Analysis Of 'The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down'

In Chapter 1 of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Fadiman demonstrates cultural relativism towards the Hmong culture by including very detailed history, facts and procedures found in Hmong culture. When explaining the long process of pregnancy and birth in Hmong culture, she does not make and claims for or against these rituals. She does not compare the cultures rituals to another culture. Fadiman simply states facts and explains the steps it takes for a woman to give birth to a child. She even includes lore about dabs objectively in order to continue to go into greater detail about the great care women take on for their future children. Western bias is demonstrated to be neither negative nor positive in this chapter; it is simply different