...Praise for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down “Fadiman describes with extraordinary skill the colliding worlds of Western medicine and Hmong culture.” —The New Yorker “This fine book recounts a poignant tragedy…It has no heroes or villains, but it has an abundance of innocent suffering, and it most certainly does have a moral…[A] sad, excellent book.” —Melvin Konner, The New York Times Book Review “An intriguing, spirit-lifting, extraordinary exploration of two cultures in uneasy coexistence…A wonderful aspect of Fadiman’s book is her even-handed, detailed presentation of these disparate cultures and divergent views—not with cool, dispassionate fairness but rather with a warm, involved interest that sees and embraces both sides of each issue…Superb, informal cultural anthropology—eye-opening, readable, utterly engaging.” —Carole Horn, The Washington Post Book World “This is a book that should be deeply disturbing to anyone who has given so much as a moment’s thought to the state of American medicine. But it is much more…People are presented as [Fadiman] saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.” —Sherwin B. Nuland, The New Republic 3/462 “Anne Fadiman’s phenomenal first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, brings to life the enduring power of parental love in an impoverished refugee family struggling to protect their seriously ill infant daughter and ancient spiritual traditions from the tyranny of welfare bureaucrats and intolerant...
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...Gran Torino Jamie P. Lard Texas A&M University-Central Texas Summary The movie “Gran Torino” tells the story of Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood), who is a retired autoworker and also a veteran of the North Korean war. In the first part, the film Walt loses his wife, Dorothy. He is survived by his two sons their wives and grandchildren. However, Mr. Kowalski chooses not to display affection toward or even try to bond with his sons, daughters-in-laws, and grandchildren. He spends much of his time sitting on the front porch drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and growling at the neighborhood people as they walk past his house. It seems that Kowalski has difficulties communicating with non-whites without making offensive racial remarks. It is evident that the racial slurs he makes throughout the first part of the movie are for self-gratification. Mr. Kowalski’s snarling character emanates a form of white machismo that uses racism as a way of empowering himself. In the movie “Gran Torino” the cultural diversity is abundant; however it is met with prejudice and resistance from the main character, Walt Kowalski. His house is located in an once prominent area of Highland Park, Michigan. Mr. Kowalski was an American made man, everything that he owns was made in America. Mr. Kowalski was upset with his sons for purchasing foreign cars because he as always purchased American made cars. Which brings us to the main feature of the film is the “Gran Torino.” Mr...
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...Promoting Cultural Sensitivity A Practical Guide for Tuberculosis Programs That Provide Services to Hmong Persons from Laos U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Hla dej yuav hle khau; Tsiv teb tsaws chaw yuav hle hau. “When you cross a river, take off your sandals; when you emigrate from one country to another, take off your hat.” –Hmong Proverb Promoting Cultural Sensitivity A Practical Guide for Tuberculosis Programs That Provide Services to Hmong Persons from Laos Female elder. © Frank Carter. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2008 For Additional Information For more information or for a list of available guides, please contact: Division of Tuberculosis Elimination National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Mailstop E-10 Atlanta, GA 30333 Phone: (404) 639-8120 Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/tb Suggested Citation Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008). Promoting Cultural Sensitivity: A Practical Guide for Tuberculosis Programs That Provide Services to Hmong Persons from Laos. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2 Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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...the demise of a little seven- year old girl. I did not expect the story to end with Lia Lee in a persistent vegetative state. I was very excited when I first started the book, but I soon became rather depressed with the lack of compassion of people towards the Hmong in general throughout the book. I am not certain whether I am now more culturally aware now, but I was very frustrated by the lack of respect given to the Hmong by the people in the city of Merced and the doctors and nurses comments about the Lees. Three Major Themes Evident in the Book: A: Cultural Understanding An important thread running throughout this book is cultural understanding. Americans, including the medical professionals in Merced and Valley Children’s Hospital are depicted as very insensitive to the ways of the Hmong people. Anne Fadiman, while acutely aware of the physicians’ frustrations in providing medical care for those individuals with very radically different worldviews was able to at least urge the physicians to acknowledge the families realities. The Hmong have been fighting against many different peoples over centuries, being forced from their beloved China into Laos, then into Thailand, and then the United States. The Hmong people throughout history have had little need to assimilate to other cultures because they have lived...
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...about the Hmong culture, they originally dominated the country of China; however, they were overtaken by other Asian groups (Split Horn). Some Hmong people were enslaved, while majority of the Hmong individuals scattered throughout the world. Hmong families and relatives strayed away from populated areas, and decided to escape to Thailand. With the separation of the Hmong population, Hmong relatives mainly mobilized to Laos or deep into the mountains in Thailand. The estimated Hmong population during that time was 300,000 to 400,000 people (Split Horn). When the Vietnam War began, several Hmong people decided to find different locations to live in, while other Hmong individuals contributed to fight along with the United...
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...Hmong, a Southeast Asian ethnic group, lived an agricultural lifestyle in the hills and mountain regions in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand after migrating from south of China around 1810-1820 (McCall, 1999; Ngo & Lee, 2007; Tatman, 2004; Thao, 1999). In the 1960s, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) approached and recruited General Vang Pao, a military leader in the Hmong community, to form a special force known as The United States Secret Army in Laos to help lead the Hmong fight in the Vietnam War (Lor & Yang, 2012; Thao, 1999). When the United States withdrew from the Vietnam War in 1973, the United States made arrangements for many Hmong to be scattered throughout the county a few years later (Thao, 1999; Thao, 2003; Vang,...
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...Gran Torino (2008) is an American drama film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also assumes the role of lead actor. Right from the outset, it becomes abundantly clear that Eastwood is having fun with this film and its central character, Walt Kowalski. Credit must go to Eastwood, given that his penchant for fun does not undermine the serious nature of the plot. The majority of film reviewers draw attention to Kowalski’s troubled existence in a changing world. Conflict escalates after the death of Kowalski’s wife, particularly as Kowalski’s life becomes embroiled with the Hmong family living next door. At the surface level of plot, this is a story about a man and his struggles with himself and the world around him. At a deeper level, however, this is a profoundly religious story through which a viewer may, to use Robert Ellis’ expression, “stumble across the gospel travelling incognito.”1 [2] Many scholars have demonstrated successfully that ostensibly secular films can sustain a religious interpretation. The potential for audiences to tap into the religious nature of certain films, to perceive a sacred subtext, is due to the fact that “narratives have a dual nature, namely, an overt plot and a covert storyline of varying complexity that is comparable to the metaphorical or symbolic within literature.”2 For this reason, as Anton Kozlovic explains, “secular film can engage in religious storytelling without appearing ‘religious’.”3 While most reviewers of Gran Torino focus...
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...Thao gains confidence and becomes a man, finally realising his usefulness in the world. Walt gains new views and perceptions of the world around him and even learns to let go of his past. However, character development doesn’t extend out to all characters within the film, but situates on the most important individuals within the movie. Thao Vang Lor isn’t the protagonist of “Gran Torino” but he is the most important when it comes to character development. Thao is an American-born Asian who feels he doesn’t quite belong with his family. Intelligent as he is; Thao starts as a scrawny, hunched-over and his Hmong family don’t consider him a man. His Grandmother even tells one of the family members; "He does whatever his sister tells him to do. How could he ever become man of the house?” Thao is constantly being told what to do and does all the chores that the Hmong people see as ‘Women’s chores’, such as the dishes, or gardening. When Thao first meets Walt Kowalski at the start of the film, he asks for jumper cables to help start up a car. But he is shy and Walt immediately dislikes Thao and doesn't even give him the chance to speak, butting in and trying to push him to cut to the chase. In this scene, a high view is shot from above Walt, looking down on Thao. This symbolises the superiority that Walt has over Thao at this point. As the two begin to warm up to each other they begin to form a bond unlike any other. They become the best of friends. Walt gives Thao the physical...
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...THE STATE OF HMONG-AMERICAN STUDIES (A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY) By Mark E. Pfeifer, PhD Director, Hmong Resource Center, Saint Paul Editor, Hmong Studies Journal Introduction In the newly published volume Hmong/Miao in Asia, Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, co-editor Nicholas Tapp provides an insightful essay “The State of Hmong Studies: An Essay on Bibliography” which traces the temporal development of research on the Hmong and assesses some of the key works within the interdisciplinary realm of Hmong Studies. Tapp’s essay is very valuable as an overview of the growth of Hmong Studies research based in Asia. Unfortunately, the sections of his piece pertaining to Hmong-American Studies, are, as he himself acknowledges, dated as they are heavily focused on publications from the 1980s and early 1990s. It is the purpose of the present short essay to provide the reader with an assessment of recent developments in Hmong-American Studies and some insights about certain research areas that need further development in the field. Health and Medicine Hmong-American Studies research has grown dramatically since the early 1990s. The Hmong Resource Center library in Saint Paul now possesses more than 150 dissertations/theses and 450 journal articles pertaining to HmongAmericans (as opposed to Hmong in Asia and other countries). The vast majority 1 of these works have been published since 1994. There are certain fields within Hmong-American Studies that have seen very important...
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...Many Hmong refugees resettled in the United States after the Vietnam War. Beginning in December 1975, the first Hmong refugees arrived in the U.S., mainly from refugee camps in Thailand; however, only 3,466 were granted asylum at that time under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. In May 1976, another 11,000 were allowed to enter the United States, and by 1978 some 30,000 Hmong people had immigrated. The Hmong community is very religious for the most part. In some of the large cities where Lao and Hmong-Americans live and work, tensions have, on rare occasion, running high between them and neighboring ethnic groups. Hmong people have sometimes been targets of discrimination, mainly because of job competition and stereotyping of them as foreigners and too dependent on welfare. Some of their persecutors justified their actions by claiming that the Hmong unnecessarily took jobs, welfare money, and other services away from long-time residents. As with any social issues, these communities evolve to being very successful but also they suffer issues such as crime that is perpetrated by their own. Hmong gangs are considered to be some of the most violent Asian gangs on the US. These gangs are formed mainly by younger generations of Hmong; they become enchanted with the American way of life and get involved with crime. Throughout the United States, the number of Hmong gangs and the level of their criminal activity are increasing in severity. Their participation...
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...The Hmong are a very interesting group of individuals with strong beliefs about healing, especially the Lees and their daughter Lia. Faced with hard times with their daughter being sick the Lee’s beliefs are put to the test. Do you think they will stay true to their beliefs or abandon everything they believe in to help cure their daughter’s sickness? I understand the motivation behind the Lees’ refusal to give Lia her medication because they felt like the medications were causing more harm to their child and what parents wouldn’t stop giving their child medication if they felt as if it was doing more harm than good. Lastly, the Lee’s beliefs were the main motivators and you can’t suddenly change beliefs that have been instilled in people’s...
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.... PERSONAL INFORMATION/REASON FOR REFERRAL Ms. Wilkie is thirty-four years old. Ms. Wilkie was born in Cumming, Georgia and lived there for thirteen years. Ms. Wilkie then moved to Cherokee, Georgia. She stated that she has lived in Cherokee, Georgia for approximately twenty-one years. Ms. Wilkie reported that she has live in Georgia all of her life. Ms. Wilkie reported that she is single. Ms. Wilkie stated that she has five children. Ms. Wilkie has been required to complete a substance abuse evaluation as a result of a possession of an illegal drug related offense. The evaluation is to determine whether Ms. Wilkie is suffering from a Substance Related Disorder and to recommend a course of treatment, if appropriate. The interview was conducted directly and entirely in English, Ms. Wilkie’s native language. II. EMPLOYMENT/EDUCATION HISTORY Ms. Wilkie reported that she is a stay at home mother for more than five years. Ms. Wilkie reported that she does not work so that she can take care of her children. Ms. Wilkie reported that she attended Sequoyah Atlanta Job corps. Ms. Wilkie cannot recall the date of attendance. She did not graduate due to pregnancy. Ms. Wilkie reported that she plans to go back to finish the program. She stated he has not received any additional trainings or certifications. III. ARREST/COURT HISTORY Ms. Wilkie reported that she was arrested on Wednesday, April 28, 2016. Ms. Wilkie reported that she was on Interstate 575 in Canton, Georgia. Ms...
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...Hmong World View and Social Structure According to Durkheim (1961), the source of what we regard as sacred or religious lies within our own image. The deities and spirits we pay respect to are but "society transfigured" for in the final analysis we only worship our society. It is society which is both the cause and the expression of religious sentiments through regular ritual representations (Aron, 1967: 53) These rights constitute beliefs enacted for the purpose of preserving a sense of belonging for the participants and maintaining them together as a group. They not only tie the members of the group to each other "but also to the past and the future generations" (Cohen, 1871: 180). Religious ideas, in the words of Bachofen (Leaf, 1979: 118), define fundamental relations in society, showing internal structures similar to the actual behaviour or the believers. The supernatural order is in general based on the social relationships of the group. It validates and regulates these relationships, thereby conserving the social orders. In this paper, I will discuss the social organisation of the Hmong of Laos and Thailand in relation to their religious beliefs in order to see if the two spheres mutually interact to maintain the broader social system. It has been said that ancestral spirits are no more than "a projection of the authority system of the living - the lineage elders elevated to a supernatural plane" (Keesing and Keesing 1971: 309). How true is this of the Hmong? I will...
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...Lucy Vue Public Speaking NE 11A.M Janet Nobles Informative Speech Outline Objective: To inform To inform the audience about a history background of the Hmong people. Intro: I have a lot of people asking me this question every time they finished asking me what nationality I am. What is Hmong? That triggers me! Sometimes it is heard for me to answer them because I don’t know the real answer to it and I would just say “we are Asian, we don’t have a country and we are not Mongolian.” This question, what is Hmong finally led me to research on my own people history, therefore I finally found out interesting information. I. What is Hmong? a) Hmong are an ethnic group from the mountain regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. b) The Hmong claim an origin in the Yellow River region of China. In Martha Ratliff’s 2004 book, Vocabulary of Environment and Subsistence in Proto-language, there is linguistic evidence to suggest that they have occupied the same areas of southern China for at least the past 2,000 years. c) 'Miao' people, a group with whom Hmong people are often identified. II. Hmong Rituals and Culture a) An article in www. Pbs.org stated about the Hmong religion is traditionally animist. According to Hmong cosmology, the human body is the host for a number of souls. The isolation and separation of one or more of these souls from the body can cause disease, depression and death. Curing rites are therefore referred to as "soul-calling rituals"...
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...The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Book Review by Jerry Cyccone The book I chose to review, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Huong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures”, by Anne Fadiman, is a non-fiction narrative about the collision of cultural relativism and medicine. The book describes the struggles faced by the Lees, a Hmong family that emigrated from Laos in 1980, to the city of Merced, California. The story revolves around young Lia Lee, the second born from her parents and a sufferer of epilepsy. Difficulties arise when barriers in communication, culture, and religion surface between American physicians and Lia’s parents over Lia’s treatment. These barriers, further enhanced by both side’s ethnocentric beliefs and failure to work together, resulted in creating a series of events that would eventually determine the fate of poor Lia Lee. Lia had her initial seizure at the young age of three months old. In an unfamiliar country and not fluent in English, yet concerned by Lia’s seizure, the Lees brought Lia to Merced Community Medical Center. From the beginning, the inability of both Lia’s parents and the doctors to communicate with each other, made it almost impossible for Lia to even be diagnosed properly. In fact, the first diagnosis of Lia was that she was suffering from a “bronchial infection” (p. 26). Yes, Lia did have breathing issues, but because of the language barrier, the doctors didn’t realize until...
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