For the second reflection paper I chose to write about the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. When I started reading this book‚ I had no idea what I was going to read about. I learned many new concepts on the culture of Hmong and their views. A brief section of the book also was about how they came to America and the experiences they had while doing so. I learned that there was a secret war in Laos that caused a tragedy among the Hmong people leaving them to abandon their homes in the
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1. In her critique of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ Janelle Taylor argues that Anne Fadiman’s portrayal of Hmong culture is problematic. Please explain how Fadiman’s story is problematic. In your discussion‚ be sure to consider: • How is the story set up as a tragedy? That is‚ if both the parents and the doctors are uncompromising in their quest for Lia’s well-being‚ how do they wind up colliding so tragically? • How are Hmong culture and Western medicine used as explanations for
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Cindy Copeland The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Chapter 1 “Foua never thought to ask‚ since she speaks no English‚ and when she delivered Lia‚ no one present spoke Hmong.” (pg 6) I cannot imagine being somewhere where no one spoke the same language – let along receiving medical care and/or delivering a baby without anyone speaking the same language. That must have been not only a scary experience‚ but a lonely one too. To have no one there and no one there that spoke my language
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The spirit catches you and you fall down Introduction: “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down’’ by Anne Fadiman represents true story of the epileptic Hmong girl and her family displaced from China to the USA. She suffers severe grand mal seizures and eventually becomes vegetative for the rest of her life. Lia Lee’s story was a poignant example that emphasizes the cultural barriers between modern and traditional cultures through their approaches to the life‚ which results in complete destruction
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: Cultural Clash This book focuses on the “clash” of cultures that occurs between the Lee family‚ immigrants to the US from Laos‚ and the doctors that treat their daughter‚ Lia‚ who has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Lia’s parents‚ Foua and Nao Kao believe that Lia has fallen ill because she has “lost her soul”. This clash of ideas highlights one of the problems that the Lee’s faced when dealing with the medical community in the US – the Lee’s believed
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While reading‚ “When The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down” you easily see how well this book relates to this class. You see people of different backgrounds coming together with the same goal. You see people with good intentions making mistakes due to lack of cultural competency. There isn’t a time in this book that doesn’t involve the confliction of people with different backgrounds. These conflicts such as different languages‚ different beliefs‚ and unknown information about medicine and technology
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Last semester I read the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman for one of my social work classes. This book is closely related to the chapter we covered this week on immigrants and refugees. This topic definitely piqued my interest. The book provided me with a descriptive overview of the life of a refugee from their perspective‚ while our textbook provided me with the knowledge base that is needed to assist this population. From a local perspective‚ I could never grasp the
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman 1st chapter reflections: This chapter which introduced me to Lia’s family was interesting. I was shocked to read that in her mother’s country of Laos‚ Lia would have been born by her mother squatting on the floor! They also used special created remedies to solve health issues without relying on hospitals or clinics. It was also interesting to read how important the Hmong people believed in sprits and how their life decisions where decided
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Final Paper What I will be covering in my paper is how communication was the biggest role in what happened to Lia. If Lia’s parents better understood the doctors it could have prevented a lot of things. But however‚ if the American Doctors knew about the Hmong people’s culture‚ language and the Lee’s thoughts on what was going on with Lia it also could have been prevented a lot. The Lee’s thought the reason why Lia was sick was because her sister slammed the door too loud and it caused her soul
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country you know little about except for the fact that it’s safer than yours. You and your three children have successfully escaped persecution and are subsisting off of government aid. However‚ you don’t understand the Native language and you differ tremendously when it comes to cultural beliefs. You do know that when anyone is ill‚ it is because their soul is out of balance with their body‚ but the Natives in this country constantly resort to temples for intimate examinations that you consider
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