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Essays On Cultural Diversity
Adddressing cultural diversity
Adddressing cultural diversity
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Essays On Cultural Diversity
Adddressing cultural diversity
Adddressing cultural diversity
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Recommended: Essays On Cultural Diversity
Anne Fadiman’s professional background is that of the Hmong lifestyle with its cultures against the entire American culture. In his background, there is miscommunication resulting from the refusal of the give medical dosages and other medicines due to the misunderstandings and mistrust. According to Barnsteiner , (p.71), there is also the inability of the US doctors to treat those people deeply rooted in the Hmong culture and they are also unable to learn that culture in the most helpful. Hmong is a refugee family in the US and that is where Ann Fadiman comes from. They come from provinces such as Laos and Sainyabuli which have tried to interact with the healthcare system in California and Merced.
Using Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down I have created a cultural assessment of the Hmong people and their experiences with the American healthcare system. This small Southeast Asian minority known as the Hmong began moving to the United States towards the end of the Vietnam War. This brought a whole new set of challenges for the healthcare providers of the United States due to their cultural beliefs and native practices which made it difficult to perform certain forms of medicine. Doctors and nurses had to find different ways to treat these patients without violating their cultural beliefs or upsetting them.
After researching the Hmong culture, I learned several interesting facts about their culture, ceremonial practices, and their views on death and dying of a loved one. Many people in the Hmong culture believe in multiple souls that reincarnate. Although for this to occur, these individuals believe that an honored deceased member must have a proper burial to enter the spirit world in a positive way. Funerals in the Hmong culture last for many days, and the more revered the deceased is the longer the funeral may be. Animal sacrifice is a common ritual performed at a Hmong funeral and the animal is used to provide food for the people attending the funeral (Purnell, 2014, p. 246).
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman is an analysis of Western medicine and traditional Hmong medicine in the treatment of a young child with severe epilepsy in Merced, California. The book also details Hmong culture, history, and their life as refugees in the United States. The majority of the Hmong populations, especially in central California where the book takes place, rely on welfare and this creates tensions with the other populations in the area. Her book is an eye opening introduction into the Hmong culture, the clash of traditional and western medicine, the discrimination of refugees, and the importance of cultural inclusivity.
Hmongspeak by May Lee Hmongspeak is a way of describing the cultural aspects of the Hmong language. If a person uses it, that person gets labeled as a Hmong society member, and there’s some people who want to put a stop to these cultural aspects of the Hmong language. Because these people are affected by this language in an unpleasant way. One such author, May Lee wrote, “Hmongspeak” to educate the Hmong society. Lee defines it and says: “Hmongspeak is universal”.
Cultural insensitivity is prevalent throughout the Hmong’s journey with the American health care system. Between 8 months and 4.5 years Lia was in the hospital seventeen times and made more the one hundred visits to ER and paediatric clinic. The health care system failed to attempt to understand the Hmong language and culture, which lead to the Hmong adapting their cultural traditions and familiarities to please
In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman uses careful comparisons and contrasts to appeal to the emotions of readers. Throughout the novel, Fadiman explores different scenarios that are encountered by the Hmong that would make anyone feel frightened. Through these scenarios, we discover what the Hmong have had to endure in order to make a small amount of progress. Some of the individuals in the novel we encounter, including Dr. Robert Small, see the Hmong as “ignorant” and “almost a Stone Age people”. However, some individuals such as the social worker to Lia Lee, Jeanine Hilt, and the author of the novel understand why the Hmong reacted the way they did to the doctors.
When people hear about elderly individuals most will assume that they are wise, filled with endless amounts of wisdom, and have stories to pass down. Well, if an individual is an elderly Hmong male, then this is accurate. It has been said “Within the family, the eldest man would traditionally hold the utmost power and control and would possess final say regarding all family decisions” (Tatman 2004). Also, the elder adults are typically seen as clan leaders. Clan leaders make many decisions and approve of any major decisions (Cobb 2010).
Even though the Hmong had harsh time obtaining the American culture they never told people how they felt legitimately and absolutely no one cared for them and how they literally felt. The Hmong needed jobs to survive, back in their country they used animals as trade and buying, their revenue was for uppermost profit and buying items from animals, cars to houses. The Hmong came to America knowing nothing about the culture and currency and were given money from the U.S. They were basically given money and ditched by the government. The Hmong was left to learn how to survive on their own and make their own money. Soon they began to understand the conditions of work in the U.S.A, the Hmong began to amelioration and start a life.
“Choua”, which is my name, means wind in Hmong. Hmong, an Asian ethnicity who does not have a “land” or “home” to call. Many of us come from Laos or areas nearby like Thailand. In the Hmong culture, there are varieties of religions in the community, but two of the most common ones are animism and Christianity. There are two different perspectives of life in the Hmong community as well: American modernized and traditional.
Being a Hmong woman living in America, my parents always expected high academic achievements from me. I appreciate my culture because the expectations I receive makes me the person I am . Growing up my parents taught me well and taught me to be a proper Hmong woman in life. However, the twenty-first generation is different now, our thoughts on what we want and what we need are very different from what are parents want and need. When I was a kid, education was important, my parents taught me that if I did not study hard and do well, I would be living the life my parents were.
According to Purnell (2014) “Hmong children often have not developed a vocabulary that can fully interpret medical terms” (pg. 238) and should be
In a healthcare setting you will see different cultures that will come and go. It is very important to know how to deal with each culture so that you can help them while still making sure they are comfortable. Native Americans have many different characteristics because of the different tribes from all over the world. Healthcare providers should be familiar with them so they know how to distinguish them if needed. While knowing their characteristics they should also know how to interact with Native Americans as well since their culture is a lot different than ours, we want to make sure that we don’t disrespect them.
This research paper examines the factors first generation Hmong American college students encounter while pursuing completion of higher education. Existing studies shows that many Hmong American college students encounter struggles with families’ language barriers (Lee 4), differences in cultural expectations (Vang 2), and finical issue. The struggles they face shows on the Hmong American college students academics (Vang 2). Introduction Vocabulary Hmong: Hmong are a group from the mountains of China, Laos, and Vietnam.
Over the past four months, this course has been one of the most eye-opening experiences I have had during my first year of college. Although I have always realized the importance of being culturally competent in daily life, specifically healthcare, I was unaware of the many ways that cultural competence can be obtained. This class gave me the opportunity to view situations from a different perspective, especially through the weekly discussion boards and peer responses. Learning from classmate can teach more valuable lessons than listening to boring lectures or reading hundreds of pages in a textbook because it is easier to relate to experience rather than hypothetical situations. For example, one of the discussion boards asked us to detail