This paper discusses the role of
ethnocentrism in the book. "Ethnocentrism" is the belief that your culture is "better" or
"superior" to other
cultures and that cultural standards are universal. It is often the wedge that keeps people from many cultures from blending into a cohesive unit, and in "The Spirit Catches You," it is quite common to see how the Hmong, with their culture of beliefs and superstitions, and American doctors, with their medicines and science, would clash and never see eye to eye.