The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down opened my eyes to a new perspective of embracing cultural diversity as I compared the Hmong culture to my own. In today’s society, everyone has that sense of ethnocentrism. Most of society takes for granted how blessed they are. For example, my culture typically lives in nice neighborhoods and areas that are not primarily secluded. We take pride in the houses we build and the amenities in them, such as toilets and refrigerators.
Another example of upward economic mobility is that of the Hmong community, in Chia Youyee Vang’s work, Hmong America, Hmong engaged in a process of reinvention and forms of cultural adaptation and ethnic-political agency. By staying engaged with the governments around them they’re able to seek political recognition or resources from state and federal government departments to get jobs and goods and create distinct changes for their communities. On the one hand, they created peace amongst the clans that were rivals in Laos so there was mutual support amongst the different groups, which created an abundance of dialects, sub clans, voluntary, political organizations, ethnic churches. In time it created a schism in religion as some Hmong became
3. Give specific examples of how health care professionals did not value or respond effectively to any of the Hmong values/beliefs you have listed in the questions above. What was the outcome of that cultural insensitivity. The Hmong traditions, beliefs and ways of life were often compromised at the hands of American society.
Historical Time and Place The most significant generation of Laotian immigrants were refugees who fled the violence and unrest that dominated Laos in the 1970s. The Vietnam and Laotian Civil Wars catalyzed a major efflux of refugees who escaped Laos by crossing the Mekong River into Thailand refugee camps. Beginning in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, many of these displaced Laotians emigrated to the United States for resettlement. The Lees were among these immigrants. Immigrants who resettled in the US at this time often had few employable skills and no saved capital; as a result, many relied on welfare.
He came home from school one day, his parents were talking. It wasn’t until after they had switched to English that he realized they had been speaking Spanish. Now you would think having been born to English speaking parents, here in the United States, that I wouldn’t understand a language barrier. Growing up I watched my cousin struggle to communicate with others. He lost his hearing when he was 5 years old.
One fourth of the way around the world, away from Darfur is a similar problem concerning the Hmongs. Hmongs have resided in southern Asia for ages. They have done many great and if America wins, they would be responsible of building schools and sending teachers over to educate the Hmongs’ way of living. If America loses the war in Vietnam, Americans promised to welcome Hmong people over to America to escape any further harm or problems. Not many people know about this promise, but Hmong parents remind their kids everyday that if their children were to go to school and have racial discrimination against their language or culture, their children should remember the great things they did for America and challenge the saying that Hmongs should return to their homeland.
Being a Hmong woman living in America, my parents always expected high academic achievements from me. I appreciate my culture because the expectations I receive makes me the person I am . Growing up my parents taught me well and taught me to be a proper Hmong woman in life. However, the twenty-first generation is different now, our thoughts on what we want and what we need are very different from what are parents want and need. When I was a kid, education was important, my parents taught me that if I did not study hard and do well, I would be living the life my parents were.
Many minority cultures in new areas commonly struggle to find ways to fit in with the American world around them while also keeping their own traditions; these themes are apparent in the poem “Some Old Hmong Woman” by Mayli Vang and “Without Title” by Daine Glancy. When groups of people move to different countries, especially America, it isn’t always easy to fit in. This theme is clear when comparing these two poems. Mayli Vang talks about some old Hmong woman who “lives in the yellow high-rise/projects of North Minneapolis.” This is a very big cultural shift due to the fact that she is used to living in a smaller community with fewer people and is more connected.
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.
The pressures of disabling the patriarchy and accommodating it to fit everyone has been the basis of my childhood. From growing up in a Hispanic culture to exploring the American culture I have learned to love, it’s difficult not to notice the differences between each culture. I had always been a fan of media and the females I saw on television were one of the first perceptions of women I had. The way females were treated in the shows and movies I watched reflected the Hispanic culture I grew up in, so I never questioned the credibility. I am immensely proud of my hispanic culture and the traditions it brings along with it, but I started to notice the harsh gender restrictions that were present.
Moreover, there is a misconception that Hmong people must identify themselves as Lao-Hmong simply because our parents and grandparents were from Laos. This stigmatism or ideology is what fueled the passion to promulgate Hmong people and their culture. More important, as older generations pass on, the knowledge of the culture, tradition, and heritage among Hmong-Americans will be lost if we remain stagnant. The time is now; we must collaborate and share our culture, our tradition, and our heritage. We must tell our Hmong story.
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.
Having a second language in your background is so impactful on one’s life, providing them with more skills. This is the 21st century and having this skill helps an individual be
Throughout my experiences in this course so far, I have had many opportunities to reflect on my own past and have begun to better understand my own cultural identity. It has been much more difficult to wrap my head around than I would have predicted it to be because so many things play into the construction of an identity that it can be hard to look at all of those separate pieces together. My cultural identity, like all others, is more complicated than it first appears. I identify as a white person, a woman, an American, a gay person, and a feminist, just to name a few. While all of these labels carry with them stereotypes and expectations, they also interplay with the cultural influences I was subject to throughout my childhood.
An example of a diverse society is Singapore. The definition of a diverse society is to have different types of people, who do not share the same race, culture, ethnicity, beliefs, practices, race, tradition, et cetera, to ‘come together’ and form a community. Living in a diverse society has its advantages. One of the advantages is that it can increase one’s knowledge, awareness and understanding about others culture, ethnicity, beliefs, practices, customs, tradition, et cetera. Despite that fact that living in a diverse society has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages.
