspects of cultural heritage, which include the traditions, rituals, art forms, and customs that are passed down through generations.
I titled this series “Living at a Nexus,” highlighting the complex journey of balancing the experiences of first, 1.5th, and second-generation refugee immigrants. The series reflects how the past and present intersect and are negotiated. The ways culture and contemporary influences shape identity and engage the what, how, and why of the preservation of Hmong culture.
At the outset of this project, my goal was to engage in storytelling of diverse experiences of Hmong individuals. Learning how culture, identity, and self are sustained and preserved from a place of strength and resilience. I centered on four areas I saw emerge within the past decades as forms of preservation:
LANGUAGE, CLOTHING, MUSIC, and FOOD.
This fellowship was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Kalia Vue 