Hmong In France Case Study

The survey, entitled “Hmong in France and their relationship to Laos”, was conducted through internet, using Google forms. Therefore, the survey was sent to a specific audience: the Hmong community living in France, whose identity will remain anonymous, in order to comply with ethical responsibilities. Moreover, to reach the required number of participants, the snowball strategy was used. Indeed, because the survey was lead in English instead of in French, the number of potential informants was reduced. Consequently, it was challenging first to find people willing to answer and secondly, to find people able to understand and write in English. The survey was divided into three parts: the identification process, the Hmong language assimilation and the Hmong in France and their relationship to Laos.

The first part of the survey, aimed at understanding the way Hmong in France self-identify. Out of 11 respondents, 7 persons (63. 6% of the
respondents) belonged to the second Hmong generation, meaning that they were born in France with one of the parents who were born outside France (CF: graphic 1). Among the 7 informants from second Hmong generation, 4 of them (57.1 %) were born in Bourges, while the other 3 (42.9%) were born in different cities around France. Generally, most of the informants from this second Hmong generation tended to recognize themselves as Hmong-French; except one who characterized himself as just Hmong (CF: graphic 4). Among the 11 respondents, another person, considered himself as Hmong-French while being born in Thailand. By contrast, only 1 informant categorized himself as French, for being born in France. A minority of the respondents, 3 out 7 (27.3%), belonged to the first generation, implying that both their family and themselves were born outside of France (CF: graphic 1).
Analyzing their answers, it turned out that they were all born in Vinay, Thailand. They all arrived in France between 1980 and 2000, meaning they have been living in France for 16 to 36 years. Only 1 person belonged to the fourth Hmong generation (CF: graphic 1). It is interesting to notice that while his ancestors as well as himself were born in France, the informant considered himself as a Hmong-Thai and not as Hmong-French such as the majority did (63.6%) (CF: graphic 4). Applying Likert scale, the survey reveals that respondents tend to be partially agree with three of the following statements: Hmong as ex-soldiers for the American C.I.A, Hmong are French citizens as well as Hmong are an ethnicity from the mountains of Laos. However, there is a penchant of the respondents to agree on considering Hmong as political refugees (CF: graphic
5).