Hmong Studies Welcomes First Scholar-in-Residence

When Dr. Gary Yia Lee was a young man attending his country’s only high school in French-colonized Laos, all of his teachers were French. They spoke only French in the classroom and followed a curriculum focused on French history and culture.

As a result, Lee often felt like a foreigner in his own country. He vowed to focus on education as a way to help the Hmong people to know their own history and ensure that Hmong culture was accurately represented.

In 1981, Lee became the second Hmong person in the world to receive a doctoral degree, earning his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology and Community Development from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Considered one of the world’s leading scholars and researchers on Hmong culture and history, Lee has served as a Visiting Fellow in Anthropology to the Australian National University,Canberra and has taught social work at the University of New South Wales and social anthropology at Macquarie University. In addition to his numerous scholarly works on Hmong culture and history, he is an accomplished poet and published novelist.

During his residency at the Center for Hmong Studies, Lee helped launch Concordia University’s Hmong Studies minor, teaching two courses,“Introduction to Hmong Studies” and “Hmong Culture and Society,” in addition to pursuing his own research interests. “We have been fortunate to have someone of Dr. Lee’s caliber serving as a scholar-in-residence at Concordia,” said University President Rev. Dr. Robert Holst. “Our students, staff and faculty have gained enormously from his presence.”

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