The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
Release date: September 1997
Mine is a first edition without its dustjacket. This is sad for me.
This book is many things. First, it is the story of a family of Hmong refugees living in Merced, California, and what happens when it is discovered their baby daughter Lia has epilepsy. Oh, the trials and tribulations that can pop up when the family doesn’t speak English and the hospital hasn’t any Hmong interpreters. And even if they did, how would they explain a neurological disorder to the family, who knows the sickness is caused by an evil dab who has stolen Lia’s soul? This part of the book is so sad. Lia’s doctors totally fail the family because they’re unwilling to work with their beliefs.
Second, this book also includes a brief history of the Hmong people, how they fought for the CIA in the Secret War in Laos and when their side lost, came over to the US in great numbers to avoid being exterminated by the Pathet Lao, and then what their lives have been like here. You know, what it’s like to go from farming in the mountains, to living in a refugee camp, to owning a refrigerator. Also it tries to give an accurate description of Hmong culture in general, but it’s a pretty short book and there’s a lot of other stuff going on so.
This is one of those stories you wish a lot of dumb Americans would read before they go around telling foreign-born citizens to learn to speak English. It very much made a case for cultural sensitivity, not just because it’s politically correct, but because not being aware of and respecting other cultures KILLS!!!
PS I found this on a website maintained by an American named Jeff Lindsay. It’s all about the struggles the Hmong face here, and here is an email he got:
“Hasn’t America been invaded enough for you nutjobs! They bring their culture, NOT AMERICAN, with them.
YOU need to go live among them. . . .
You liberals are either insane, stupid or truly evil.
Again, you need to go live with your own people. Them. “
Oh good lord!!! No seriously, that woman is probably Christian, right? Jesus needs to come down here and bitch slap her.
Anyway. Excellent read, but really, really sad. Oh! And at the end there’s a short chapter on Hmong orthography, pronunciation and quotations! Sweet!
2 Comments
September 14, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Have you been able to find any current info on Lia? The latest I can find is 2003 where she was still alive at age 21! (http://www.spiritcatchesyou.com/updates.htm)
September 19, 2008 at 5:47 pm
No, but I haven’t really been looking. Thanks for the link!