Lia Lee Case Study

Fadiman believes Lia’s life was “ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding” (Fadiman 1997). The Lee’s were not the only ones suffering from not understanding, the doctors were struggling with it as well. A clear example is found in chapter thirteen when the doctor has her parents sign a waiver that says if they take her home she will die. In the Hmong culture this is highly offensive and they believed that telling them this would cause evil spirits to get closer to Lia’s soul. This showed readers that it was just as important that the doctors understand the Lees cultural healing so that they could’ve worked together in Lia’s illness. One of her doctors, Dr. Neil Ernst, claimes that biomedicine was the only way to treats Lia’s illness but this is untrue in the culture of Hmong because biomedicine only treats the

Please find a person of African American descent to interview. The person needs to at least 21 years of age. Please inform the person that this interview is for an assignment in class (educational purposes only) and the information provided will remain confidential. Please try to obtain more than “sound bites” yes/no answers. Asked follow up questions if the interviewee’s answers are too brief (ex: Can you please provide an example or elaborate, tell me more etc..). You want to get this person’s family story.

Growing up in Detroit Michigan I learned early in life that it is important to strive to do your best. As a child I wondered how life would be once I grew up. Moreover, I dreamed about the destinations that I wanted to travel to, the career that I want to pursue after graduating from college. I knew that the life that my parents lived was not for me.

The act of racism has been present in every society throughout history. Discrimination of other groups based on their different descent and ethnicity. These forms of hatred and negativity are based off old fashion values and traditions. People of different cultures believe there’s is superior, this belief in superiority may take the form of ethnocentrism or prejudice. In early Vancouver, the Chinese and First Nations experienced this disparagement first hand. These old fashion traditions and values are visible throughout the short story “Yin Chin,” written by Lee Maracle. This story follows the oppression of the Chinese and First Nations communities in early Vancouver and the internal and external conflicts they faced due to racism.

Slavery! Sacrifice! Death! Decisiveness! Aren’t words being used to describe a blockbuster war film, instead they describe just some of the experiences underwent by the Jong family. In the book Joy Luck Club, the Jongs are one of the multiple families such as the Woos, Hsus, and the St. Clairs, who’ve migrated from China. The Joy Luck Club chronicles the family’s struggles assimilating into the United States, with their ordeals in China looming over them. The Jong family consists of Lindo the mother, Tin the father, Waverly the daughter, and Vincent and Winston the two sons. Lindo’s experiences in an arranged marriage deeply transformed her thought process, and eventually influenced the way her daughter thinks too.

Hmong see a world where everything is connected. They believe that nothing occurs in isolation. Their body, mind and spirit are all interconnected. They also view illness in this holistic approach. Hmong culture saw Lia as a type of “anointed one” and her epilepsy as a blessing rather than a weakness. In the Lees eyes, the concern was the western medicine, not Lia’s illness (Fadiman 1998). In the Hmong culture, people born with epilepsy are believed to be destined to a life as a shaman (Fadiman 1998). They call it “qaug dab peg,” or “the spirit catches you and you fall down.” People in the westernized medical profession did not understand the concept of spirits, what they had to do with treating illness and the importance of epilepsy for

This relevant data about Native American substance abuse is just a remark that these communities still have a long way to go in terms of health and healing treatment, but it shows that even though they have communities ravaged by alcohol, drugs and diseases like smallpox they are still here and will make their voices heard.

This story that Suyuan Woo tells her daughter shows how deeply the Japanese invasion of China affected the identity of many Chinese people. They were forced to flee their homes and their lives with only a few of their valuables, but eventually they had to give up those up too. Those few items were all that they had left to define themselves and remind them who they were so when they lost them they lost a significant part of who they were. Suyuan Woo lost more than just her past identity, she actually had to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in the hopes that someone could save them. This shaped her identity because throughout the remainder of her life she had to wonder if leaving them behind was the right choice and if they were

Children inherit traits from each of their parents—whether their eye color or their height— we all get something. I inherited the determination and wisdom they carry in addition to physical traits. My mother taught me to work hard, and that will change your view of the world. People will look down on you for looking different and being different; they will judge you due to your race and financial status, I remember being young and watching my mother work for hours on end, only taking short breaks throughout the day, and readily continuing her job when she got home. She did this because of stereotypes—particularly, the belief that immigrants are lazy. I knew that when I became older I wanted to have the same determination and work ethic that I grew up observing. I wanted to have the same strength that she did to pursue her passions.

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

education at West Point where he graduated in the top of his class. Lee always made good grades

She mentions how Lia’s traditional treatment from her parents “ran parallel to her medical course rather than intertwining with it” (Fadiman 2012). She would like medicine to become more bio-culturally inclusive. Citing cases of culturally inclusion are helpful to Fadiman’s argument. A few cases where doctors referred patients to traditional healers are mentioned, like Luis Estevez in the Bronx who would refer Puerto Rican and Dominican patients to a Santeria high priest (Fadiman 2012). Fadiman mentions how this was implemented in Fresno during the 1980’s with the Nationalities Service of Central California. It was a federal grant used to establish “an integrated mental health delivery service utilizing Hmong healers and western mental health providers” (Fadiman 2012). The program was successful and treated 250 patients. In one case, the traditional healer, the txiv neeb, was able to heal a man with a swollen penis. Another case, the txiv neeb was unable to heal his patient with gall bladder problems, but was able to help assist the patient in consenting to surgery. During the mid-1990’s, cross-cultural training emerged slowly in medicine. For example, in 1996, “the American Academy of Family Physicians endorsed a set of “Recommended Core Curriculum Guidelines on Culturally Sensitive and Competent Health Care” (Fadiman 2012). Merced also began implementing

My reaction was quite shocking and very open minded. For my own understanding I imagined if I were experiencing this situation. My reaction to all this would be more of an emotional feeling, such as vulnerable and lonely. Having to leave your small village and adapt to the United States is a huge difference of adaptation. A person has to adjust to the traditions here and the lifestyle a person lives by.

I don’t normally drink, I had one to many beers and the women were both hitting on me.

Change, hope, and justice, are all things North Korean defectors, including Human Rights activist Hyeonseo Lee, wish for in the harshly governed country of North Korea. Many people know about the story of Hyeonseo’s escape from the unethical dictatorship of the Kims. But she was so much more. As a Human Rights activist fighting for a change of the corrupt and cruel system of government in North Korea, she is trying her best to inform people of how terrible and a dire situation it is in North Korea. Through this, she is showing her defiance publicly towards North Korea, when just a little over a decade before, she was expressing absolute loyalty and respect towards the Kims.