Cross Cultures

“If you can’t see that your own culture has it’s own set of interests, emotions, and biases, how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else’s culture?” This question, put so eloquently by author Anne Fadiman in her book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, was the centerpiece of the book. The clash of western medicine in the plains of California and the medical and religious practices of the refugee Hmong immigrants was doomed from the beginning. The Hmong who chose this Californian settlement to be closer together as a family and a clan had no idea what they were in for when one of their own started to have convulsions, or as the Hmong saw it, the spirit catches you, and you fall down.

Learning the ways of the Hmong culture, both in their natural environment in the highlands and mountains of Laos, as well as their culture transfer from Laos to the small county of Merced California was very eye opening. I learned about journeys such as theirs in class and from television and textbooks, however I had never felt so much a part of it as I did when I was reading The Spirit Catches You.

The journey to the US, to a land the Hmong people thought was “free,” ended up leaving most families unhappy and with little life satisfaction. The Hmong way of life was stripped from them, yet they still were Hmong and continued to practice what ceremonies and rituals they could, such as sacrifices and healings by a txiv neeb. The Hmong in many ways did what they could to resist the culture change, which I thought was very interesting and uncharacteristic for many immigrants that I have come into contact with over the years. Many of the Hmong did not learn English and depended on the younger and newer generations as well as hired interpreters to translate for them. Many of the Hmong also did not bother to learn to drive, and of those who did many would cheat on the written driving test by embroidering the answers on their clothing. The main reason I found the book to highlight for why a Hmong man or woman would even learn to drive would be in order to stay in close contact with their family and clan. Hmong people also learned to use the phone to solely communicate with other Hmong. The outside community had to conform to what the Hmong immigrants needed, such as interpreters, government aide, employment training, and free health care for all refugees. I have seen many international citizens, mainly from Mexico, who came to America to work. The Mexicans I have worked with on the other hand, compared to the Hmong, seem to put more effort into learning English and conforming to the role of a US citizen. The Hmong had a sense of resistance and group solidarity that could not be broken, even if someone was on the other side of the country.

While the Hmong did have a sense of still being Hmong, they were still depressed and unhappy. I thought much about this and I can see how they would be upset at the fact that in the US we make everything pre-packaged and easily accessed, but in the Hmong way of life each person in the clan and immediate family a role to be into to, and a duty to their people which gave them a purpose in life. As described by Anne Faidman a typical day as a Hmong farmer in the Laos mountains, each part of the day was devoted to a task, and everything the family consumed, wore and lived in was made and harvested by the family. A sense of peace and freedom must have come from that which very few could hope to experience.

With the Hmong lifestyle centered around taking care of family, by harvesting their own food and selling opium, not for money but for silver and other ceremony enriching goods to impress spirits and call back souls, it is no wonder the clash of cultures was so drastic. The Hmong in Merced California proved to be as ignorant as the doctors at MCMC when it came to understanding each other. Neither party seemed to grasp the concept that both parties viewed the other as the inferior of the pair, and inferior simply because they were different. Of the great tragedies the Hmong people went through to get to escape Laos and cross the border into refugee camps, and eventually resettlement in US and other countries around the world, it was mind boggling to me that the thing they most feared about the US was the doctors’. For Hmong medicine is their religion, and for them it is believed that illness can be blamed by soul loss or past transgressions of the parents, it is not seen as the patient’s fault. Western medicine has no cure for sole loss or any way to prevent dabs from harming people, well no cure that I have heard about. The cultural ignorance and lack of effort put forth both by some of the doctors at Merced and the Hmong community ultimately led to the harm of some patients. I felt guilty when reading this book for my ignorance of other cultures and I hope that if I am put in a cross- cultural misunderstanding I will do my best to incorporate their knowledge along with my own.

World Religion: An Overview

While I do not consider myself a very religious person, religion is something that has always fascinated and intrigued me. Over 80% of the world's population considers themselves religious, religion is a big part of most people's lives. With estimates of over 4,000 different religions in the world it can be a confusing topic. It can also be a confusing topic when it comes to what religions came first and when they started.

Here is a video of the spread the first religions throughout the world. http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html

Even though tribal people had different types of religious practices and spiritual rituals, Hinduism is the world's oldest organized religion, with Judaism following. Then Christianity and Islam were born from Judaism. These are still the main religions today. Among the other larger religions are: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Jainism.
For information on the different types of religions and a comparison go to: http://www.religionfacts.com/big_religion_chart.htm

Different religions practice different things but they can be broken down into different sub-groups.
There is monotheism which is the belief in one God, polytheism which is the belief in many Gods, and pantheism which is a belief that all is God.
http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-of-religion.htm

The "Big Four" religions are all very similar and different at the same time. Hinduism has no known founder or year of origin, but it is known that it was developed in India. Hindu is not just a religion it is a cultural system too. The Vedas is the oldest book of Hindu and lays out the foundation of it. Judaism was originated in 1300 B.C.E. by Abraham, who was the first Hebrew. The Tanakh or Torah is the religious book of Hindu. Christianity comes from Judaism and the holy book is the Bible. Christianity is broken down into many smaller groups such as: Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, to name a few. Islam also originated from Judaism; the Qur'an is the holy book. Muhammad is known as the prophet of Islam he was not just a religious leader, he was also a political and military leader.

Alexander the Great--- or not so great?

Alexander the Great is known all around then world, but are people really aware of what he actually did and the characteristics he possessed? Alexander the Great lived a very short but yet very fulfilled life. Alexander was only thirty-two when he died and much of his life was spent in battles. There were three major battles that Alexander and his army were able to win. The first battle he won was the Battle of Granicus, the second was the Battle of Issus, and the third major battle was the Battle of Gaugamela. During these battles many lives were lost and Alexander still wanted to continue on his expedition. Although Alexander the Great was a very powerful and determined king it is debatable whether or not Alexander the Great was really all that Great. Alexander the Great's theory was that he wanted to conquer the entire world. And who really wants a ruler with those intentions?

Once Alexander conquered a city, many of those cities were named after Alexander the Great himself. It seems to me that he wanted every ounce of power he was able to get a hold of and his armies following him did not really mean that much to Alexander. In the latter battles his armies finally convinces Alexander the Great that their many conquers were enough and that it was time to head back to the beginning of their expedition. If this were to not have happened Alexander the Great may have actually conquered the entire world, just as he had planned to. If he would have in fact conquered the entire world he would have an extreme amount of power. Probably too much power for one person to possess. Having one ruler with too much power would also lead to many other issues, such as, trying to overthrow him as a ruler, and Alexander trying to control every aspect of every ones lives. Too much power is not always a good thing, and I do not think Alexander realized how much power he would really receive.

Personally, I feel that even though he may have led on that he wanted to continue and would not stop until he had rule over all that nations, this may not be entirely true. After the many battles Alexander later died. His body was growing tired from too many battles, and during the end of the battles I think he was ready to be done even though he did not allow anyone to know that.

Alexander was a strong-willed man and he did achieve some of his many goals he had set. He may not be as great as many people say he is, though. With some more knowledge about the details of his life I think many will re-think his ever so popular name.

"Double Extra Large World History!"

Have you ever considered what people are actually referring to when the term "history" is used? Is it the history of a certain nation, person, or culture? Or even the history of our world? It seems as though most of the time, "history" is not including all that it can. We overlook and forget about tremendous events that are all a significant part of how we have came to the point we are at today. You see, we divide history into several periods and often only consider the latest of these. For example, what is known as Small World History only encompasses the last 5000 years, the start of civilization, or the invention of writing. However, I'd like to reflect on the big picture, all the way back to the beginning of the universe. The following include events from over the last 13 billion years, what is called Big History.

The Big Bang
Visit this interactive time line to explore the origins of the universe. The effects of a single event happening over 13 billion years ago are still occurring today. Out of an extremely hot explosion, expanding faster than the speed of light from the size of an atom came the beginning of time, space, matter, and energy. Continue exploring the time line for a chronicle of Big History.
http://www.johnkyrk.com/evolution.html

The Beginning of the Earth
Dig deeper! What actually allowed our world to exist? How did the Solar System fall into place? Over millions of years, the survivors of the millions of collisions occurring beforehand settled into their orbits. Presently, the planets maintain respective distances from our center star, leading to the reasoning behind Bode's Law, for all of you scientists.
http://novan.com/solar.htm

The Great Permian Extinction
Learn about the Earth's most severe extinction event. Over 90% of every living thing disappears, but what caused this catastrophe? How did we go on to recover from this loss?
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dinosaurs-permian-extinction-death-and-life.html

The Super-Continent
Imagine the earth as one large land mass surrounded by one vast sea. This is the case hundreds of millions of years ago. The land mass is known ad Pangaea, with Panthalassa as the resulting enormous sea. Explore how the continents arrive in their present location over time.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/ideas/gondwana2.html

Put it into Perspective
A key concept to understanding Big History is realizing the vast time periods that it includes. Furthermore, examining the lengths of these periods relative to more familiar times can be quite astonishing. Look at the history of the universe in a one-year calendar representation in order to get a sense of how long ago these events happened. What is the most shocking to you?
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/cosmiccalendar/page2.html

These events throughout the past billions of years have clearly helped determine our present state. Can you think of any other significant elements of Big History?

Ancient India: Religion

Religion has always been a part of my life in one form or another. After this week’s discussion on Ancient India, I found that the religion aspect was interesting and did further research.
India, unlike many ancient societies, connected their people through an elaborate cultural system which includes religion. Religiously, Indians followed The Varna which translates to the colors. This is a good description because within The Varna there are four divisions: the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra. Each of these divisions acted as a social class as well as religious class. The Brahmin consisted of people such as priests. Those who were leaders and warriors were considered Kshatriya. The Vaishya consisted of merchants and farmers, and the Sudras were the laborers. Another main aspect of this religion is reincarnation. In this case, an individual will be reincarnated into the next caste system (social class) if his life consisted of good deeds. However, I have always questioned the fact of reincarnation because people typically do not remember a life prior to their current one. On the other hand, there have been instances where a “reincarnated person” has an interest on the items in the prior life. This also raises the issue of chance. What if by chance this person happens to have the same interests? I have also pondered the thought of souls. In this case, the soul must pass Brahmin to achieve “eternal rest” (nirvana). Is nirvana like heaven? Is this life truly better than life on earth? Does a soul have to wait after a death to find a new body? Unfortunately, these questions and many others still do not have an answer. With every religion there are questionable beliefs to them such as the questions I have presented. However, Ancient India, built mainly on this religion instead of education and government like other societies, kept their society strong for years. For this reason, I think religion should be important in every culture.