Name _________________________________
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Cultural Themes Final Test STUDY GUIDE
Birth Practices
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Traditional Hmong birth practices and what they do with Placenta
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Tviz Neeb and Dabs
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Foua’s birthing experience in American hospital
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Ceremony where Lia officially received her name… when does it happen?
Hmong History
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Where Hmong lived for most of their history before Laos
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Chinese vs. Hmong relationship
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Historical characteristics of the Hmong
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Dwight Congquergood’s success with campaigns at Refugee camp
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How is Laotian war like holocaust?
Hmong Culture
 Place emphasis on gender and age for rank (chapter 6)
 Traditional Hmong healing methods/Shamanism
 Common cultural practices in Merced
 City with largest Hmong population in California
Lia’s Epilepsy
 Who shut the door right before first seizure
 Lee’s/Hmong view of epilepsy vs. western view
 First ER visit… why doctors didn’t diagnose correctly
 Why Lees didn’t give Lia the right medicine dosages
 Called ambulance on night of “big one”… why?
 Why place Lia on a soft mat when seized?
 Why transferred to Fresno?
 What happened to Lia when she went home after the “big one”?
 Where does healing ceremony take place in Chapter 19?
MCMC
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Challenges faced by the hospital… economic, cultural, etc.
Lia’s 2 main doctors
Why Neil and Peggy were angry with the Lees initially
Neil’s recommendation for foster care… why?
Chapter 15, how did Neil and Peggy feel about parent care after she went home and was brain
dead?
Author says healthy communication would have changed what in Chapter 18?
Ethnography/Methodology
 How does Anne keep records of interviews?
 Jeanine Hilt’s death
 How Fadiman overcomes barriers to interviewing Lee family
 Methodology of collecting data and researching
 Explain the PAC of this ethnography
People to Know
 Nao Kao Lee
 Lia Lee
 Yer Lee
 Foua Yang
 Anne Fadiman
 Jeanine Hilt
 May Ying Xiong
 Dan Murphy
 Neil Ernest and Peggy Philip
Themes:
 2.1
2.2-
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2.3-
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2.4-
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2.5-
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2.6-
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2.7-
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2.8-
Formulate an Argument/Thesis
 Be prepared to write a thesis about the following topics:
o Tradition and modernity
o Migration and kinship relations
o Globalization and belief systems