The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

Fadiman explains how she gains access to speak with Hmong families in Merced. It is difficult for her at first because they associate Fadiman with MCMC and do not trust her. Her interpreters, who are middle-aged men, also do not translate her respondents’ answers at length. Eventually Fadiman meets Sukey Waller, a psychologist at the Merced outreach center, who has an excellent relationship with the Hmong community and introduces Fadiman to influential leaders. She recommends that Fadiman find a cultural broker—someone who not only translates but also knows the Hmong culture well and can teach her how to act appropriately.

Fadiman hires May Ying Xiong. As young women, Fadiman and May Ying have a low status in Hmong society, which Fadiman realizes is an advantage when meeting the Lees: “I was not an official, not a threat, not a critic, not a person who was trying to persuade the Lees to do anything they did not wish to do” (97). The Lees warmly receive Fadiman and agree to let her have unlimited access to Lia’s records. The Lees have their own agenda too, as they want Fadiman to learn about their culture so she can explain it to their doctors.