UCLA

This study explores how Hmong refugee women living in Wisconsin have gained valuable knowledge and skills in their church eggroll fundraiser and the stakes of supporting community ties as first-generation Hmong American women. Through this eggroll fundraiser, I look at refugee women’s paid and unpaid labor at two sites: their company jobs where most are employed in metal and plastic industries and their church community. In the Company of Hmong Women is a research thesis that centers the voices of nine Hmong women to present their stories of resilience and resistance in Wisconsin. By focusing on women’s contribution to their communities, this highlights the ways they have navigated and acquired social capital within and outside their Hmong community.

Community cultural wealth is a critical lens through which to recognize alternative forms of capital in communities of color. This approach aims to center the experiences of people of color and acknowledge histories of resistance against U.S. capitalistic demands that make immigrant and refugee communities disposable. The site of the Hmong women’s eggroll fundraiser is one that shows how they are producing and using knowledge, building their community cultural wealth and collective resistance. By looking at these stories, I highlight how Hmong refugee women are making vital contributions to sustain their community ties in Wisconsin.