The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay

The book I read to examine multicultural issues and cultural biases was The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Faldiman. I found it helpful to use Google maps to get a visual of the location Hmong refugees came from in Laos and mentally trace their journey across the Pacific to settle in Merced, CA. There are two main cultures discussed in this book which includes the subordinate Hmong Lee family and the dominant White American doctors who tried to help Lia with her medical or spirit issues depending on which culture you asked. Faldiman stated in the preface, “I have always felt that the action most worth watching is not at the center of things but where the edges meet.” This statement would hold so much relevance because Lia’s treatments could have been less stressful if the two cultures reached a point of intersectionality. This is also congruent with what Tatum mentioned in Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria concerning, “Changes in immigration policy in 1965 dramatically increased Asian immigration, significantly altering the demographic makeup of the Asian Pacific American community.” In order to have a full

The term “quag dab ped” is the translation of the book title. There was an incident when the older sister slammed a door and three month old Lia went into convulsions from a seizure. The Lees believed that Lia’s spirit had left her body. It was the beginning of a long journey to get help because their family status identity was set on the credence that children where their most prized possessions. The Lees wanted to consult with a txiv neeb who is known as having a healing spirit. There is also a shaman who is regarded as divine if they are epileptic. There were mixed feelings about if Lia was really sick and if the prescribed medications would heal or worsen her