Hmong Family: Summary

The memoir, The Latehomecomer, written Kao Kalia Yang, presents the oppression and persecution of the Hmong people. Yang is a Hmong woman, who was born in a Refugee Camp in Thailand. Since then, she moved to the United States, graduated from Columbia University and wrote The Latehomecomer. Her book gave her audience a glimpse into the not as recognized topic, the history of the Hmong people, when Laos by Laotian and Vietnamese soldiers forced them out of Laos and into the United States. She wants people to know the harsh times of the Hmong people, and let the future generations of Hmong know what their ancestors had to endure. Yang

III. (Credibility Statement): You guys are probably like why should I listen to this guy, “he 's probably making this up or something” but hey why would i lie about my culture.

Language barrier was a major factor that served to extend the boundary existing between the two cultures. Some of the utterances made by the doctors were interpreted right but were understood wrongly (Swartz 2). This resulted in a worsened discernment of the American doctors by the Lees and Hmong as an entity alike. In the case of an emergency, the Lees needed to contact an ambulance, but could not communicate with the hospital. This necessitated the involvement of their learned nephew, who would call an ambulance. The interpretation process would at times limit the effectiveness of the message intended by either party. For instance, when Lia was undergoing critical care in MCMC, the Lees needed to be comforted, a process which had to be done by an interpreter. Before the final discharge, miscommunication between Lia’s mother and the doctors had her think that the nurses disconnected medicine tubes off Lia in order to give it to some other patient; a mean act. In the same incident, Lia’s father was made to sign a letter of discharge for Lia, which would happen in two hours. However, he understood this as a letter to guarantee death in two

     The Hmong had trouble adapting to American life. With no driver’s license or bank account, they had to make a living doing whatever they could. Not knowing the language in a foreign land doesn’t help either. The Hmong women adapted much more quickly than the men did because of the fact that they interacted more with English-speaking people. While the men were at work, the women were spending time interacting. The Hmong men also refused to change more that the women did. This shift of power caused a lot of changes in Hmong households. What even caused more of a power shift was the fact that the Hmong children learned about the culture easier than the women did. Instead of the father having control over the family like it was back in Southeast Asia, the children now had the upper edge. The children could communicate, interact and even drive with Americans. You could see a 16-year-old Hmong

Kind of like in the book “the spirit catches you and you fall down,” by Anne Fadiman. Fadiman described how the Hmong’s and the doctors had different point of views; because of their differences in culture and the language barrier they had trouble communicating and understanding one another. In the Banes family, Jackie was responsible for understanding and pursuing treatments for her grandmother. These treatments were not so easy for Jackie to understand, and often there has been a lack of communication

What do you think of traditional Hmong birth practices (pp. 3-5)? Compare them to the techniques used when Lia was born (p. 7). How do Hmong and American birth practices differ?

Firstly, increasing one’s cultural competence is instrumental to becoming a more empathic and understanding person and teacher. Cultural competence involves understanding another person’s culture without judgement and realizing that even if their ideas or beliefs are different, that does not mean they are wrong. If one learns about their students’ cultures and backgrounds, they will be able to speak and interact with these students in an appropriate way. If the students are refugees and come from a traumatic past, teachers should approach any personal questions they have sensitively. Sometimes people have prejudices or believe stereotypes and they may not even realize it. The Hmong people were widely dispersed and no two Hmong people will be the same. It is crucial that teachers do not assume that each person has the same values and

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, is the story of two very different cultures lacking understanding for one another leading to a tragedy due to cultural incompetence. Today in America there are very many different cultures. Health care providers need to be aware of cultural diversity and sensitivity when caring for patients. If a health care provider is not sensitive towards a patient’s culture it can cause a relationship of mistrust to form, lead to barriers in the plan of care, and increase health care cost. The current guidelines to promote cultural competence in the clinical setting include completing a cultural diversity self-assessment, identify the need of the population served, evaluate barriers in the community and practice, educate staff to cultural diversities, schedule longer appointments, clarify limitations, and identify alternatives offered (Cash & Glass, 2014).

Lia Lee was a Hmong infant born with epilepsy. Lia’s parents were immigrants to a Western nation. However, the parents held tightly onto traditional beliefs from their native country. The incongruent belief structure of the East and West created difficulty when the two systems collided in an effort to care for Lia Lee. Specifically, when the drug therapy prescribed for Lia Lee was not followed by her parents. Subsequently the child’s medical team contacted child services, which lead to Lia’s removal from her family. The result of the cultural misunderstanding was fragmented family. In addition to fueling the distrust of the western healthcare system by an already marginalized community.

The different ways they each interpret medicine and life itself. How difficult it could be when the Hmong have their own set or ways to follow in order to cure a person and the doctors have their own policy which they must follow. It’s difficult and frustrating to not be able to understand someone else’s language and not know what sort of questions they’re asking and the treatments one must

Anne Fadiman wrote this book to document the conflict between cultural barriers and how they affect medical issues. In this book, Lia Lee is a Hmong child was has epilepsy and battles cultural medical differences. The main struggle in this story is the conflict between the doctors and parents because they cannot seem to get on the same page. While writing the book, Fadiman stated that there was a “clash of cultures”. (Fadiman, preface) Meaning, there are two different sides to the story and the problem has not be solved.

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, there are many different intercultural misunderstandings. A Hmong girl’s life was forever changed because of these misunderstandings and some things could have easily been avoided, had each side taken the time to better understand the other.

I have to admit when I first read “The spirit catches you and you fall down” I thought it would be pretty boring turns out its one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The cultural conflicts can apply to anyone and knowing a little bit more now what the Hmong people have actually gone through can make everyone develop a great amount of respect for the culture. The Lee family continuously went full force colliding with the American ways in order to protect their traditions so they could preserve their culture. Unfortunately, in the end it didn’t help them but that was all they knew considering the fact that that the doctors at MCMC hospital didn’t really go out of their way to explain procedures it only makes sense for the Lee family to revert back to what they know in their traditions.

Displacing and Disrupting: A Dialogue on Hmong Studies and Asian American Studies [on line]. In: Hmong Studies Journal. Volume 16(2), 2015, 24 pp. Available at: (Accessed November 25, 2016).

Among the Hmong, the shaman plays a very significant role. The Hmong explain a loss of soul as losing a piece of your soul because of a traumatic incident and they believe that soul loss causes illness. In the video, the women shaman told the speaker that the spirts of his lower legs had departed. To treat soul loss, a ritual is performed. The shaman shakes for the person to bring back the part of the soul that was lost by arguing, commanding, and pleading with the spirts. The shaman uses a ring of rattles to catch the fugitive souls. This practice links religion to health care. The Hmong believe in spirits that can influence and are part of the world (animism), and they believe that their shamans can go between this world and the spirit world.