Fadiman Essay

In this case study on cross cultural medicinal beliefs and practices, Anne Fadiman addresses the rift between Hmong spiritual and medicinal customs and the culture of American biomedicine by telling the story of a young Hmong child, Lia Lee. Lia’s journey started when she was three months old and she suffered her first of many epileptic seizures. Over the next few months she continued to suffer from her seizures and made at least three emergency room visits. Like most cases of epilepsy, the cause

year of 1997 by Anne Fadiman. The novel describes how the struggles experienced by an immigrant family who were from, Sinyabull Province in Asia during their time at a medical center in California. Fadiman narrates about a young child named Lia. Lia is the second born in her family and is suffering from epilepsy and causes her to have seizures. The novel exemplifies the cultures differences and clashes that are interfering with her regarding the treatment she is to receive. Fadiman also describes the

As provided by Fadiman, there are many instances where Hmong people and American doctors disagree and have a breakdown in communication. Rather than trying to bridge the gap between the two cultures, American doctors stubbornly kept trying to impose their way of healing

“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman presents the story of a Hmong child and her family and the obstacles that they face through her battles with epilepsy. The story takes place in Merced, California and centered around the Merced Community Medical Center. The Hmong child is Lia Lee and her parents are Nao Kao and Foua Lee. The parents of Lia did not understand English nor do they speak it which caused a lot of confusion and commotion among the staffs as they tried their best

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down a Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman is a literary nonfiction story that takes place in Merced, California. The book centers around the Lee’s, a family of immigrants from Laos and Lia Lee, the Lee’s young daughter born afflicted with epilepsy. Lia was born happy and healthy in 1981 at Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) in Merced, California. At three months of age Lia experiencing her first major seizure

filled with lots of emotion, anger, betrayal, misunderstandings and compassion. It talks about a Hmong family who lives in America and has a daughter named Lia Lee that is diagnosed with epilepsy. Fadiman explains the difficulty with communications between the two different cultures. Before Anne Fadiman became a writer she was a student at Harvard University. After graduating, she became a worker as a wilderness instructor in Wyoming before returning to her home town New York to pursue he career as

For instance, when Lia was three month ago, she had an epileptic seizure in which Lia’s mother Foua, and her father, Nao Kao, called the episode “the spirit catches you and you fall down” (Fadiman, 1997, p.20). According to Lia’s parents, it was a spiritual illness which Lia’s soul had fled out of her body (Fadiman, 1997, p. 21). On the other hand, Dr. Dan Murphy, who practiced Western medicine, diagnosed Lia Lee with epilepsy. The Ethnocentrism is the judging of other cultures by the standards of one’s

what they experienced. Lia, daughter of Nao Kao and Foua, was diagnosed at the age of three months with a neurological disorder called Epilepsy, which is characterized by having many seizures and other health problems. In this book, the author Anne Fadiman follows this family and learns their struggles and frustrations with cross-cultural communication and the United States interpreters and medical system. While reading this book, I noticed two very important theoretical perspectives: the Psychodynamic

In the story “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, by Anne Fadiman is about a family who youngest child Lia Lee is diagnosed with epilepsy. Not only is the story about Lia Lee, but it also talks about the Hmong cultural group different beliefs compared to the American cultural beliefs. Throughout the story you see the differences throughout three different stages. Each stage shows at least one difference from the Hmong cultural belief, American cultural belief, and the techniques and practices

Anne Fadiman's “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” documents the continuous struggles faced between Western medicine in a California county hospital and traditional beliefs of the Hmong within a refugee family from Laos. Lia Lee, a Hmong baby, suffers from epilepsy and has many episodes of grand mal seizures. To medical professionals, seizures are episodes of abnormal neuronal brain activity. They are often caused by trauma, drug use, hypoglycemia, and hypoxia, but can also be triggered by