An
ethnographic examination of the Hmong (pronouned "Mong") culture and American medical practices which shows how shared
systems and resources are misunderstood and often times completely ignored, leading to a tale of sadness and tragedy for both groups.
Fadiman introduces the true story of a family of Hmong, a displaced group from an isolated mountainous region of China, and immediately throws the reader into a foreign culture clash between western medicine and culture and the centuries old culture and practices of the Hmong. Living in Merced California, the family are thrown into western medical practices with devastating consequences. At the age of 3 months Lia, the youngest of the 14 Lee children, experiences an epileptic seizure. To the Hmong who had no understanding of the electrical circuitry of the human brain, the child was frightened by a slamming door. During that moment of fear, her soul left her body and “became lost.” The explanation for the seizure was evident to the Hmong, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.”
Fadiman artfully takes the reader through the background of the Hmong people, and opens their world to us. We are introduced to the "twix neeb," the spiritual healer of the Hmong, and a myriad of culturally based practices and beliefs. She guides us through the cultural misunderstandings which show how problems result when neither the Hmong nor the Westerners have an understanding of the others culture. As a result, there could be no beginning point at which even rudimentary communication could begin.
When the story is retold, when it is reduced, excised, and examined, it’s a valuable lesson in cross cultural medicine and communication. And it’s a valuable story of a spirit – not the spirit of a txiv neeb, (the spiritual healer of the Hmong) but the indomitable spirit of love of parents for a child.
I highly recommend this read.