Ethnographic Study of the Hmong Culture

For this study, the people of the "Golden Triangle" have been selected, specifically the Hmong culture. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Paul and Elaine Lewis undertook a study of the six tribes that live in the hill country of northern Thailand which borders on Loas and Burma. While the fertile valleys within this region have been populated for some eight centuries by the Lanna or Yuan people, also know as the "Northern Thai," "the mountain slopes are occupied by a variety of tribal people who have converged on this area from the north, northeast, west and northwest, and now eke out a precarious livelihood there" (Lewis, 1984, p. 9). These tribes include the Karen (Kariang, Yang), Hmong (Meo), Mien (Yao), Lahu (Mussur), Akha (Kaw), and LiSu (Lisaw) and have a total population of over 400,000 (pps. 9-10).

The Lewises used three methods to present the groups within their book entitled Peoples of the Golden Triangle (1984): field photographs from the villages; studio photographs of the Mayer-Lipton Hilltribe Collection; and a written

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fertilizer for the crop. This means that the hillsides are cleared and intensive cultivation of their main staple, rice, takes place in terraced fields. Consequently, with the dense population and the lessening of available forest lands, the yields are decreasing. Thus, the Hmong, tend to move frequently to take advantage of new forests to burn and to maintain their love of independence which is extremely important to them. In fact, among the Hmong, a desire for independence dominates their lives and is a binding force within the culture (Lewis, 1984,p.10). Hmong legends point to their ancestors having entered China through the high steppes of Tibet, Siberia and Mongolia. But attempts by the Chinese to control them over the centuries has created hostilities among the tribe and led to their periodic migration in search of freedom (Lewis, 1984, p. 102). This has resulted in the Hmong being the most widely dispersed tribal group to have come from China. on the whole Hmong live separately from other ethnic groups, though where opium is grown, and much of the hill economy is dependent on opium, then traders also may be found living within the village. The size of the village and thus the social environment is determined by the
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Approximate Word count = 1762
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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