4/25 Laotian Daughters

Hegemonic power is at force, especially when it comes to dealing with underepresented, marginalized communities of color. In Laotian Daughters, the lack of institutional support prompted Laotian youth, specifically womxn, to organize and form a collective to combat the oppression placed on non-English speaking immigrant communities. They sought to establish community-wide and state-wide support that would visibilize the Laotioan population and create resources to create a safer and healthier living environment in Contra Costa County, and went further to seek holistic care for the youth.

Gramsci's notion of hegemony and the results that come alongside it is prominent in this article. Social institutions use their authority as a control to get people to conform to their certain expectations. The County Health Supervisor resisted and denied the voices of Laotian community at the hearing when it did not comply to their own personal budget or ideals. APEN took to other strategies to promote their beliefs, and used the method of praxis to seek change. They reevaluated language barriers and viewed Prop 227 as a threat and a "continuation of extreme antipathy" towards non-english speaking communities. APEN took action by gaining voter support that opposed Prop 227. Gramsci mentions that this type of resistance is ideal because it is a unity between older generation Laotian folx alongside and 2nd generation Laotian youth that uses their organization as a platform to critically analyze inistitutional power and reevaluates their own set of "truth".

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