The bride price
Subtitle: a Hmong wedding story
By: Mai Neng Moua
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9781681340364
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Bride price; Social life and customs; Hmong Americans; Family; Hmong American women; Kidneys; Married people; Transplantation; Marriage customs and rites; Mothers and daughters; Children of immigrants; Biography
Description: "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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-230).
Table of contents: title: Prologue; title: Poob plig (soul-loss); title: The trouble with me; title: Niam's bride price; title: Unanswered questions; title: Who owns what; title: Doing the right thing; title: Marriage talks; title: Damaged goods; title: To save a life; title: It takes a family; title: Not good for the family; title: Captured; title: Being Hmong and American; title: The wedding, take one; title: The wedding, take two; title: You may now begin your life; title: A knot between two clans; title: What is it worth?; title: When Niam and I last talked; title: Hu-plig (soul-calling); title: Finding grandfather; title: Finding father; title: The truth; title: Finding family; title: Made whole; title: The garden full of weeds; title: The year without Niam; title: Risk; title: Saying nothing at all; title: A new beginning.