Do Doctors Eat Brains?
- As a rule, the Hmong are deeply distrustful of Western medicine, preferring their own homeopathic solutions instead. This is due in large part to misinformation that spreads through Hmong refugee camps—most notably (and, um, hilariously) being the idea that doctors eat brains.
- What's more, many Western medical techniques are seen as gravely offensive in Hmong culture. Most prefer to be treated by their friendly neighborhood txiv neeb and call it a day.
- There is one doctor who managed to bridge this gap—Dwight Conquergood. Quite the symbolic name, huh? While working at a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand, Conquergood hosted a parade "led by three important characters from Hmong folktales" that also conveyed some very useful medical information (4.10). Way to conquer, um, incorrect stereotypes about medicine.
- Anyway, to everyone's surprise, it's one of the most effective campaigns the camp has ever had. If only he were around for Lia.