Speaking of Spirits: Practicing Oral History and Narrating Hmong Religious Change

Using my research on innovation and change in Hmong American religious life as an illustrative example, I argue that oral history is critical for investigating subjects for which conventional archival records are insufficient or non-existent: lives of non-literate peoples, nuances of religious meaning and experience, and popular religious practices. In my research, I explore how Hmong refugees resettled in the United States creatively preserved, adapted, and redefined animist rituals and beliefs, while also adopting Christianity—the religion of many of their resettlement sponsors—ambivalently and selectively. Investigation of these complex religious changes necessitates oral history for several reasons. First, most Hmong refugees were non-literate. The Hmong did not have an established writing system until the twentieth century, and most Hmong refugees arrived in the United States unable to read or write and left few written sources. Second, oral history, which emphasizes personal narrative, allows me to gain insight into the most private aspects of spiritual life, affording an intimate portrait of how Hmong individuals have constructed religious meaning and conceptualized religious identity and change.  Finally, oral history enables me to research people whose beliefs and practices fall outside institutionalized religion, diverge from official church teachings, and are not documented in church records. Oral history thus provides the tools to investigate religious life as it flourishes on the margins, practiced by lay people and by non-traditional religious leaders, including Hmong shamans, and in alternative religious sites, such as city parks and living rooms. I discuss the specific oral history practices I use in my research—which includes conducting bilingual interviews, cultivating relationships with the Hmong community, and working with cultural brokers—and argue that the oral history methods that allow me to study Hmong religious change have broader application to historical research on ethnic communities and religious life.