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Kou Yang
Born1954 (1954)[1]
Sayaboury Province,[3] Laos[1][2]
DiedFebruary 6, 2021(2021-02-06) (aged 66–67)[1]
Modesto, California, US
Burial placeTurlock Memorial Park, Turlock, California
Years active1980–2019
Board member of
  • Hmong National Development
  • Southeast Asian American Professionals Association
Awards
Academic background
Education
ThesisThe Hmong in Fresno: a study of Hmong welfare participation and self-sufficiency (1995)
Academic work
InstitutionsCalifornia State University, Stanislaus (1998-2013)[1][2]
Main interestsHmong diaspora[2]

Kou Yang (1954 – February 6, 2021) was a Hmong American author and professor at California State University, Stanislaus. He was a leading researcher in the field of Hmong diaspora studies[4] and was one of the first Hmong to gain a doctoral degree and become a professor.[5]

Early life and education

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Kou Yang was born in Sayaboury Province, Laos, circa 1954.[6][1] He was said to be 49 years old in 2006.[7] His eighteen member family lived in a rural highland Hmong village.[1]

His formal education began when he was sent to the lowland school Sayaboury Elementary School (Group Scholaire de Sayaboury) in Sayaboury, where he completed up to sixth grade. He continued at College de Sayaboury, the province's junior high school, and graduated summer of 1974. Briefly he attended Lycee de Luang Phrabang and Ecole Normal de Luang Phrabang to prepare for post-secondary education, but was unable to complete his studies when the Laotian Civil War ended in 1975.[6][1]

Yang fled to a refugee camp in Thailand. In 1976 at 21 years old,[8] he and three brothers resettled in New Orleans, Louisiana. He became a permanent US resident five years later in 1981 and petitioned for relatives to get travel visas to the US.[6][1]

Although he had been studying for post-secondary education in Laos, Yang's early employment in the US was as a dishwasher. While Yang could read, write, and speak the Hmong, Lao, Thai, and French[1] languages, he struggled to reach competency in English, which was a barrier to employment and education.[6][1][8]

Yang relocated to Long Beach, California in 1979 and earned his associates degree from Long Beach City College in 1982. The associates degree improved his English.[9] Once in Fresno, he earned a bachelors degree and masters degree in social work from California State University, Fresno in 1987 and 1991 respectively. He ultimately graduated Doctor of Education from the Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at California State University, Fresno and the University of California, Davis in 1995.[10][1][9][6][11][2]

Career

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Kou Yang was an associate professor of Asian American studies at California State University, Stanislaus[7] and joined the faculty fall semester 1998 as an assistant professor.[10][9] He was the first Hmong person to be part of an ethnic studies department and the second Hmong faculty member at CSU. Tony Vang was the only other Hmong faculty member at CSU. At the time, Yang was the sixth Hmong person to be hired by a US university.[9]

Dissatisfied with cuts to course offerings and delayed faculty recruitment, which was viewed as diluting the ethnic studies program, Yang was one of two ethnic studies faculty that announced in May 2013 they would resign at the end of the year.[12] He retired from teaching December 2014. During his tenure at CSU, Yang was the Chair of the Ethnic & Gender Studies Department and became Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies. [11][1][13] He was also part of the editorial review board of Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement, published by National Association for the Education & Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA).[14]

Scholarship

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In his work, Kou Yang proposed a framework that divides Hmong American history into three eras: the Refugee Years (1975–1991), the Turning Point (1992–1999), and the "Hmong American period" (2000–present). The Refugee Years are characterized by Hmong newly arriving in the United States in 1975 and interacting with social services. The election of Choua Lee to the Saint Paul, Minnesota Public Schools Board of Education in November 1991, who took office 1992, marked the beginning of the Turning Point, where Hmong became politically active and saw a wave of "secondary migration" from their original resettlement locations to one of several hubs of concentrated Hmong population in the US, particularly Saint Paul. Yang proposed the Hmong American Period from 2000 onward, and described it as sustained political success by Hmong candidates.[15]

Yang argued that much of the early understanding of Hmong American history was inaccurate because of works that promoted unproven theories about Hmong history. Scholars whose work he criticised for inaccuracy include Jane Hamilton-Merritt and Anne Fadiman, who wrote the bestselling book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.[16]

Personal life

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Yang favored the United States normalizing trade relations with Laos, a controversial stance among Hmong refugees who sided with the United States during the Vietnam War and Laotian Civil War.[17]

Yang died at Kaiser Hospital in Modesto, California February 6, 2021 of natural causes. He was buried at Turlock Memorial Park in Turlock, California during a private service owing to COVID-19 restrictions.[13]

Works

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Books

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  • Pfeifer, Mark Edward; Chiu, Monica; Yang, Kou, eds. (January 31, 2013). Diversity in Diaspora: Hmong Americans in the Twenty-First Century. University of Hawai'i Press. doi:10.21313/hawaii/9780824835972.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-8248-3597-2. Project MUSE 21545.
  • Yang, Kou (2017). The Making of Hmong America: Forty Years After the Secret War. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-4985-4645-4. OCLC 990266491. Diversity in Diaspora at Google Books
  • Yang, Kou; et al. (2004). Hmong 2000 Census Publication: Data & Analysis (PDF). Washington, DC: Hmong National Development; Hmong Cultural Center. OCLC 56978316. Hmong 2000 Census Publication: Data & Analysis at Google Books. Hmong 2000 Census Publication: Data & Analysis at the HathiTrust Digital Library
  • Duffy, John; Ranard, Donald A.; Yang, Kou; et al. (June 2004). The Hmong: An Introduction to Their History and Culture (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, Cultural Orientation Resource Center. OCLC 56138399.
  • Yang, Kou; Hartwick, Douglas A. (2013). Laos and Its Expatriates in the United States: A Memoir of an American Professor. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica. ISBN 978-1-4626-9305-4. OCLC 855903711.
  • Yang, Kou (2019). Sayaboury: The Land of a Million Elephants. Saint Paul, MN: HER Publisher. ISBN 978-1-64410-003-5. OCLC 1090415670.
  • Yang, Kou (2015). The Hmong & Their Odyssey: A Roots-Searching Journey of an American Professor. ISBN 978-0-692-75670-6. OCLC 971497321.
  • Yang, Kou; Church World Service; Asian Pacific Family Outreach, Inc (1980). Khaws kwutxhiaj hmoob (in Hmong). Long Beach, CA: Hmong Acculturation Classes. OCLC 952500877.
  • Leepalao, Tougeu; Lor, Xai; Lee, Txongpao; Yang, Kou; Hmong Cultural Center; Western and Southern Life Insurance Company (2013). Hmong funeral procedures = Txheej txheem kab kev pam tuag (in Hmong). St. Paul, MN: Hmong Cultural Center. OCLC 842246286.

Articles

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Columns

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Theses

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Children's books

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Audio/video

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  • Yang, Lang; Yang, Kou (1991), Sab nyob tom tsev (in Hmong), Nebo, NC: Lang Yang, OCLC 43786570
  • Yang, Kou; Liaj Dawb Home Entertainment; Hmong International Filmmaker Organization (2010), Vim kuv yog hmoob = Because I am Hmong (in Hmong), St. Paul, MN: Liaj Dawb Home Entertainment, OCLC 689033309

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Kou Yang, Hmong Pioneer and Scholar 1954-2021". Hmong American Experience. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Ly, Katrya (August 11, 2023). "Hmong Documenting Hmong". Learn Uake. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  3. ^ Asian American News (April 30, 2019). "Kou Yang Book Explores Homeland Of 'Sayaboury - Land Of A Million Elephants Of Laos'". Hmong Times. ProQuest 2226378784. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  4. ^ Lor, Yang (December 2009). "Hmong Political Involvement in St. Paul, Minnesota and Fresno, California". Hmong Studies Journal. 10. Saint Paul, Minnesota. ISSN 1553-3972. ProQuest 220387695. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  5. ^ Torres, Jennifer (December 4, 2009). "Group aims to preserve Hmong culture: Pacific student organization to host cultural event Saturday". The Record, McClatchy-Tribune Business News. Stockton, California: Tribune Content Agency LLC. ProQuest 455877594. Retrieved February 6, 2025. Kou Yang is an ethnic studies professor at California State University, Stanislaus, and is noted as one of the first Hmong refugees to earn a doctoral degree and a university professorship in the United States.
  6. ^ a b c d e Ashton, Adam (May 13, 2006). "Flight to freedom key into U.S.". The Modesto Bee / Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. California/Washington: Tribune Content Agency LLC. ProQuest 459971104.
  7. ^ a b Kaufman, Marc (August 31, 2004). "American Odyssey". Smithsonian Magazine. Gale A126121210. Archived from the original on December 23, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Vang, Seng Alex (June 2014). "Dr. Kou Retires: Hmong Pioneer, leader, mentor". Hmong Tribune. Fresno, California. p. 1. Archived from the original on June 19, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024 – via Issuu.
  9. ^ a b c d Lee, Ann-Gee (November 25, 1998). "Yang teaches and values different cultures" (PDF). The Signal. Vol. 54, no. 10. California State University, Stanislaus. pp. 4, 6. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  10. ^ a b California State University, Stanislaus Catalog 2001-2003 (PDF). Turlock, California: California State University, Stanislaus. p. 364. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2024. Retrieved March 16, 2025. YANG, Kou (1998), Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies; B.A. 1987, California State University, Fresno; M.S.W. 1991, California State University, Fresno; Ed.D. 1995, California State University, Fresno, University of Davis
  11. ^ a b "Hmong Doctorates". LEARN HMONG LESSONS & TRADITIONS. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Rivera, Carla (October 30, 2013). "Cal State's ethnic studies programs falter in changing times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Kou Yang Obituary". Turlock Memorial Park & Funeral Home. February 19, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  14. ^ Worra, Bryan Thao (January 1, 2007). "Four Poems: Snakehead Fish; Departures; Capitol; and Preparations for Southeast Asia". Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement. 2 (1). doi:10.7771/2153-8999.1090. ISSN 2153-8999. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
  15. ^ Mock, Sean (October 3, 2017). "From Refugees to Representatives: Exploring Hmong American Political Representation". DigitalCommons@Macalester College. Macalester College. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
  16. ^ Klinge, Joseph A (2012). "Hmong American Experience: The Definition of Success in America". Journal of Undergraduate Research. XV. La Crosse, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin–La Crosse: 3. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  17. ^ "Laotian, Hmong Americans Cautiously Optimistic Ahead of Obama's Laos Visit". NBC News. August 30, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2025.

Further reading

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