In what ways can water heal? Shaman Yang Cheng (Yaj Ceeb Vang) and medical anthropologist Dr. Mai See Thao engage in a dialog about the ways water surfaces in their work and practice. Yang Cheng discusses the multiple functions of water (clean water, honest/clear water, holy or magical water, poison water, and shamanic/dragon’s water) in Hmong cultural and religious practices. Dr. Thao explores the intersection of social memory, historical trauma, and water.

Join us for a free screening of this 2015 documentary, made in part with the support of the Humanities Without Walls Consortium. This film will be shown in the Best Buy Theater, on the 4th Floor of Northrop.

“Hmong Memory at the Crossroads” weaves the stories of three generations of Hmong refugees in the Midwest and France. Liachoua Naolu Lee, a Hmong-American from Rochester Hills, MI, revisits his past as a former refugee and son of Hmong veterans of the French Indochina War and of the American Secret War in Laos.