Agrarian migrations and Hmong diasporas in Siskiyou County, California
Team: Dr. Margiana Petersen-Rockney (PI), Morgan Vannavilaithong (videographer), Karen Vang (community-based researcher and interpreter)
We conducted four life histories with Hmong residents of Siskiyou County, California. Three participants (Vince Lee, Nhia Thai, and Cher Yang) were elder Hmong men. The fourth participant was a younger woman (Mai Yang) who owns a local restaurant. All four participants moved to Siskiyou since 2014 and came to the region for economic opportunity. The three older men live in or near the Mount Shasta Vista (MSV) rural subdivision, which has over 1000 1–2-acre parcels of dry, rocky land without public infrastructure like roads, electricity, or water systems (and over 75% of subdivision residents are Hmong). MSV has become the center of public debate and local policy enforcement around unpermitted cannabis cultivation.
Life history participants generously shared their stories, including of early life in Laos, crossing the Mekong, and living in Bon Vinai refugee camp in Thailand. Participants shared stories of migration and family relationships, as well as the struggle to own land, access water, and make a place home. We did not ask participants about cannabis cultivation due to the local government’s enforcement against cannabis cultivators.
We began each life history by drawing a timeline of key moments in their life on a sheet of paper. This life history “map” then served as a guide for our interview conversation, with questions clustered around childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and later adulthood. Three of the life history interviews were conducted primarily in English, while Nhia Thai’s interview was conducted in Hmong. All four life histories were audio and video recorded.
Description of Materials
We created a paired set of life history videos of each participant: one 5-minute short version and a 25-minute longer video. These videos incorporate photos that participants shared with us that help illustrate some of their life experiences. We are currently working on incorporating these life history videos into a story map about Hmong agrarian diasporas. For more information, including published academic articles and fact sheets, please visit the UC Berkeley Cannabis Research Center’s website: crc.berkeley.edu
- Vince Lee Credits - Long Version & Short Version
- Nhia Thai Credits - Short Version
- Cher Yang Credits - Long Version & Short Version
- Mai Yang Credits - Long Version & Short Version
Grantee Bio
Margiana is a political ecologist who studies climate equity and agrarian change. Margiana’s research examines adaptive capacity in working landscapes; agricultural responses to environmental change; and water and land use policy and racial equity in a changing climate. Through civically engaged research, teaching, and mentoring, Margiana aims to help dismantle the drivers of inequities, especially in rural places. Margiana grew up on a dairy goat farm in Massachusetts and worked in several non-profits before graduate school, primarily with immigrant and refugee farmers. At UC Berkeley, Margiana developed a collaborative research program and prioritized student mentorship. At EVST, she looks forward to teaching courses on the political ecology of agrifood systems, climate equity and justice, rural livelihoods, and environmental policy.
Questions? Get in touch with Dr. Petersen-Rockney at