The Spirit Catches You The Spirit Catches you and You fall down centers on Lia Lee, an epileptic Hmong Child who is caught in-between care of her loving parents and the responsibility of her caring doctors. Her parents are traditional Hmong’s who are hesitant towards American medicinal methods compared to Hmong traditional methods. While on the other side stands her American doctors, who were educated in American Universities and are for the most part are very much against treating Lia with
Name: Course Code: Lecturer: Date: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book written by Anne Fadiman about a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of the two cultures. It was first published in 1997. The author writes about Lia, a Hmong girl, who suffered from epilepsy that was recognised as qaug dab peg meaning the spirit catches you and you fall down in Hmong. Lia, unlike her older siblings, was born in the Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) and thus her placenta was incinerated
You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman describes the story of the Lee family and the conflicting views that arose between Western and Eastern beliefs on providing Lia medical aid. When Laos fell to the communists, the Lees were among the thousands of Hmong who fled the country. They arrived in the U.S. with their seven children and settled in the town Merced. When the Lee’s fourteenth child, Lia, was three months, her older sister slammed the front door of the apartment and Lia fainted. Her parents Nao
In Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, two cultures clash with each other in the struggle to save Lia Lee, a Hmong child refugee with severe epilepsy. Although Lee and her family live in the United States, and thus receive medical care from Westerners, her family believes that Lee’s condition is sacred and special. The following miscommunications, both culturally and lingually, between the American doctors and the Lee family leave Lia Lee in comatose at the end of the book
Homelessness is the condition of people living on the streets without a shelter. Grand Concourse, a play by Heidi Shreck, portrays this condition through Frog, a character with the most hilariously terrible jokes out there. Frog, who suffers from alcoholism and mental illness, is a daily homeless dinner at the Bronx soup kitchen. Although Frog is the one who represents the suffering and hopelessness of homeless people attending the soup kitchen, he never gets pessimistic or miserable. Instead, he
Ethnomedicine has been historically defined as any healthcare system not present in the West; now, ethnomedicine is defined as the any cultural beliefs which surround healing in a community. The Hmong—an ethnic group located within present day Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand—have a particular system of ethnomedicine which is described as personalistic. Within a personalistic system, an active agent is the underlying cause of a disease—or etiology. Humans can be the cause of the disease as well as a number
is a novel based on the clash of two cultures---the Hmong culture and the American culture. A little Hmong girl is diagnosed with epilepsy which her parents believe is caused by spirits. Because of this belief, they try to cure her illness not with western medication but their own Hmong ways. There is a huge misunderstanding between the parents and the doctors that Anne Fadiman explores. Anne Fadiman provides readers with a vivid, detailed history of the Hmong in Laos to their involvement in the Vietnam
In “The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down,” Anne Fadiman provides us with her book about two different cultural worlds and how they collide. 1. Quag Dab Peg in Hmong culture is caused by a bad spirit (dab’s). Hmong’s believe dab’s steal souls and cause sick illnesses. On the other hand, Epilepsy is referred to as a neurological condition. Are they the same thing? In my opinion, I do not believe Quag Dab Peg and Epilepsy are the “same.” For example, Quag Dab Peg would be treated by a (Txiv
in the Western Healthcare system. In essence, the Hmong cultural medicinal beliefs versus Western medicine is analyzed from the two
to these changes and along the way he learns the importance of life than his extant knowledge of death according to the priest. Walt learned to accept multiculturalism and to learn how to develop friendship with those people of different cultures. When the Hmong gangs bothered Thao and his family often, Walt’s only way of dealing with them was through violence, but he eventually learned about
The spirit catches you and you fall down by Annie Fadiman is a story about Hmong girl named Lia Lee, who is epileptic. Lia Lee suffered from seizures and eventually becomes vegetative for the rest of her life. The story is about a series of episodes of miscommunication, misinterpretations, disagreements between Lia’s parents and the medical team who is treating her. According to the Hmong culture they referred to the condition as the “quag dag peg,” which means the spirit catches you and you fall
fall down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman presents a case study of a young Hmong girl, Lia, and her journey with Epilepsy in America. Lia at the age of three months began to seize, the family had diagnosed her with qug dab peg which also means the spirit catches you and you fall down (Fadiman 1997:20). However medical doctors had diagnosed her epilepsy (Fadiman 1997:28). Throughout the book she describes the history of the Hmong people, from
Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman introduces the reader to the Hmong culture and to the Lee’s family experience with western medicine. Throughout the book it talks of the past interactions of the Hmong and Americans, showing reasoning why the Hmong already mistrust Americans and western medicine. Following World War II, the Hmong culture was rejected and ridiculed by the Chinese for not assimilating with their culture, causing many to move to the U.S. Upon arrival, they were still ridiculed
I had the privilege to talk to Lia Lee. Lee is a 67 years olds Hmong woman. She is a mother to 5 children, 31 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. Lee and husband Va Toua Xiong with her 4 children were sponsored by a church in St. Paul. They arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota in November 1980. Lia Lee and her husband did not have any close relatives in St. Paul during their arrival. Their sponsor found them an apartment in St. Paul. Lee and husband Xiong attended adult school to learn English and
brief, Hmong Food Helps Us Remember Who We Are: Perspectives of Food Culture and Health among Hmong Women with Young Children is a research conducted by Wa Vue, Cindy Wolff, and Keiko Goto to learn of Hmong women with young children view on the cultural food impact on health and socialization. The researchers reached out to women in the Hmong community who are mothers who have at least one child or more to conduct the research. The research is to learn how culturally appropriate impact Hmong mothers
years in the middle of a fight between Hmong culture and American medicine. The book is about a young Hmong child named Lia Lee. At 3 months old she started showing signs of severe epilepsy. Her American doctors had a strict and rigorous treatment plan, but were baffled when the family refused to follow it because of their culture and beliefs. Anne Fadiman originally went to the Lee’s hometown of Merced California as a columnist writing an article on Hmong culture for Life Magazine, but soon gained
“Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.” - Charlotte Bunch. Domestic abuse is a hostile dispute involving the use of violence among household or family members. It is a universal phenomenon that occurs in all races, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, occupations, and genders (“What is Domestic Violence?”). Although the austerity in each circumstance varies, it is a grave situation that no individual
refers to history, culture, religion, artifacts, and tradition that have a special meaning, particularly in society. Many of the aforementioned are simply habits and values that had been inculcated or handed down for generations from parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Heritage is what distinguishes one group from the others; it cannot be achieved because it is something we already have. Every culture has its own unique heritage; the Hmong people are no exception. Hmong heritage must be
The documentary The Split Horn: The Life of a Hmong Shaman in America details the lives, rituals, and beliefs of the Hmong (Meo) shaman and the Hmong communities after relocating to the United States. While watching Split Horn, the contrasting ways in which the elders and the children adapt their religion and their lives to a new environment seem particularly relevant and especially memorable. Through the passage of time, Hmong elders and shamans struggle to maintain their significance in a vastly
the Hmong culture to my own. In today’s society, everyone has that sense of ethnocentrism. Most of society takes for granted how blessed they are. For example, my culture typically lives in nice neighborhoods and areas that are not primarily secluded. We take pride in the houses we build and the amenities in them, such as toilets and refrigerators. We are able to decide what career field we want to pursue, and are able to work up in the social rankings despite our class upon birth. The Hmong culture