Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
Reason read: the Buddhist Lent is celebrated in July.
Fadiman tries to explain the Hmong culture, break down the stereotypes, and debunk the myths about this mysterious population of Southwestern Asia. At the heart of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the story of a Hmong child, Lia Lee, diagnosed with epilepsy and the cultural clash between American doctors and Hmong beliefs. Old world meets modern America: pig offal thrown into a Rainbow low-suds detergent bucket during a ceremony to heal a Hmong. Lee’s family were destined to forever search for her soul after she suffered a catastrophic seizure that left her mentally impaired.
I think it goes without saying that we fear what we do not understand. I firmly believe that in order to truly understand another culture, you need to submerge yourself in their world for a least a year. For example, it is not peculiar for a Hmong person to hunt small game with a crossbow. Maybe not down the streets of midtown Philadelphia, but what is the difference to a hungry person when a meal is right in front of them?
As an aside, resources within The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down are a little outdated. For example, the St. Olaf website about the Hmong no longer exists.
As I closed the book on the Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down‘s final pages, I wondered where Lia was today, or more importantly, where was her soul. I learned she died when she was thirty years old.
Quote that sums up the book perfectly: “…diseases are caused by fugitive souls and cured by jugulated chickens” (p ). No on in modern medicine knows how to practice cross-cultural medicine without offending some spirit.
Author fact: I am reading two books by Fadiman for the Challenge.
Book trivia: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down has been used in classrooms as a textbook.
Setlist: U2, Bon Jovi, White Snake, Motley Crue, “Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Happy Birthday.”
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Social Studies” (p 205).
~*LunaSea*~ 