Collision Of Two Cultures

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Shawn Kilpatrick Prof. Laura Brown TA: Shih-Hsiang Sung Section: Friday 11am 10/21/2011 Question 3 Collision of Two Cultures The “collision of two cultures” can be seen as causing a lot of wars, pain and suffering in the world. How many misunderstandings in language, cultural practices, rituals and religion have led to some of the biggest bloodshed in the world’s history. Even though it can be said that this phrase can explain the cause of such big events it can also explain the hardship and hurt caused on an individual level when there is a collision of two cultures. In Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down is about how a diagnosis of epilepsy in a child is put between the culture of American medicine and the Hmong culture and how both cultures kept judging the other through their own cultures eyes. If only this collision could have been buffered a little by a question or two or a person who had a foot into both cultures, than the outcome of this epilepsy might not have been so devastating. The Hmong came originally from China but after a long bloody history they decided to move into Southeast Asia instead of assimilate. This is very important in understanding the Hmong culture. Instead of assimilating into Chinese culture they decided it would be better to flee or die. Once they settled in Southeast Asia they stayed in the highland mountain regions of Cambodia. Here they were independent people who were able to provide for themselves. A flood of refugees came to America after the end of the Vietnam War in, which the Hmong had helped the CIA, and ended up on the wrong side of the war. Like they did before instead of assimilation or massacre they fled to Thailand and then many of them to America. A large community of them came to settle in Merced California and that is where the collision of two cultures in this book takes place.
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