The Soul Caller
The Soul Caller

Author: Ana Peters

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2011-08-24

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1465357343

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A dramatic story of brotherhood, magic, and spiritual growth. Two young men from Laos immigrate to Minnesota, U.S.A., during the Vietnam War. Enemies and rivals for the love of a village woman who stayed behind, each tries to resolve his confusion about living in a new culture and the loss of their beloved beauty, Zoua Lee. For Pao Moua, Zoua comes alive in his paintings of the village. On dark nights, from a mural lit by headlights, she speaks to Pao and helps him find a way to accept his new life. For Lue Vang, there is no such understanding. He turns to gang life, and must kill or be killed by his gang brothers. In trying to help Lue Vang, Pao nearly loses his life, but in the process he undergoes a life-changing experience that will lead him to become the shaman he always wanted to become. On the other hand, Lue Vang must leave the city to stay alive, but he leaves transformed after seeing a vision of Zoua Lee and saving Paos life. In the end, he realizes his own courage.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Author: Anne Fadiman

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 1998-09-30

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1429931116

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Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to tragedy. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the Salon Book Award, Anne Fadiman's compassionate account of this cultural impasse is literary journalism at its finest. ______ Lia Lee 1982-2012 Lia Lee died on August 31, 2012. She was thirty years old and had been in a vegetative state since the age of four. Until the day of her death, her family cared for her lovingly at home.

Hmong in Wisconsin
Hmong in Wisconsin

Author: Mai Zong Vue

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2020-03-16

Total Pages: 103

ISBN-13: 0870209434

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Unknown to many Americans at the time, the Hmong helped the US government fight Communists in Laos during the Secret War of the 1960s and 1970s, a parallel conflict to the Vietnam War. When Saigon fell and allies withdrew, the surviving Hmong fled for their lives, spending years in Thai refugee camps before being relocated to the United States and other countries. Many of these families found homes in Wisconsin, which now has the third largest Hmong population in the country, following California and Minnesota. As one of the most recent cultural groups to arrive in the Badger State, the Hmong have worked hard to establish a new life here, building support systems to preserve traditions and to help one another as they enrolled in schools, started businesses, and strived for independence. Told with a mixture of scholarly research, interviews, and personal experience of the author, this latest addition to the popular People of Wisconsin series shares the Hmong’s varied stories of survival and hope as they have become an important part of Wisconsin communities.

The Call to the Soul
The Call to the Soul

Author: Marjory Zoet Bankson

Publisher: Augsburg Books

Published: 2004-06-01

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9781451413649

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Each major life transition gives us a chance, Bankson proposes, "to name what we are here for." Using mythical archetypes, biblical and personal stories, she presents a revealing six-stage soulwork cycle to help us find our calling. A valuable resource for people seeking to nurture their spiritual growth, individually, in groups, or with a spiritual director. Includes a format for a soulwork retreat.

Body and Emotion
Body and Emotion

Author: Robert R. Desjarlais

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2011-09-16

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 0812206428

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Body and Emotion is a study of the relationship between culture and emotional distress, an examination of the cultural forces that influence, make sense of, and heal severe pain and malaise. In order to investigate this relationship, Robert R. Desjarlais served as an apprentice healer among the Yolmo Sherpa, a Tibetan Buddhist people who reside in the Helambu region of north-central Nepal.

Mortality in Traditional Chinese Thought
Mortality in Traditional Chinese Thought

Author: Amy Olberding

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-01-02

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1438435649

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Mortality in Traditional China is the definitive exploration of a complex and fascinating but little-understood subject. Arguably, death as a concept has not been nearly as central a preoccupation in Chinese culture as it has been in the West. However, even in a society that seems to understand death as a part of life, responses to mortality are revealing and indicate much about what is valued and what is feared. This edited volume fills the lacuna on this subject, presenting an array of philosophical, artistic, historical, and religious perspectives on death during a variety of historical periods. Contributors look at material culture, including findings now available from the Mawangdui tomb excavations; consider death in Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions; and discuss death and the history and philosophy of war.

Engaging the Spirit World
Engaging the Spirit World

Author: Kirsten W. Endres

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2012-03-01

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0857453599

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In many parts of the contemporary world, spirit beliefs and practices have taken on a pivotal role in addressing the discontinuities and uncertainties of modern life. The myriad ways in which devotees engage the spirit world show the tremendous creative potential of these practices and their innate adaptability to changing times and circumstances. Through in-depth anthropological case studies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, the contributors to this book investigate the role and impact of different social, political, and economic dynamics in the reconfiguration of local spirit worlds in modern Southeast Asia. Their findings contribute to the re-enchantment debate by revealing that the “spirited modernities” that have emerged in the process not only embody a distinct feature of the contemporary moment, but also invite a critical rethinking of the concept of modernity itself.

Possessed by the Spirits
Possessed by the Spirits

Author: Karen Fjelstad

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-05-31

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1501719149

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The essays in this volume examine the resurgence of the Mother Goddess religion among contemporary Vietnamese following the economic "Renovation" period in Vietnam. Anthropologists explore the forces that compel individuals to become mediums and the social repercussions of their decisions and interactions.

Culture and Health
Culture and Health

Author: Michael Winkelman

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-12-05

Total Pages: 812

ISBN-13: 0470462612

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Culture and Health offers an overview of different areas of culture and health, building on foundations of medical anthropology and health behavior theory. It shows how to address the challenges of cross-cultural medicine through interdisciplinary cultural-ecological models and personal and institutional developmental approaches to cross-cultural adaptation and competency. The book addresses the perspectives of clinically applied anthropology, trans-cultural psychiatry and the medical ecology, critical medical anthropology and symbolic paradigms as frameworks for enhanced comprehension of health and the medical encounter. Includes cultural case studies, applied vignettes, and self-assessments.