"Demystifying Hmong Shamanism" is the first book to provide a comprehensive discussion of shamanism as practiced and experienced by Hmong Americans. A broad range of case examples are discussed that not only represent the initiation and maintenance of the shaman's practice, but also a variety of ceremonies performed to promote spiritual health and well-being across the life span. Case examples are described in rich detail and presented within a real-life context. Shamanism as practiced in the United States remains consistent with that practiced in their homeland of Laos, with minor adaptations as described throughout the text. The book is unique in that it addresses a traditional form of shamanism that continues to be practiced widely within Hmong American communities across the United States. "Demystifying Hmong Shamanism" provides a comprehensive exploration of the practice and use of shamanism by Hmong Americans that incorporates a first-hand perspective from recipients, family members, shamans, and the shaman assistants. "Demystifying Hmong Shamanism" is the result of over ten years of research and close collaboration with Hmong shamans and other members of the Hmong American community. As practicing Hmong shamans advance in age, they have identified the importance of documenting their legacy for future generations. Their cooperation and collaboration with Dr. Gerdner has provided a unique opportunity for the documentation and recording of ceremonies normally restricted to family members. The shamanic ceremonies and practices reported here reflect the diversity with regard to purpose and performance found within the Hmong shamanic world. Recorded and presented for the first time, "Demystifying Hmong Shamanism" is a landmark publication in the field of Hmong and Hmong American studies, shamanism, and religion.

An incisive look at Hmong religion in the United States, where resettled refugees found creative ways to maintain their traditions, even as Christian organizations deputized by the government were granted an outsized influence on the refugees’ new lives. Every year, members of the Hmong Christian Church of God in Minneapolis gather for a cherished Thanksgiving celebration. But this Thanksgiving takes place in the spring, in remembrance of the turbulent days in May 1975 when thousands of Laotians were evacuated for resettlement in the United States. For many Hmong, passage to America was also a spiritual crossing. As they found novel approaches to living, they also embraced Christianity—called kev cai tshiab, “the new way”—as a means of navigating their complex spiritual landscapes. Melissa May Borja explores how this religious change happened and what it has meant for Hmong culture. American resettlement policies unintentionally deprived Hmong of the resources necessary for their time-honored rituals, in part because these practices, blending animism, ancestor worship, and shamanism, challenged many Christian-centric definitions of religion. At the same time, because the government delegated much of the resettlement work to Christian organizations, refugees developed close and dependent relationships with Christian groups. Ultimately the Hmong embraced Christianity on their own terms, adjusting to American spiritual life while finding opportunities to preserve their customs. Follow the New Way illustrates America’s wavering commitments to pluralism and secularism, offering a much-needed investigation into the public work done by religious institutions with the blessing of the state. But in the creation of a Christian-inflected Hmong American animism we see the resilience of tradition—how it deepens under transformative conditions.

This study documents Hmong’s involvement in the Secret War in Laos, their refugee exodus from Laos to the refugee camps in Thailand, and the challenges to find third countries to take Hmong refugees. At the time, Hmong and other highlander refugees from Laos were considered unsuitable to be resettled into the United States. He provides detailed research on the adaptation of Hmong Americans to their new lives in the United States, facing discrimination and prejudice, and the advancement of Hmong Americans over the past 40 years. He presents the Hmong American community as an uprooted refugee community that grew from a small population in 1975 to more than 300,000 by the year 2015; spreading to all 50 states while becoming a diverse and complex American ethnic community. To get better insight into their diversity, complexity, and adaptation to different localities, Kou Yang uses the Hmong communities in Montana, Fresno and Denver as case studies. The progress of Hmong Americans over the past 4 decades is highlighted with a list of many achievements in education, high-tech, academia, political participation, the military and other fields. Readers of this book will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges, complex and diverse experience of the Hmong American community. They will also obtain insight into the overall experience of the Hmong, an ethnic people of Diaspora, found in Asia, the Americas, Africa, Australia, and Europe. They are like bristle-cone pines on the rock that have been exposed to all types of weather, climate and conditions, but they won't die.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of Asian families residing in Canada and the United States by portraying and analyzing Asian Canadian and Asian American immigrant families in an integrated yet nuanced way. Chapters use an interdisciplinary approach to provide more comprehensive coverage of the vast diversity as well as common trends and shared characteristics of Asian families. Specifically, the volume examines the experiences of families whose ancestry can be traced to East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. Key areas of coverage include: Integrated overview of Asian American and Asian Canadian families, including an exploration of the historical and current immigration policies. Experiences of families of East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and West Asian ancestry across Canada and the United States. Asian religious traditions and worldviews, traditional practices, and religio-cultural views on gender, sexuality, and family. Specific Asian immigrant groups on immigration demographics, family dynamics and relationships, gendered roles, parenting practices and beliefs, and implications for mental health. Challenges and issues that families face as Asians and immigrants, the strength and resilience of families, with extensive reviews on various intervention and prevention programs. Methodological strategies in investigating Asian families and their impact on the field. Asian Families in Canada and the United States is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, graduate students as well as clinicians, professionals, and policymakers in the fields of developmental, social, and cross-cultural psychology, parenting and family studies, social work, and all interrelated disciplines.

This volume is divided into five parts and fifteen chapters that address these topics by examining ethnogeriatric foundations, research issues, clinical care in ethnogeriatrics, education and policy. Expertly written chapters, by practicing geriatricians, gerontologists, clinician researchers and clinician educators, present a systematic approach to recognizing, analyzing and addressing the challenges of meeting the healthcare needs of a diverse population and authors discuss ways in which to engage the community by increasing research participation and by investigating the most prevalent diseases found in ethnic minorities. Ethnogeriatrics discusses issues related to working with culturally diverse elders that tend not to be addressed in typical training curricula and is essential reading for geriatricians, hospitalists, advance practice nurses, social workers and others who are part of a multidisciplinary team that provides high quality care to older patients.

Alternative medicine is not a fashionable new trend but an established cultural strategy, as well as a dynamic feature of mainstream contemporary medicine, in which elements of folk traditions are often blended with western scientific approaches.The Anthropology of Alternative Medicine is a concise yet wide-ranging exploration of non-biomedical healing. The book addresses a broad range of practices including: substance, energy and information flows (e.g. helminthic therapy); spirit, consciousness and trance (e.g. shamanism); body, movement and the senses (e.g. reiki and aromatherapy); as well as classical medical traditions as complements or alternatives to Western biomedicine (e.g. Ayurveda). Exploring the cultural underpinnings of contemporary healing methods, while assessing current ideas, topics and resources for further study, this book will be invaluable to undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology, sociology, psychology, and health related professions such as nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and biomedicine.