New Books in Critical Theory

Ma Vang, "History on the Run: Secrecy, Fugitivity, and Hmong Refugee Epistemologies" (Duke UP, 2021)


Listen Later

In this episode we discuss how secrecy structures both official knowledge and refugee epistemologies about militarism and forced migration as found in Ma Vang’s book History on the Run: Secrecy, Fugitivity, and Hmong Refugee Epistemologies (Duke University Press, 2021).

During its secret war in Laos (1961–1975), the United States recruited proxy soldiers among the Hmong people. Following the war, many of these Hmong soldiers migrated to the United States with refugee status. In History on the Run Ma Vang examines the experiences of Hmong refugees in the United States to theorize refugee histories and secrecy, in particular those of the Hmong. Vang conceptualizes these histories as fugitive histories, as they move and are carried by people who move. Charting the incomplete archives of the war made secret through redacted US state documents, ethnography, film, and literature, Vang shows how Hmong refugees tell their stories in ways that exist separately from narratives of U.S. empire and that cannot be traditionally archived. In so doing, Vang outlines a methodology for writing histories that foreground refugee epistemologies despite systematic attempts to silence those histories.

How do we engage with the elusiveness of histories that are systematically kept secret? How does centering the refugee’s story and refusals complicate and create histories on the run? Find out in our conversation!.

Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) is a PhD candidate in History and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Critical TheoryBy Marshall Poe

  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9

3.9

138 ratings


More shows like New Books in Critical Theory

View all
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,089 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

292 Listeners

London Review Bookshop Podcast by London Review Bookshop

London Review Bookshop Podcast

123 Listeners

Jacobin Radio by Jacobin

Jacobin Radio

1,397 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,524 Listeners

Rev Left Radio by Revolutionary Left Radio

Rev Left Radio

3,242 Listeners

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism by Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

419 Listeners

Why Theory by Why Theory

Why Theory

561 Listeners

Politics Theory Other by Politics Theory Other

Politics Theory Other

153 Listeners

Hermitix by Hermitix

Hermitix

339 Listeners

Theory & Philosophy by David Guignion

Theory & Philosophy

339 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

174 Listeners

Guerrilla History by Guerrilla History

Guerrilla History

559 Listeners

What's Left of Philosophy by Lillian Cicerchia, Owen Glyn-Williams, Gil Morejón, and William Paris

What's Left of Philosophy

260 Listeners

Ordinary Unhappiness by Patrick & Abby

Ordinary Unhappiness

201 Listeners