Philippines
-made of 7641 islands
-main islands are Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao
languages spoken in the Philippines
-English, Tagalog
-Tagalog has 8+ dialects
What languages were found in pre-modern Philippines?
Sanskrit, Old Malay, Javanese, and Tagalog
ethnic groups in the Philippines
Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, and others
main religions in the Philippines
Catholicism and Islam
Filipino economy
Agriculture
--rice, fish, sugar cane, fish
Industries
--outsourced businesses
Services
--call centers, transnational labor
What countries colonized the Philippines?
Spain, USA, Japan
Jose Rizal 1861-1896
-a national hero and author
-1887 "Social Cancer"
-1891 "Reign of Greed"
-executed during the revolution
Puto is a rice cake
True
Ferdinand Marcos
-Dictator of the Philippines from 1965-1985
-AKA the Marcos Administration
When did the Philippines declare independence?
1946
Even before he spoke, I knew that he was like me, a Filipino.
Scent of Apples
it is as though he were discovering the power of the machines for the first time, quivering in the air, trembling underground.
The Distance to Andromeda
Scent of Apples
...
The Distance of Andromeda
...
Hmong
-the Hmong people do not have their own country
-they are their own ethnic group
What countries have heavily populated communities of Hmong people?
China, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, and North America
-postwar migration of Hmong people to America in 1976
Hmong religion
focuses on spirituality
Hmong language and literature
mostly non-written
Hmong origins
communities rooted in northern China
historical Hmong movement
-originally in China
-18th-19th century migrated to SE Asia
-1975 migrated to the US
Hmong in the Vietnam War
-communist Hmongs called Faydang
-Hmong working with the US called Saigon Hmong
--gathered intel on communist in Laos
-10% of Hmong died due to war
Hmong dialects
-Hmong Daw (white Hmong)
-Mong Njua (Green Hmong)
Hmong literature
-oral and non-oral literature
Hmong fashion
differences among Hmong tribes are expressed through colors
Hmong rituals
Spiritual worship
-environment
-Taoist cosmology
Many converted to Christianity
Hmong American Writing Circle
-group of Hmong American writers
-focuses on written literature
Hold on to our new fields!
HAWC
-Our Fields
One man is sitting hunched over on a battered blue ice box, wearing a discolored green parka and a black skullcap over oily brown hair. He has a backpack and duffel bag, as if ready for a long journey, carrying a sign: Hungry! Please Help!
HAWC
-Hunger
of hair and mounds of choes refusing to rot.
HAWC
-In My Fresno Backyard
The Last Drops
HAWC
-
& later, we found him on his knees weeping over a fallen nest, the eggshells scattered like tears the parents nowhere in sight.
HAWC
-My Father, after Reading Ecclesiastes 12
Endings
HAWC
-
The Things a Hmong Woman Loves
HAWC
-
The Two of Us
HAWC
-
My grades suck and I have no desire to continue.
HAWC
-The Two of Us
I have a boyfriend," she whispered. "We've been talking, and we were thinking about crashing at his dad's place in New York for a while. We'd probably hitchhike to get there.
HAWC
-The Two of Us
My plan is beyond just the two of us wanting to stay together. I need a break from all of this crap at home.
HAWC
-The Two of Us
selfish. It was her duty to support them, whether financially in the future or emotionally now. Her responsibility. The oldest daughter: a role not to be coveted.
HAWC
-The Two of Us
My parents huddle
Sitting closely but not touching.
The TV speakers blast
Mountain people vernacular
Into the living room
Overpowering the darkness
HAWC
-Electricity
The Art of Fishing
HAWC
-
No one brought a gun. We were all afraid. It was here for fifteen or twenty minuted," Blong cautioned us.
HAWC
-The Art of Fishing
Nothing's going to bite!" Blong yells from the back door.
"I know," I yell back to him. Then I whisper again, "I know.
HAWC
-The Art of Fishing
What is Starbucks? My Father asks.
And Why do people drink so much of it?
HAWC
-Your Janitor: Is My Father
Laos
-a country landlocked by Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), and China
Laos ethnic groups
-Lao, Khmu, Hmong
-49 other ethnic groups
languages spoken in Laos
Laotian, french, English
religions in Laos
Buddhism, Christianity
What countries colonized Laos?
Thailand, France, Vietnam (possibly)
When did Laos gain independence?
1945
effects of French colonialism on Laos
-Franco-Siamese War
-mass social and education reform
-created civil schools
Laos' Secret War
-invaded by North Vietnamese in 1958
-group of Laotians that support Vietnamese communists called themselves the Pathet Laos
-the Pathet Lao took control of Laos in 1975
-about 10% of the Laotian population migrated to Thailand (refugee camps)
origins of Laotian language
-influenced by Thailand and Pali-Sanskrit
-early script similar to Javanese and Balinese
early Laotian literature and religion
originally the 49+ ethnic groups of Laos had more oral traditions
It partially explained why he preferred to deal with the people on a business basis, concerned only with debit and credit.
A Thousand Wings
The butcher killed another water buffalo last night. My daughter heard the howl.
A Thousand Wings
Out of an impulse, a feeling both fraternal and maternal, Fong Mun reached out and brushed Raymond's soft black bangs aside. They moved closer.
A Thousand Wings
He picked cloves that already had shoots and stubby roots, them in the soil, and wanted them with the pond water. To expand his cabbages, tomatoes, cauliflowers, and spinach.
A Thousand Wings
Plus his knowledge of Chinese would make him less Laotian in the eyes of some. It partly explained why he preferred to deal with people on a business basis , concerned only with debit and credit.
A Thousand Wings
The red wave took a turn around the corner that was when Ahma in the kitchen first heard its crashing. She had just returned from the market and sat down to chip a slice of pork.
A Thousand Wings
a Vietnamese pho vendor leaned close to ahman and whispered, "The butcher killed another water buffalo last night. My daughter heard the howl."
Ahma put her fan down , stood upright from the bench, took leave, and headed for the butcher.
He sold her two
A Thousand Wings
he cited from Marx and Lenin, and often referred to the two as one entity : Marx Lenin, "Marx" pronounced as "Mark," which sounded like the Lao word for "Fruit." The fruit named Lenin. The Lenin Fruit.
A Thousand Wings
Later in the afternoon, he found an empty Pepsi bottle on the windowsill. So his father, who forbade him to drink that kind of "chemical stuff," had bought it for her, a person so sick in bed. She had drunk it all.
A Thousand Wings
The funeral attendees sitting around Fong Mun were strangers, not the uncles and aunts he had known. Surely they didn't know Ahma? They didn't even know what she looked like. They would probably picture her as a woman in a sarong, her teeth blackened fro
A Thousand Wings
Once you finish wrapping one, get ready for the next. A wrapper should be ready to go."
The idea horrified Fong Mun. It jolted him from the reflections of childhood he indulged himself in while cooking.
A Thousand Wings
They would heat up the egg rolls later.
A Thousand Wings
Cambodia
-surrounded by Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Gulf of Thailand
A Thousand Wings
...
main religions in Cambodia
Buddhism, Islam
main ethnic groups in Cambodia
Khmer and Champa
primary economy of Cambodia
70% of exports is textile
main language of Cambodia
Khmer
-a non-tonal language
literacy in Cambodia
-average literacy rate is 77%
-average rate for females is 70%
-average rate for males is 84%
origins of Cambodians
originally were cave dwellers
What countries colonized Cambodia?
France, Japan
communists in Cambodia
-1960s various communist factions emerged
-1970 the prince of Cambodia was kicked out of office
-1975 communists take over government
Khmer Rouge 1975-1999
-destroyed temples
-killed most artists and musicians
-ethnic genocide of Vietnamese and Champa
-censored popular music
He went back in and kissed the woman. I rolled over in quiet laughter and said to myself in disbelief, "Daran, you just gave orders to a Khmer Rouge Soldier.
Music Through the Dark
She was tiny and sweet like my sister Raksmey. I looked at her for a short time then said, "Yes, I will play for you, little child. For you will play." I picked up my accordion and played. The music kept death from me for one more day.
Music Through the Dark
He looks old. Tomorrow I'll send him to work in the kitchen."
"But tomorrow the soldiers want to kill him for eating a watermelon."
"I will see that that does not happen.
Music Through the Dark
But Angkar says, 'Eat a little, work a lot.'
Music Through the Dark
What you have done is against the rules if that song is indeed a capitalist song. We don't know, so we won't kill you. Just don't whistle it anymore.
Music Through the Dark
As I ate I watched the men in the distance cutting the log and recalled seeing how one of the prisoners who lived with my family had used his saw.
Music Through the Dark
So there I was- a small boy playing an old Cambodian song on a big accordion. I got carried away by the idea of this song just appearing to me that I forgot discretion and played without reservation. Music flowed from me like water and released itself in
Music Through the Dark
Music Though the Dark
...