About the Tradition

Cartoonist Duachaka Her created a beautiful reflection on the difficulty of maintaining Hmong shamanic traditions in a new country.

Duachaka (Dua) is a Hmong-American cartoonist and illustrator from snowy Wisconsin. As a first generation Hmong-American, her parents persuaded her to go to college in hopes of her becoming a doctor, lawyer, or teacher. Of all the things she could’ve studied, she spent four long years obtaining a B.F.A. in Entertainment Design with a concentration in Comics and Sequential Art (fancy wording for basically a Comics Degree). Today, she tries her hardest to make comics, illustrate picture books, and still be a mom to her loving children. She is also the creator of The Collection and Then and Now comic books.