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Analysis Of The Spirt Catches You And You Fall Down By Dwight Conquergood

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Humans are complex and diverse beings that belong to different cultures, speak different languages, and have different perspectives on the world they live in. When cultures collide, it can be difficult to empathize and respect the differences that exist. Cultural sensitivity is, “The ability to be appropriately responsive to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of groups of people that share a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic or cultural heritage” (Arnold & Boggs, 2016, p. 119). Cultural sensitivity and effective communication, especially in the health care setting, are essential to bridging cultures and creating a common understanding. In The Spirt Catches You and You Fall Down, Dwight Conquergood displayed …show more content…

By taking into consideration the Hmong perspectives and traditions when creating healthcare needs, Conquergood gained their trust and cooperation. One incident involved a rabies outbreak among the camp dogs where not a single Hmong resident brought their dog to be inoculated. Conquergood approached this dilemma by incorporating three important Hmong folktales into a Rabies Parade. He used a chicken, known for its prophesiable abilities, to lead the parade and explain the cause of rabies. By the next day, all Hmong refugees were bringing their dogs to receive the inoculations. Using symbols of the Hmong culture allowed Conquergood to communicate the consequences of this disease effectively and influence the Hmong to use the Western medicine available to avoid a serious outbreak (Fadiman, 1997, p. …show more content…

Instead of living with the other Ban Vinai staff, Conquergood immersed himself into the camp and went to great lengths to observe and understand the Hmong way of life. Although he had a great respect for shamanism and performance art before this assignment, Conquergood continued to learn and incorporate the Hmong rituals into treating and providing health care solutions (Fadiman, 1997, p. 36). It is Conquergoods remarkable cultural sensitivity that allowed him to effectively communicate with Hmong refugees and create a successful health care delivery

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