Dia Cha
Author of Dia's Story Cloth
About the Author
Image credit: St. Cloud State University
Works by Dia Cha
Associated Works
Bamboo Among the Oaks: Contemporary Writing by Hmong Americans (2002) — Contributor — 48 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1962
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Abraham Lincoln High School
Institute of Foreign Studies
University of London
Metropolitan State College, Denver (BA|Anthropology|1989)
Northern Arizona University (MA|Applied Anthropology|1992)
University of Colorado, Boulder (PhD) - Occupations
- Associate Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies
- Organizations
- St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
United Nations Development Fund for Women
United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women
Hmong National Development
Hmong National Education Conference
Congressional Summit on the Status of Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asian Americans in Higher Education - Awards and honors
- "Outstanding Woman Award", given by the Institute for Women's Studies and Services, Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado
"TRIO Achievers Award" of the National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations, Chicago, Illinois
"Honoring Outstanding Refugee Women Award" of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children of New York - Short biography
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_Cha
Whether she’s on the world stage or in front of her class, Dia Cha speaks with authority. An associate professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, Cha writes books, publishes journal articles, testifies before Congress and presents to national and international bodies. She’s one of the leading scholars of the Hmong-American experience, honored for her contributions and sought for her expertise.
Students know Cha as a field trip leader who has guided classes to Thailand, Laos and Washington D.C. Cha is a product of the Hmong diaspora from Laos. As a young girl she lived four years in refugee camps in Thailand before emigrating to the United States in 1979. She holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. - Birthplace
- Laos
- Places of residence
- St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Laos
Thailand
Denver, Colorado, USA
London, England, UK
Boulder, Colorado, USA (show all 7)
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
After reading Dia's Story Cloth, I felt inspired by the bravery of the Hyong people and how they preserved times of war and civil unrest within their country. I also enjoyed the detail of the illustrations that captured the historical events of the time and showed the precision that went into creating these cloths. Dia's family was able to leave Thailand because her father bravely fought with the American army against the Communist army. However, she and her family kept the importance of the show more story cloths alive by educating their families. I found it inspiring that Dia returned to Thailand to work with refugee families. I thought that the story didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked, so I appreciated the excerpt at the end that gave more information and historical accounts. Overall, I thought this book had a great message and accomplished the goal of educating readers about the Hyong history and their intricate cloth work. show less
Beautiful, gentle introduction to the Hmong people and their history. The story is similar to other refugee stories, but the illustrations (all come from a Hmong story cloth) are breathtaking and add authenticity and emotion to the author's voice. Recommended!
Summary: Dia, a young Hmong girl, takes the reader through her story cloth. Dia describes the history of her people and how they had to flee from China to different areas of Asia. Her family and others found themselves in Laos and it was there that the lived peacefully together. At a young age the peace broke apart when the communists tried to take them over and men were taken to join the communist party, while others fought for the Americans. Dia's father went to fight with the Americans show more and was never heard of again. When the war got worse, Dia's mother fled across the river to a refugee camp. They stayed at the camp for four years, until they were allowed to move to America. Dia found life different and difficult in America, but she was determined and ended up going to college.
Review: Cha is able to solemnly teach her readers about the life of the Hmong people through the central message of hope. Cha teaches her readers about the different aspects of Hmong lives and how they are peaceful people. When Cha is discussing her childhood she continuously points out that her people were pushed out by communists in China and fled peacefully. Her people then fled to Laos and had to leave because the communists began rummaging through villages and tearing families apart. All throughout this, Cha discusses how her mother knew that there was a better life for them in America and all they had to do was get there. Once they reached America, Cha showed how she struggled in school, but explained to her readers that she ended up graduating from college. Cha showed significant hope throughout this story of persecution. show less
Review: Cha is able to solemnly teach her readers about the life of the Hmong people through the central message of hope. Cha teaches her readers about the different aspects of Hmong lives and how they are peaceful people. When Cha is discussing her childhood she continuously points out that her people were pushed out by communists in China and fled peacefully. Her people then fled to Laos and had to leave because the communists began rummaging through villages and tearing families apart. All throughout this, Cha discusses how her mother knew that there was a better life for them in America and all they had to do was get there. Once they reached America, Cha showed how she struggled in school, but explained to her readers that she ended up graduating from college. Cha showed significant hope throughout this story of persecution. show less
This non-fiction book is about a young lady, Dia, from the mountains of Laos and her struggles to get to the Land of The Free, America. She talks about the Hmong Culture and how it emigrated from China to different Asian Countries because China had originally wanted to change the Hmong Culture and the Hmong people would not have it. The Hmong people emigrated to different Asian Countries; Laos, Thailand, Burma, to continue their culture the way they wanted too. Dia's family in particular show more emigrated to Laos, where her family built a house made out of wood and bamboo. They would walk 2 hours away to farm for survival and walk 2 hours back to get home. During this time, their village was in the middle of a warfare between America and Communists. In order to avoid the war, Dia's family had to cross the Mekong River where multiple lives of Hmong people died trying to cross. When Dia and her family were safely evacuated over to American soil, she was 15 years old and did not know any English at all. This book was very emotional and inspiring. It showed a lot of interesting facts of the Hmong Culture and an overview of one's journey to the United States. The illustrations were paintings from the Hmong Cloth that her uncle had sewed. The Hmong Cloth is a hand-sewn cloth, the illustrations on the cloth tells a story. As the illustrations in this book, the Hmong Cloth was closely copied and drawn into the book. The text of the book is long but it is also not hard to understand. This book enriches the Hmong Culture and the journey Dia and her family had to go through for freedom. show less
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 261
- Popularity
- #88,098
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 12
- ISBNs
- 16