The Impossibility of Self

This is a work of ethnographic reflection on Hmong society, history, and culture, dealing with questions of the self and the notion that a romantic self inspired the ethos of hedonism associated with the consumer economy. A Hmong identity is shown to have been historically constructed through the works of colonial missionaries, linguists, and anthropologists. Yet Hmong voices have also been powerful in this process. Based on recent fieldwork in Asia and overseas, the Hmong diaspora is examined. Nicholas Tapp is a professor in the department of anthropology at the Australian National University.