...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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...Statement of Research Problem : Although the Hmong has been living in France for more than 40 years now and called on to settle down permanently, this cultural minority remains largely unknown. Despite the ties between France and the Hmong date back to the first Indochina war and their collaboration to fight against the Japanese imperialism, the defeat of the French driving with it the death of several Hmong fighters remains commonly unfamiliar. As a result, French citizens have slight knowledge of this war and of the use made by France of the Hmong community in Laos. Consequently, apart from the most inquisitive, the awareness of the Hmong history rests misunderstood by the larger population. The presence of the Hmong in France is the result of the French history, and the stress should...
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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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...homeland as “The Land of the Long White Cloud” Make up 15% of New Zealand’s modern population Current growing interest in this culture because of “Maori Ink” Moko is a tattoo that represents the person’s identification as well as their rank, genealogy, tribal history, and eligibility. Those worthy of a moko would go through the process when they hit puberty. A mark of beauty or ferocity; used by warriors to attract tribal women. If you’re not Maori then its just a tattoo, and wearing it “just for fun” is often considered offensive. Men were allowed to have a full facial moko. Those of higher rank (chiefs and warriors) were usually the only ones who could afford it, but were also the only ones who held positions worthy of getting one. Women traditionally only were allowed to be tattooed on their lips, around the chin, and sometimes the nostrils. The "epitome of Maori female beauty" was seen as a woman with full blue lips. Those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of “no social status.” Woman’s chin Moko: Ready to marry and bear children Now has speaking rights within extended family or tribe Full leg:Demonstrates movement Arm:Messages related to occupation Warriors and chiefs wore it for battles as a form of intimidation for their enemies.Maori dancers perform rhythmically complex dances with stick instruments Hmong Population (World): Asia China – 4,500,000 (estimate) Vietnam – 558,000 Laos – 316,000...
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...Culture exist in every society, it is based on attitudes, values, and beliefs. Culture can either be visible or invisible; usually the invisible value-belief system of a particular culture is often the major driving force behind the visible. Culture can be defines as the context for interpreting human experiences such as health and illness and provides direction to decision and actions. All culture has systems of health beliefs to explain what causes illness, how it can be cured or treated and who should be involved in the care process. Cultural awareness can be defines as : “an in-depth self-examination of one’s own background, recognizing bias, prejudices, and assumption about other people”. To provide an effective care, health care provider should be of cultural competence and practice. Cultural sensitive care in nursing is important to provide meaningful and supportive care for clients. Beyond the concept that language can often present a barrier to proper understanding and decision making, every client has a unique background and life story that influences what he or she considers appropriate care. Age, race ethnicity, gender, race, religion, economic status, and other factors such as prior healthcare encounter and recent family event can all affect how an individual sees the world. To discover client’s culture care, values, meaning, beliefs and practices, nurses need to be able to assess social, cultural, and biophysical factors influencing treatment and care of client;...
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...Hmong culture is a combination of Chinese, Vietnamese, Laos, and Thai, making them very unique in the basics of culture, where they live, and their global landscape. Hmong people are very unique in a few ways and are not well-known as an Asian culture if you were to ask someone. Although they are not a country, Hmong people have lots of pride in their culture and ancestors. From the fancy traditional clothes to living in the mountains between countries and being separated from China and Vietnam, Hmong people are very independent and are influenced by many countries. Hmong is a very independent Asian culture and community and has very unique and colorful traditional clothes. Traditional women clothes contain long black pants or skirts, hand...
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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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...importance of cultural competence. The story focuses on a Hmong refugee family from Laos living in Merced, California when one of it’s younger members, Lia, is diagnosed with epilepsy. The Hmong people believe they are protectors of their own souls and that people afflicted with epilepsy have a sacred ability to travel to the spirit realm to protect their spirit from the dab, or malevolent spirits. Because of this, Hmong epileptics are seen as people to be revered fighting a noble battle. This conflicts with western medicine and created a war between Lia’s doctors and family that kept her from receiving the care she needed. At four years old, Lia developed status epilepticus and hit her head. She went into septic shock in the hospital and suffered brain-death. Her parents chose not to remove her from life support. The overarching theme of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was that lack of cultural competence can kill. Fadiman wrote, “I have come to believe that her life was ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding” (p.262). Lia’s parents almost never followed the doctor’s...
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...The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997) is an ethnography written by Anne Faidman. It tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl with severe epilepsy, and her family’s journey with managing the condition and the cultural barriers that posed great challenges in Lia’s care. Lia was diagnosed with epilepsy during infancy. Her family’s opinion was that the condition was a spiritual gift. Lia’s parents, Nao Kao and Foua, were wary of the American medical system, preferring to care for Lia in the Hmong way. Throughout the considerable conflict surrounding her care, Lia continued to have seizures; at the age of 4 ½, after a particularly devastating episode of status epilepticus, she slipped into a persistent vegetative state that would last...
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...practices related to the Hmong community. The screenplay was written by Nick Schenk and the movie was filmed in July 2008 (Longwell, T). Gran Torino was directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, who also played the role of the main character known as Walt Kowalski. Walt was an American man and a Korean War veteran who resided in a neighborhood that became inhabited by Hmong families (Gran Torino, 2008). The relationship that Walt had with his own family was disconnected and distant because his sons embraced the modern way of living but Walt was more traditional. Walt was portrayed as a grumpy old man who did not like to socialize with others. All of that changed when Walt became associated with the Hmong children next door, Thao and Sue. Walt saved Thao from being taken by the Hmong gang members and was viewed as a hero by the Hmong families despite the fact that Walt was just trying to keep other people off his lawn. Upon an unexpected invitation by Sue, Walt’s world became intertwined with the Hmong community as he was introduced to various traditional Hmong customs and foods. After a series of events, the Hmong gang returned and injured Thao’s family which prompted Walt to seek redemption from his war past by sacrificing himself for the safety of Thao and Sue. The film portrayed culture clashes between an American and Hmong families while focusing on the struggles that Hmong immigrants endure to survive within their community. The Hmong population was great in...
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...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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...and communication becomes harder. Now, take that same scenario when someone in the ER does not speak the language or know the culture of the patient. It not only severely complicates the process, but endangers the person needing the care. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is the tragedy about three-month-old Lia Lee, from Laos, who unfortunately was one of these cultural misunderstandings. This book had a significant impact on educational and healthcare concerns regarding the need for cultural understanding in medical care. Whether the changes will be enough remain open to question. Anne Fadiman, a freelance writer, was introduced by chance to the Hmong community through a friend working at a California hospital. It took her several months to be accepted enough to talk with the Hmong leaders, where she heard Lia Lee’s tragic story. She felt it was necessary to show the point of view of both the patient (and family) and the doctor, since cultural medicine is such a complicated issue. Fadiman succeeds in showing the challenges, frustrations and misunderstandings from these two perspectives. That is what has made her book so well received by educators, literary critics and the medical field: Although becoming emotionally involved with the Lia Lee’ family, she is able to remain an objective writer. In addition, she is an excellent writer, and this nonfiction book is often as descriptive and literary as a novel. Since the book was published in 1998 (she raised...
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...traditional and religious healing methods. To the Hmong culture, soliciting the help of a Shaman to return the soul back to the child or unite body and spirit is logical. The healthcare system betrayed Lia through their cultural incompetence. For Lia’s parents, western medicine didn’t make sense and created conflicted feelings. Cultural and religious beliefs create conflict between the western philosophy of the doctor’s view and the patient’s or their family’s view (Saha, Arbelaez, Cooper, (2003). Without understanding the history and background of the patient, the doctor is bound to make mistakes in judgement (Bonder, Martin, Miracle, (2001). The biggest problem in this case is that Lia’s parents believe in Shamanism and sacrificing of an animal to bring back lost or trapped soul (Hillmer, (2010). Hmong believe that western medicine will interfere with the soul coming back and Lia’s status in the spirit world (Hillmer, (2010). Logically, the healthcare team didn’t know understand how vising a shaman and sacrifice would cure epilepsy. The parent’s also thought they would do what is best for the child by hiring a Shaman, doing sacrifices and buying expensive amulets to lure the spirit back, In Hmong culture, epilepsy is caused by spirits that “catches” the soul and make them sick and fall (Hillmer, (2010). Such people end up becoming shamans themselves according to Hmong culture. That means that epileptics enjoy a high status in Hmong culture (Hillmer, 2010). Lia’s parent gave western...
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...Cultural Competence The city of Milwaukee in Milwaukee County area is an extremely ethnically and racially diverse city in the state of Wisconsin (Milwaukee Citywide Policy Plan, 2010). According to the American Community Survey (ACS) in 2008 the city residents made up about 63% of Milwaukee County’s total population. However, the city of Milwaukee accounts for almost 88% of the county’s minority population and that number is slightly increasing yearly (Milwaukee Citywide Policy Plan, 2010). There are primarily Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian minorities found living in the area but there are still many more other minorities found in the streets of the city of Milwaukee. Graph 1 and Graph 2 below show the minority population in Milwaukee County compares to the minority population in the city of Milwaukee. Graph 1: Milwaukee County Population 2013 Sources: United States Census Bureau, 2010 Graph 2: City of Milwaukee Population 2010 Sources: United States Census Bureau, 2010 With the continuing rise of minorities, one of Milwaukee’s largest health care facilities, Aurora Health Care, needs to focus more on how they can increase cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability of a health care system to be able to provide care to their patients of diverse values, behaviors, beliefs (Betancourt, Green, & Carrillo, 2002). It is a continuous attempt and ongoing process to understand the traditions, values, customs, and beliefs of a diverse group and respecting...
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...throughout history, propaganda and war have gone hand and hand, like two entangled serpents. To have a war that is abstractly agreeable by its population, a government needs its people behind the war. Hate, many, times is manufactured against another race to justify going to war and killing the...
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