Our world is made up of many different cultures and it would not be how it is today without these different cultures. Some cultures believe they are superior to others and this results in cultural differences and barriers. In Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, she explains cultural barriers that can develop through cultural differences, when one culture enters into another culture’s area. Fadiman writes about the Hmong culture entering the United States and evaluates their cultural differences, which leads to their barriers. Fadiman also describes many important individuals from both the Hmong culture and the American culture. Two individuals who are important are Foua Lee, who is from the Hmong culture, and Neil
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The Hmong culture does not treat illnesses with medication. They treat illnesses with what they call “Neeb,” which refers to spiritual rituals performed by a shaman. “A txiv neeb might spend as much as eight hours in a sick person’s home; doctors forced their patients, no matter how weak they were, to come to the hospital, and then might spend only twenty minutes at their bedsides” (Fadiman, 1998, p.33). Hmong liked the txiv neeb because they were personable and they found the American doctors unpleasant. Foua wanted Lia to get better and she sought help from the doctors. She did not understand American medications; she just knew the doctors would give medicine to heal patients quickly and effectively. What Foua quickly learned was that the doctor’s medications do not always heal quickly and effectively, which happened in Lia’s case. Lia’s doctor, Neil, prescribed medications for epilepsy and directed her on how to take each medication with the right amount of dosages. Foua, who did not speak any English and did not understand the correct dosages to give to her daughter. Foua also recognized strong symptoms from some of the medication and stopped giving it to Lia. Foua and the Lee’s also wanted to heal Lia through the Hmong spiritual rituals but the American doctors would not allow it. Foua had a very different way of trying to heal …show more content…
In the book by Kathryn Sorrells, entitled, Intercultural Communication Globalization and Social Justice, Sorrells describes the term positionality. “Positionality refers to one’s social location or position within an intersecting web of socially constricted hierarchical categories, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and physical abilities, to name a few” (Sorrells, 2016, p.13). This term can relate to Neil and Foua in Fadiman’s book. Neil’s positionality could be defined as a high class, highly intelligent, white American. On the other hand, Foua’s positionality can be defined as a low class, Hmong refugee from Laos who did not speak English or practice American culture. Their two positionalities are very different, which resulted in their cultural barriers. Neil held a higher positionality, which resulted in him feeling superior to Foua. Sorrells also mentions the term “ethnocentrism,” which is defined as, “the idea that one’s own group’s way of thinking, being, and acting in the world is superior to others” (Sorrells, 2016, p.14). Like I mentioned before, Neil felt he was superior to Foua because he was in America and practiced American culture, unlike Foua who was in American and practiced Hmong culture. Neil’s ethnocentrism was one of the main reasons why Neil and Foua had such a large communication barrier, which in result affected
The Hmong culture does not treat illnesses with medication. They treat illnesses with what they call “Neeb,” which refers to spiritual rituals performed by a shaman. “A txiv neeb might spend as much as eight hours in a sick person’s home; doctors forced their patients, no matter how weak they were, to come to the hospital, and then might spend only twenty minutes at their bedsides” (Fadiman, 1998, p.33). Hmong liked the txiv neeb because they were personable and they found the American doctors unpleasant. Foua wanted Lia to get better and she sought help from the doctors. She did not understand American medications; she just knew the doctors would give medicine to heal patients quickly and effectively. What Foua quickly learned was that the doctor’s medications do not always heal quickly and effectively, which happened in Lia’s case. Lia’s doctor, Neil, prescribed medications for epilepsy and directed her on how to take each medication with the right amount of dosages. Foua, who did not speak any English and did not understand the correct dosages to give to her daughter. Foua also recognized strong symptoms from some of the medication and stopped giving it to Lia. Foua and the Lee’s also wanted to heal Lia through the Hmong spiritual rituals but the American doctors would not allow it. Foua had a very different way of trying to heal …show more content…
In the book by Kathryn Sorrells, entitled, Intercultural Communication Globalization and Social Justice, Sorrells describes the term positionality. “Positionality refers to one’s social location or position within an intersecting web of socially constricted hierarchical categories, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and physical abilities, to name a few” (Sorrells, 2016, p.13). This term can relate to Neil and Foua in Fadiman’s book. Neil’s positionality could be defined as a high class, highly intelligent, white American. On the other hand, Foua’s positionality can be defined as a low class, Hmong refugee from Laos who did not speak English or practice American culture. Their two positionalities are very different, which resulted in their cultural barriers. Neil held a higher positionality, which resulted in him feeling superior to Foua. Sorrells also mentions the term “ethnocentrism,” which is defined as, “the idea that one’s own group’s way of thinking, being, and acting in the world is superior to others” (Sorrells, 2016, p.14). Like I mentioned before, Neil felt he was superior to Foua because he was in America and practiced American culture, unlike Foua who was in American and practiced Hmong culture. Neil’s ethnocentrism was one of the main reasons why Neil and Foua had such a large communication barrier, which in result affected