Hmong Culture

Historical Time and Place

The most significant generation of Laotian immigrants were refugees who fled the violence and unrest that dominated Laos in the 1970s. The Vietnam and Laotian Civil Wars catalyzed a major efflux of refugees who escaped Laos by crossing the Mekong River into Thailand refugee camps. Beginning in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, many of these displaced Laotians emigrated to the United States for resettlement. The Lees were among these immigrants. Immigrants who resettled in the US at this time often had few employable skills and no saved capital; as a result, many relied on welfare. Hmong welfare recipients felt they deserved these incentives because they had been displaced by an American satellite war. They believed

Consequently, their Hmong upbringing shaped their worldview and child-rearing practices which resultantly affected the development of their children. By coming from a generation of Hmong refugees, the Lees carry a stubborn character and a distrust of their skewed understanding of American medicine. While the Hmong are wary of American doctors, the doctors of Merced believe that the Hmong are ignorant. This conflict between Hmong tradition and Western medicine creates a dichotomy which frames Lia’s experiences as a patient. The Hmong in Merced want pieces of cultural remedies integrated in with their treatment while the doctors refuse to incorporate anything divergent from traditional Western medicine. After Lia’s grand mal seizure however, the doctors withdraw from battle and leave Lia at her parents’ discretion. Their concession actually allows Lia’s development to flourish. Although she is brain dead and her cognitive abilities do not improve, her physical development is surprisingly restored to almost typical. “[Lia] was nothing like the patients in vegetative states… pasty skinned carcasses with slack mouths and hair like straw… [Lia’s] black hair was shiny, her skin was soft and fine” (Fadiman 216). The doctors’ withdrawal from Lia’s case positively affected her maturation by allowing her to be cared for fully by Nao Kao and Foua instead of being pulled in multiple directions from the earlier medical dichotomy. Had the doctors (or the parents) surrendered control earlier, Lia may not have become brain dead and her life may have unfolded along a more typical path. Thus, the investment of MMCM in Lia is directly linked to her developmental