“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman.

Answer these questions after reading “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman. In your paper, please number your answers!!! Imagine that you were Lia’s parents during their numerous visits to the Emergency Department. What types of barriers did the family face when trying to have their daughter treated? What barriers and challenges did the medical teams face? According to Lia’s parents what caused Lia’s illness? What are the treatments for Lia’s illness in Hmong culture? According to Lia’s doctors in Merced, what are the causes of Lia’s illness? What are the treatments for Lia’s illness in Western “biomedical” culture? What would you have done if you were in the shoes of Lia’s health care providers (especially Neil Ernst’s)? Would you have placed Lia in foster care? Why or why not? While there is no correct answer here, to receive full points please be sure that your answer demonstrates your cultural competency and your ability to engage is cultural relativism. Please carefully weigh and discuss the pros and cons of each option. How did the Hmong become refugees? What was their role in the Vietnam War? Other than dealing with the healthcare system, what other difficulties did the Hmong face in the U.S.? Please refer specifically to Ch. 14 “The Melting Pot” in answering this question. Does Horace Miner’s piece on “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” give us any insights into this? Fadiman reports that the Hmong are sometimes referred to as “the least successful refugees” (p. 199). Keeping in mind your answer to question #5, please discuss some of the reasons why the Hmong have such high unemployment and poverty rates? Do they do better when other indicators are taken into consideration (crime rates, child abuse etc.)? Please apply the concepts of “culture shock,” “ethnocentrism,” and “cultural relativism” to the events in the book. Discuss one example for each concept from the book. Medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman is quoted by Fadiman as saying: “… the culture of biomedicine is equally powerful. If you can’t see that your own culture has its own set of interests, emotions, and biases, how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else’s culture” (p. 261). Based on the book and what you have learned in this class, please assess this statement. What are the lessons learned from Lia’s case? Referring to the 8 questions on pp. 260-261, please discuss three things you would do differently if you were one of Lia’s health care or social service providers. Each question is worth 10 points. Spelling, grammar, and citations are also worth 10 points.