The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”‚ a novel‚ written by Anne Fadiman‚ takes an inside look at the Hmong culture‚ their history‚ and trails Lia’s‚ a Hmong child of the Lees‚ medical experience with her American doctors and how a clash of two cultures impacted her outcome. Lia has epilepsy or as the Hmong say‚ “the spirit catches you and you fall down” (Fadiman‚ 2012‚ p. 30). The book focuses on Lia’s care‚ which results in brain death‚ the medical staffs’ actions/behaviors‚ what improvements
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difference in medical remedies and the language spoken. I know first-hand that my mother would prefer to have a Ghanaian physician‚ as opposed to the general white American doctor. Anne Fadiman wrote a successful award-winning book called‚ The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ which highlights how the cultural differences between the Hmong culture and American medicine jeopardized the health of a little girl named Lia Lee. The story brings into light the topic of Medical anthropology‚ which is the study
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In this essay I will review the question of how the Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down exemplifies the techniques of ethnographic research that we have studied in class. Also I will consider the question if there are ways in which Fadiman could have improved her methods to be a better anthropologist. In the essay I will look at the specific methods and techniques that Fadiman utilized. I will discuss where she conducted her research and also cover how she conducted her fieldwork. I suggest Anthropological
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In Chapter 1 of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ Fadiman demonstrates cultural relativism towards the Hmong culture by including very detailed history‚ facts and procedures found in Hmong culture. When explaining the long process of pregnancy and birth in Hmong culture‚ she does not make and claims for or against these rituals. She does not compare the cultures rituals to another culture. Fadiman simply states facts and explains the steps it takes for a woman to give birth to a child. She
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1. In her critique of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ Janelle Taylor argues that Anne Fadiman’s portrayal of Hmong culture is problematic. Please explain how Fadiman’s story is problematic. In your discussion‚ be sure to consider: • How is the story set up as a tragedy? That is‚ if both the parents and the doctors are uncompromising in their quest for Lia’s well-being‚ how do they wind up colliding so tragically? • How are Hmong culture and Western medicine used as explanations for
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The Collision of Two Cultures - Implications of Cultural Values and Beliefs on Caring Concepts Abstract This paper is a personal response to Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The paper includes a summary of the book‚ an overall impression of the reader‚ a discussion of three major themes evident in the book‚ and a description of a situation from the book and how the situation could be handled differently using references and material learned in 3020 Transcultural
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The question of readership plays a large role in the methodology of Fadiman’s novel The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The terminology and language within the novel clearly illustrates that the novel was intended for readers that have grown up surrounded by Westernized influence. The opening chapter of the novel depicts the typical birth methods within Hmong’s traditional beliefs. The language within this chapter specifically implies that readers must already understand modern medicine with
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down In the book‚ The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‚ Anne Fadiman tells us the story of a little girl named Lia Lee‚ caught between the differences of two cultures. The differences in Lia’s parents’ knowledge‚ abilities‚ and understanding of the culture they were surrounded by and the rationalized facts that Western medicine and its culture provide bring us to the borderland of the two. When these two cultures meet Lia’s life is put in danger‚ not
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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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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: Cultural Clash This book focuses on the “clash” of cultures that occurs between the Lee family‚ immigrants to the US from Laos‚ and the doctors that treat their daughter‚ Lia‚ who has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Lia’s parents‚ Foua and Nao Kao believe that Lia has fallen ill because she has “lost her soul”. This clash of ideas highlights one of the problems that the Lee’s faced when dealing with the medical community in the US – the Lee’s believed
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