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The bride price : a Hmong wedding story / Mai Neng Moua.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Saint Paul, MN : Minnesota Historical Society Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 230 pages ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781681340364
  • 1681340364
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue -- Poob plig (soul-loss) -- The trouble with me -- Niam's bride price -- Unanswered questions -- Who owns what -- Doing the right thing -- Marriage talks -- Damaged goods -- To save a life -- It takes a family -- Not good for the family -- Captured -- Being Hmong and American -- The wedding, take one -- The wedding, take two -- You may now begin your life -- A knot between two clans -- What is it worth? -- When Niam and I last talked -- Hu-plig (soul-calling) -- Finding grandfather -- Finding father -- The truth -- Finding family -- Made whole -- The garden full of weeds -- The year without Niam -- Risk -- Saying nothing at all -- A new beginning.
Summary: "A principled decision brings unexpected consequences for a Hmong American woman struggling to reconcile the two cultures--and to be a good daughter while breaking the rules. When Mai Neng Moua decides to get married, her mother, a widow, wants the groom to follow Hmong custom and pay a bride price, which both honors the work the bride's family has done in raising a daughter and offers a promise of love and security from the groom's family. Mai Neng, who knows the pain this tradition has caused, says no. Her husband-to-be supports her choice. What happens next is devastating, and it raises questions about the very meaning of being Hmong in America."--Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography MOUA, M. M924 Available 33111011295272
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When Mai Neng Moua decides to get married, her mother, a widow, wants the groom to follow Hmong custom and pay a bride price, which both honors the work the bride's family has done in raising a daughter and offers a promise of love and security from the groom's family. Mai Neng, who knows the pain this tradition has caused, says no. Her husband-to-be supports her choice.



What happens next is devastating, and it raises questions about the very meaning of being Hmong in America. The couple refuses to participate in the tshoob, the traditional Hmong marriage ceremony; many members of their families, on both sides, stay away from their church wedding. Months later, the families carry out the tshoob without the wedding couple. But even after the bride price has been paid, Mai Neng finds herself outside of Hmong culture and at odds with her mother, not realizing the full meaning of the customs she has rejected. As she navigates the Hmong world of animism, Christianity, and traditional gender roles, she begins to learn what she has not been taught. Through a trip to Thailand, through hard work in the garden, through the birth of another generation, one strong woman seeks reconciliation with another.

Prologue -- Poob plig (soul-loss) -- The trouble with me -- Niam's bride price -- Unanswered questions -- Who owns what -- Doing the right thing -- Marriage talks -- Damaged goods -- To save a life -- It takes a family -- Not good for the family -- Captured -- Being Hmong and American -- The wedding, take one -- The wedding, take two -- You may now begin your life -- A knot between two clans -- What is it worth? -- When Niam and I last talked -- Hu-plig (soul-calling) -- Finding grandfather -- Finding father -- The truth -- Finding family -- Made whole -- The garden full of weeds -- The year without Niam -- Risk -- Saying nothing at all -- A new beginning.

"A principled decision brings unexpected consequences for a Hmong American woman struggling to reconcile the two cultures--and to be a good daughter while breaking the rules. When Mai Neng Moua decides to get married, her mother, a widow, wants the groom to follow Hmong custom and pay a bride price, which both honors the work the bride's family has done in raising a daughter and offers a promise of love and security from the groom's family. Mai Neng, who knows the pain this tradition has caused, says no. Her husband-to-be supports her choice. What happens next is devastating, and it raises questions about the very meaning of being Hmong in America."--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references.

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