Moments later Lia’s eyes rolled into the back of her head‚ her arms jerked over her head‚ and she fainted. The only explanation her family could come up with was her soul was frightened by the noise and fled from her body and became lost. This in the Hmong community is known as qaug dab peg‚ “The Spirit Catches You and You fall Down” (Fadiman‚ 1997 p. 20). In the United States we call this behavior epilepsy‚ a neurological disorder that produces seizures from strong surges of electrical activity that
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person with qaug dab peg was traditionally held in high esteem in the Hmong culture‚ it was also terrifying enough that the Lee’s rushed Lia to the emergency room more than once in the first few months of her life. 2. While the Lees recognized that Lia had an illness‚ I do not believe that they recognized the severity of her problems. One the one hand‚ the understood that it was a dangerous illness‚ but on the other hand‚ the Hmong believed that qaug dab peg “singles him out as a person of consequence”
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Role of Cross-cultural Misunderstanding in Ruining Lia’s Life Lia is born of a loving Hmong family‚ and just three months into her life‚ begins to reveal epileptic symptoms. According to the Hmong community‚ the condition is curable‚ and the presence of spirits in such a patient’s soul is considered a blessing. However‚ American doctors in a community medical center fail to understand and appreciate Lia’s parents’ approach to the child’s disease‚ and are only interested in saving this child’s
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the questions contained in this study guide. Post your completed document to the appropriate assignment box on the course website. 1. What do you think of traditional Hmong birth practices (pp. 3-5)? Compare them to the techniques used when Lia was born (p. 7). How do Hmong and American birth practices differ? I think the Hmong traditional give birth practice is very unsafe and dirty. The environment of giving birth is full with bacteria‚ germs and easily get infection for both mother and new born
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super Snow Experience: Hmong New Year’s The Hmong New Year (HNY) is a cultural celebration that occurs annually‚ in the months of November and December‚ in areas where large Hmong population exists. The purpose of this celebration is to welcome the New Year and rejoice the hard work of the past year. The Hmong people use this event as an opportunity to educate their young and others who have interest in the tradition. This event begins in homes of Hmong families where the leaders of
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down tells the story of Lia Lee‚ a Hmong child with epilepsy‚ whose tragic downfall reveals the dangers of a lack of cross-cultural communication in the medical profession. At the age of three months‚ Lia had her first seizure caused by the sound of a door being slammed shut‚ by her older sister Yer. Their parents‚ Foua and Nao Kao believed that the sound of the door had caused Lia’s soul to flee‚ they called her illness “qaug dab peg”‚ which means “the spirit
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In many cultures around the world people have the same problems to face as we do. They just refer to them by different words and or different meanings. In “The Spirit Catches You‚” a young girl by the name of Lia has a condition that Western Medicine considers to be epilepsy‚ but in her culture of the Hmong they believe it to be qaug dab peg. Some might consider these two conditions of the body and soul to be the same thing or quite different. Western medicine’s way of dealing with the issue is
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Catches You and You Fall Down” By: Anne Fadiman Meghan Maloney 26 April 2013 To understand the struggles that the Hmong people face living in America it is important to understand where they come from and what they have gone through. The majority of the Hmong people originate from the mountainous country of Laos. The mountains created isolation from the neighboring cultures and cultivated a clan identity. They were part of a society where everyone worked together and lived off the land. They
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Summary and Reading Log Chapter 1 - Birth Chapter 1 goes through the traditional birthing methods and traditions of the Hmong people. One of the most significant traditions is burying the placenta. The placenta has to be strategically buried in a specific spot under the homes dirt floor or when the person dies its soul has to travel back to the placenta. This chapter also introduces the characters Nao Kao and Foua Lee. Nao is husband and father of 13
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The Journey: Culture‚ Religion‚ and Age Gran Torino is a film that shows the difference and struggles in cultures‚ religion‚ and ages. Through a Hmong perspective‚ the viewer is able to understand the hardships and struggles they encounter coming to a new country. The protagonist of Gran Torino is Walt Kowalski‚ along with Thao and Sue. Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor‚ a young Hmong teenager‚ who tried to steal Kowalski ’s prized possession: his 1972
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