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Hmong culture differences
An essay about multicultural literature
Essay about multicultural literature
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The book I read to examine multicultural issues and cultural biases was The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Faldiman. I found it helpful to use Google maps to get a visual of the location Hmong refugees came from in Laos and mentally trace their journey across the Pacific to settle in Merced, CA. There are two main cultures discussed in this book which includes the subordinate Hmong Lee family and the dominant White American doctors who tried to help Lia with her medical or spirit issues depending on which culture you asked. Faldiman stated in the preface, “I have always felt that the action most worth watching is not at the center of things but where the edges meet.” This statement would hold so much relevance because Lia’s treatments could have been less stressful if the two cultures reached a point of intersectionality. This is also congruent with what Tatum mentioned in Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria concerning, “Changes in immigration policy in 1965 dramatically increased Asian immigration, significantly altering the demographic makeup of the Asian Pacific American community.” In order to have a full …show more content…
The term “quag dab ped” is the translation of the book title. There was an incident when the older sister slammed a door and three month old Lia went into convulsions from a seizure. The Lees believed that Lia’s spirit had left her body. It was the beginning of a long journey to get help because their family status identity was set on the credence that children where their most prized possessions. The Lees wanted to consult with a txiv neeb who is known as having a healing spirit. There is also a shaman who is regarded as divine if they are epileptic. There were mixed feelings about if Lia was really sick and if the prescribed medications would heal or worsen her
Throughout American history, relationships between racial and ethnic groups have been marked by antagonism, inequality, and violence. In today’s complex and fast-paced society, historians, social theorists and anthropologists have been known to devote significant amounts of time examining and interrogating not only the interior climate of the institutions that shape human behavior and personalities, but also relations between race and culture. It is difficult to tolerate the notion; America has won its victory over racism. Even though many maintain America is a “color blind nation,” racism and racial conflict remain to be prevalent in the social fabric of American institutions. As a result, one may question if issues and challenges regarding the continuity of institutional racism still exist in America today. If socialization in America is the process by which people of various ethnicities and cultures intertwine, it is vital for one to understand how the race relations shape and influence personalities regarding the perceptions of various groups. Heartbreaking as it is, racism takes a detour in acceptance of its blind side. Further, to better understand racism one must take into account how deeply it entrenched it is, not only in politics, and economics but also Health Care settings. In doing so, one will grasp a decisive understanding of "who gets what and why.” The objective of this paper is to explore and examine the pervasiveness of racism in the health care industry, while at the same time shed light on a specific area of social relations that has remained a silence in the health care setting. The turpitude feeling of ongoing silence has masked the treatment black patients have received from white health care providers...
Dr. Stanley Sue is an Asian American clinical psychologist whose research focus is on Asian American minorities. Dr. Sue was born in Portland, Oregon and was the third of six children to his Chinese immigrant parents. As a child “his first career ambition was to repair televisions, but soon he got bored with shop classes. Then, he developed great fascination with psychotherapy and the idea of helping emotionally disturbed individuals (Rockwell 2001).” Dr. Sue recalled, “I told my parents that I wanted to become a clinical psychologist, not fully knowing what a clinical psychologists did (Rockwell 2001).” He also remembered what his father said and thought after making this declaration: “My father, who was born in China, said, ‘What is that?’ He couldn’t believe that people would pay me to listen to their problems – indeed, he wondered if I could make a decent living (Rockwell 2001).”
Nayan Shah is a leading expert in Asian American studies and serves as professor at the University of California. His work, Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown explores how race, citizenship, and public health combined to illustrate the differences between the culture of Chinese immigrants and white norms in public-health knowledge and policy in San Francisco. Shah discusses how this knowledge impacted social lives, politics, and cultural expression. Contagious Divides investigates what it meant to be a citizen of Chinese race in nineteenth and twentieth-century San Francisco.
Tachiki, Amy; Wong, Eddie; Odo, Franklin, eds. (1971). Roots: An Asian American Reader. University of California, Los Angeles Press.
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
Share the story of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures.
Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved , 117-123.
I am able to consult a more qualified resource person when working with culturally different clients and represent a non-racist identity as a counselor. I am aware of my cultural beliefs regarding health, causes of diseases and purpose of life. Accordingly, I am aware of how different cultural groups perceive dietary habits, family roles, high-risk behaviors and spiritual beliefs regarding nursing care and thus I am capable of discussing with the client on such beliefs and values before counseling (Andrews & Boyle,
Being narrow-minded and not being able to take a look at a situation from another person’s point of view can interfere with many situations in life. Culture varies from person to person, province to province, and country to country. Making the adjustment to be able to make adjustments to things such as healthcare to accommodate someone because of their culture is important. Cultural differences will be apparent in all hospital settings no matter where you travel to, so being mindful of it all will go a long way so that the treatment is done correctly and culturally competently. While healthcare may seem as the most important time where culture is sensitive, as Dettwyler sees during her time in Mali, culture affects all parts of life.
Hmong refugees came from a disadvantaged home environment that did not prepare them to adapt to life in the United States. Many Hmong refugees
In “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, the whole story revolves around Lia, the thirteenth child of Lee family. Lee family was a refugee family in USA and Lia was their first child to be born in US. At the time of time of birth, she was declared as a healthy child but at the age of three it was founded that she is suffering from epilepsy. In the words of western or scientific world the term epilepsy mean mental disorder of a person and in Hmong culture, epilepsy is referred to as qaug dab peg (translated in English, "the spirit catches you and you fall down"), in which epileptic attacks are perceived as evidence of the epileptic's ability to enter and journey momentarily into the spirit realm (Wikipedia, 2014)
She heard about the Hmong through a friend, and so she spent 4 years living in Merced, California and another 5 writing this book. She attempts to stay fairly neutral in her writing, though through her time with the Lees, she confesses that her writing may appear biased toward the Hmong culture rather than toward the Americans. However, in the end she could not blame one side or the other for the unfortunate tragedy of Lia, who got hit in the cross-fire between these two cultures. Her theoretical view is a type of cultural relativism. Neither the Hmong nor the Americans could emerge as the better culture. She does not address any questions about direct unethical practices. The Hmong did not practice human sacrifices, and the animals they did sacrifice were theirs. She does seem to believe that every culture has its weak and strong
Fadiman, A. 1997. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
This essay will be evaluating the question: how did language and communication play a role in shaping what happened to Lia? Also, it will look at if Fadiman points out ways in which communication practices between doctors and patients could be improved. These were important in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, because they shaped what would happen to Lia in the end. The evidence we will look at will include the facts that the doctors and the Lees couldn’t understand each other, the hospitals didn’t have enough interpreters for everyone, and that the Lees did not trust hospitals or doctors in the first place because of their culture.
Understanding race, ethnicity, and culture is an extremely important aspect of being a counselor. If an individual does not have cultural identity of their own or understand his or herself as a cultural, ethnic, or racial individual, it may be difficult to help your clients. Understanding and being aware of your cultural identity will help the counselor be conscious of their own prejudice. Being aware of your own prejudice towards any culture, race, or ethnic group may help you redirect your negative thinking into a positive active role as a counselor. Having awareness will make an individual an improved counselor able to empathize and understand any individual who seeks therapy.