Hmong Culture Case Study

After researching the Hmong culture, I learned several interesting facts about their culture, ceremonial practices, and their views on death and dying of a loved one. Many people in the Hmong culture believe in multiple souls that reincarnate. Although for this to occur, these individuals believe that an honored deceased member must have a proper burial to enter the spirit world in a positive way. Funerals in the Hmong culture last for many days, and the more revered the deceased is the longer the funeral may be. Animal sacrifice is a common ritual performed at a Hmong funeral and the animal is used to provide food for the people attending the funeral (Purnell, 2014, p. 246).

Ethnomedicine has been historically defined as any healthcare system not present in the West; now, ethnomedicine is defined as the any cultural beliefs which surround healing in a community. The Hmong—an ethnic group located within present day Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand—have a particular system of ethnomedicine which is described as personalistic. Within a personalistic system, an active agent is the underlying cause of a disease—or etiology. Humans can be the cause of the disease as well as a number of non-human and supernatural agents. When Lia Lee began seizing at three months of age, her parents understood that the active agent which caused her epilepsy was a door slamming which caused her soul to fly from her body, an illness called quag

This aspect of their healing process is almost preventive and works as karma since if a person doesn’t harm the earth or anything on it, there is no reason to get a disease or be ill. If a person gets sick despite this fact or that he disobeyed, the healer must work with what he is offered and need to respect that. The Navajo had healing ceremonies during which they would perform several dances with the most popular one called the Mountain Chant. Apparently the most important part of this ceremony is the preparation with emetics and sweat lodges, purification with smoke and pollen fragrance (Schneder 420). The ceremony lasts several days with many sacrifices and the fire dance on the last day.

Introduction The Hmong people have a long history of searching for a homeland. They are among the oldest societies in Asia, yet very few know about them. As they have an oral culture, it is hard to determine certain aspects of their history, like their origin. However, comparing their religious viewpoints to others, they seemed to have originated from Chaldea, a region located near present-day Iraq.

Cross-cultural methods and approaches should be taken to accommodate for the diverse patient population in our communities. I will introduce the culture clash by first describing the Hmong point of view on health and illness. Then, I will proceed my analysis by comparing it with the Western perspectives and practices on healing. Social stigma will also be emphasized as another negative factor

During the Vietnam War, another war broke out known as the Laotian Civil War. An organization and communist political movement called “Pathet Lao” from North Vietnam was trying to overthrow the Royal Lao Government. While this was happening the CIA recruited the Hmong led by general Vang Pao, (who were an ancient hill-tribe from the mountains of Laos) as a secret alliance, to help aid the Royal Lao Government. (Batson, 1991, “Birth of Pathet Lao” Para. 16) The United States and Hmongs involvement in this are now what is known as the Secret War, for it was kept a secret by the United States government. Eventually, the Royal Lao Government was taken over by Pathet Lao. The Secret War ended the same war as the Vietnamese War in 1975 but the continuation

As I listened to the Riverbend scenario I thought of my own cultural competence and how at one time I knew very little of the Hmong culture. Working in a city where Asians make up only 3% of the population, this is a population I knew little about. I have learned that most Hmong are from the mountainous region of Laos, and are granted preferred refugee status by the U.S. (Cobb, 2010). From 2000 to 2010 the number of Hmong grew 40%, there are currently 260,073 Hmong people living primarily in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Even though the Hmong people seem to be prospering after thirty years in the U.S., there are still challenges with communication, understanding of cultural beliefs, and use of traditional medical practices (United States Census Bureau, 2013)

Since ancient times Hmong people as been around. So what is Hmong? Are they Chinese or Mongolian? Most people think Hmong are either Chinese or Mongolia For example the word Hmong is very similar to the word Mong in Mongolian. Another reason is because they resided in China. So where do they come from?

How you, as a social worker, might interpret the needs of Paula Cortez, the client, through the two cultural lenses you selected. How you, as a social specialist, may decipher the requirements of Paula Cortez, the customer, through the two social focal points you chose. Cultural competence in social work is the primary guideline of social work education and practice. According to Carpenter (2016) As the population in the United States continues to diversify rapidly, the requirement for culturally competent social work administrations is similarly as essential as it ever has been.

Yingci Chen English 0812 Tim Fitts 12 April 2016 A Hidden Vietnamese Community In South Philadelphia is where one of the largest Vietnamese community located. The community has a large population of Vietnamese restaurants, stores and markets. The heart of the Vietnamese community lies on the Sixth and Washington Ave, also known as the Little Saigon built by Vietnamese’s and spreads over Washington Ave. This Little Saigon was a place where Vietnamese unite and started during the Vietnam War.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, tells the story of struggles suffered by a Hmong family, the Lees’, and what they had to endure when relocated from their origins of Laos to America. The Lee’s and Hmong in general are special when it comes to acculturation because they did not have an option to leave their country they were refugees. While fighting the Vietnam War the CIA recruited Hmong to get a leg up on the communist forces. After the United States pulled out from being a part of this war, around 150,000 Hmong families had to flee their homes to escape the Vietnam government. Forced to relocate in America, a place most never wanted to come in the first place. The good majority of Americans had no idea of the Hmongs’

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman uses careful comparisons and contrasts to appeal to the emotions of readers. Throughout the novel, Fadiman explores different scenarios that are encountered by the Hmong that would make anyone feel frightened. Through these scenarios, we discover what the Hmong have had to endure in order to make a small amount of progress. Some of the individuals in the novel we encounter, including Dr. Robert Small, see the Hmong as “ignorant” and “almost a Stone Age people”. However, some individuals such as the social worker to Lia Lee, Jeanine Hilt, and the author of the novel understand why the Hmong reacted the way they did to the doctors. Many of the Hmong felt their culture slipping from the

A Hmong story cloth or Paj Ntaub, is a textile art that is embroidered and practiced by Hmong men and women to record and retell the stories of my Hmong community. And when I was little, I found one of my grandmother’s unfinished story cloths. It was raggedy, stained in one corner, and smelled of mold and mildew. The pink and green threads that were once so bright had become tangled and faded as it simply trailed of the embroidered art. On this story cloth, it told the story of desperate Hmong refugees crossing the Mekong river from Laos into Thailand. Regardless of so, the stained and unembellished cloth could no longer finish its own story as my grandmother’s hands became unable to handle the fine needle art. I picked it up knowing that I was holding my Hmong community’s history in my hands but threw it away without acknowledgement of who I was. Without realizing it though, I became the very person to continue embroidering its

When entering the social work profession, their many different values to learn. And one is our private opinions that we must put aside for professional ones. This means that everyone’s beliefs, ethnic background and religion are wrong in each other eye sight because we have all different views on what we believe in, and how we need to live our lives. According to competency two engage diversity and difference in practice Social workers understand how diversity and difference characterize and shape the human experience and are critical to the formation of identity. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of multiple factors including but not limited to age, class, color, culture, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, marital status, political ideology, race, religion/spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, and tribal sovereign status.

When there’s a chance for me to work with a culture I haven’t interacted with before, I try to do a little research before our initial meeting. Being exposed to different cultures creates a well-rounded social worker, who will take more into consideration when working with