Southeast Asian Hill Tribes Lead a Wanderer to Become a Geographer

Ian Baird took his new job, as a geographer specializing in the upland peoples of Southeast Asia, knowing that members of one of those groups, the Hmong, were disappointed with the scope of his assignment. Some Hmong in Madison, Wis., had hoped that the new position at the University of Wisconsin there would focus on how their ethnic group was faring in the United States. After all, some 40,000 to 50,000 Hmong live in Wisconsin, and more than 300 are enrolled at Madison.