Writing from These Roots: Literacy in a Hmong-American Community

by John M. Duffy

This is a detailed account of the Hmong experience in Laos and the US.

Genres: Textbooks

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

John M. Duffy is the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Philology and Literature, Emeritus, Harvard University.

Reviews

[CTEP]

In Writing from these roots: literacy in a Hmong-American community, John Duffy explores immigrant cultures and their pathways to literacy in new nations. I chose to read Duffy’s book because a librarian friend recommended it to me. Sumner Library partners with the Minnesota Literacy Council and many of the immigrant populations that attend my classes come directly from their ELL or GED classes. Hmong-Americans represent about a quarter of the population that frequents our library in North Minneapolis and the language barrier is often significant.

Duffy makes compelling arguments for the need of more inclusive ESL and ELL curricula, more opportunities for bilingual learning, and community outreach. His interviews with Hmong refugees from the Vietnam War provide a compelling view of their life experiences in Laos and the dramatic change to middle-American life in the Midwest. I was pleasantly surprised that Duffy’s evaluation of globalization was not the typical far-fetched, proto-liberal, lecture from another boring white guy with a PhD. His arguments were well defended and his call for change was rational. Duffy’s realistic claims for literacy easily relate to CTEP’s mission for promoting digital literacy in underserved communities. I would recommend this one to book nerd AmeriCorps members with coke bottle glasses (the best kind) interested in diversity and community advocacy.

[Sarah Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who holds power in literate practices? What happens to an oral literacy when social, political, and religious powers have forced transnationalism? This is a fascinating study of the Hmong people and their history. I am looking to have this work frame some of my current MLL/ENL mindsets and classroom practices, in addition to guiding my research into translanguaging.