Hmong birth practices are very interesting and very different from American culture. Their births are usually at home and sometimes the woman is alone. Women labor in silence and catch their own babies as they are being delivered. Mrs. Lee delivered all of her babies by herself before coming to America. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down after birth practices are also different. Hmong families will bury the placenta below the home after delivery with the smooth side facing upward. If a woman is unable to give birth in her home or a family member’s home an evil spirit, also called a dab, may injure her. American births traditionally take place in the hospital. Although, home births are starting to become a growing trend in American these births are almost always assisted by a midwife. …show more content…
After being born, American babies are taken immediately from the mother to be cleaned and have tests ran on them. While the mother pushes the placenta out which is typically destroyed. Although. Lia was born in an American hospital, her parents’ wishes were not granted due to the language barrier between them and the doctors. Personally I do believe that the Hmong women are very strong and brave to go through the birthing process alone and not to mention in complete silence. However I do believe the practices with the placenta are a bit peculiar, but who am I to judge it may stand true since Lia was the only one out her siblings to have any complications growing up.
When Lia was taken away from her parents that was a tear jerking moment. Ultimately, I have mixed emotions about if it was the right decision to take Lia away. Dr. Neil, saw his job as to practice good medicine. The Lee’s job was to obey. Lack of agreement constituted child endangerment, which is a form of child mistreatment. Although, he had deferred calling Child Protection services for as long time, Neil finally decided
After the birth the baby would be taken to a special room where they would examine and give some injections to prevent infections. The placenta was most of the time incinerated. Also the mother and the baby were required to stay in the hospital for tree days. This contradicts to the Hmong believes since on the third day of a baby's life a naming ceremony called bu plig is usually conducted. Until the ceremony the baby was not considerate part of the human race.
They constantly brought up the idea of Lia dying to her family rather than supporting the family through this difficult moment. The Lees on the other hand, should have tried to comply with doctors and tried to put a greater effort in taking Lia to appointments. Also being aware of their inability to communicate should have looked for some English classes somewhere in the community. Both medical community and the Lees could have compromised and tried to get rid of any cultural barriers to get a desired
Hey stay with the American culture and their traditional dance. Hmong believe in the spiritual belief for among the family. Paja and
Using Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down I have created a cultural assessment of the Hmong people and their experiences with the American healthcare system. This small Southeast Asian minority known as the Hmong began moving to the United States towards the end of the Vietnam War. This brought a whole new set of challenges for the healthcare providers of the United States due to their cultural beliefs and native practices which made it difficult to perform certain forms of medicine. Doctors and nurses had to find different ways to treat these patients without violating their cultural beliefs or upsetting them.
They felt like they could use a little bit of medicine and a little bit of neeb, but not too much medicine because they felt like it can affect the spiritual healing. The seizures got so bad to the point where in social services stepped in and took the child out of the home because they felt like the parents we’re neglecting her and we’re concerned for Lia‘s safety. She was then placed in foster care because there were signs of mental retardation due to seizures. Her parents believed that her seizures made her special and don’t really know how the severity of seizures really are on the brain. They believe that the body has A finite amount of blood and by giving it away it will be more harmful to yourself.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman is an analysis of Western medicine and traditional Hmong medicine in the treatment of a young child with severe epilepsy in Merced, California. The book also details Hmong culture, history, and their life as refugees in the United States. The majority of the Hmong populations, especially in central California where the book takes place, rely on welfare and this creates tensions with the other populations in the area. Her book is an eye opening introduction into the Hmong culture, the clash of traditional and western medicine, the discrimination of refugees, and the importance of cultural inclusivity.
We are able to decide what career field we want to pursue, and are able to work up in the social rankings despite our class upon birth. The Hmong culture, on the other hand; are accustomed to living in the mountains and all have the same occupation: farming. As stated in the book, the Hmong were unfamiliar with toilets. Their toilets were the dirt floor of their home. For me, that was an eye opener.
However, I personally think it is wrong to convert to Christianity just to run away from what you are and I believe most Hmong family do so just for that reason. The culture is so rich and beautiful that it hurts to see a Hmong child not being able to speak Hmong. You identify yourself as Hmong; you are Hmong-American, but you can’t speak the language. I am ashamed that the parents of the child didn’t teach their children the language.
I personally just think the times have changed. We are accustomed to sterility, to cleanliness, to all these wonderful things but don’t realize that people back then lived just as healthy if not healthier then now. It is normal, to give birth like that, and I will not deny that it is much safer and that some cases would not be
They come from rural areas, have few job skills, and speak little English (Everyculture.com/Cambodian-Americans/Acculturation and Assimilation). Younger Cambodians struggle with identity problems and there is often a division between the younger and older generations (Everyculture.com/Cambodian-Americans/AcculturationandAssimilation). A good number of Cambodian American families are headed by female which is a contributor to their poverty (Everyculture.com/Cambodian-Americans/Family and Community Dynamics). It is hard to say which group had the most difficult time overcoming obstacles. Many of them had just wanted to better the lives of their families and thought they could do so in America.
Even though the medical community thought the Lees were doing everything to worsen Lia’s condition by stopping all medication, the reasoning behind their actions shows otherwise. During Lia’s critical condition the Lees had decided to go ahead with withdrawing her medications even after being informed of the possible dangers of doing so, “Nao Kao demanded that Lia’s subclavian line to be removed, and all her medications discontinued. Parents understand that the antibiotics are fighting a severe infection and that without medication Lia may get her infection back and die sooner. They understand that once we remove IV, a new line will NOT be replaced” (175). Although it sounds bad to want to put an end to the medication Lia was receiving, the Lees seemed to think that Lia was so sick she might die, and wanted to stop treatment because they thought the medicine is what was killing her.
Hmong Community on Child Maltreatment Child maltreatment happens to any child regardless of their ethnicity groups, age, education, financial status, or living condition. Among the race/ethnicities in the United States, Asian has the lowest rate of living in poverty and the lowest rate of child abuse (IRP, 2012). Understanding the impact that poverty has on child maltreatment challenged the writer to look at a certain ethnicity group. The Hmong community is a group of people that can relate to both poverty and child maltreatment. Studies had shown that poverty has an impact on child abuse, yet there are not many reports made from the Hmong community in regards to child maltreatment.
Native Americans Native Americans are very different from other tribes. They eat, live, dress and do many things differently. The things I’m going to be talking about in my interesting paper is What they eat? What they wear? Where they live?
To begin with, the first major theory is Structural functionalism. This theory was explained by biologist Herbert Spencer, who compared structural functionalism to the human body as a network of various systems that are intertwined in order to maintain and regulate the wellbeing of society. This theory could be applied to the Hmong culture on a midlevel of analysis because believe in a system that ensures their wellbeing. This system is evident in Fadiman’s novel when doctor describe the frustration of waiting for their Hmong patient to receive authorization for certain decisions from the proper channel of authority; such as the elder man in the family
Hmongspeak by May Lee Hmongspeak is a way of describing the cultural aspects of the Hmong language. If a person uses it, that person gets labeled as a Hmong society member, and there’s some people who want to put a stop to these cultural aspects of the Hmong language. Because these people are affected by this language in an unpleasant way. One such author, May Lee wrote, “Hmongspeak” to educate the Hmong society. Lee defines it and says: “Hmongspeak is universal”.