Cultural Anthropology: Paper 2Ethnography is a research method used to explore different cultures from a personal perspective. Many anthropologists have sought to use ethnography as a primary study method because of its specificity and hands-on opportunity. Those who participate in ethnographies are expected to carefully record detailed accounts of the society in which they live, but at the same time maintain a critical distance. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is an ethnography written by Anne Fadiman. The first chapter of the book introduces readers to the cultural conflict between American doctors and the Hmong by detailing aspects of birth in both cultures. Strong emphasis is placed on how the Hmong treat the placenta and the baby naming ceremony. Many details behind the Hmong culture emerge and naturally this leads to conflict. Little Lia begins to develop epilepsy and her parents take it as a symbol of divinity while the doctors at the nearby hospital, MERCED, consider it just an illness. While doctors continue to try to prescribe medications to reduce the amount of seizures, parents continue to refuse them. They believed that the Spivey 2 drugs were the reason for the seizures, not the cure. Parents were frustrated as were doctors. So frustrated with the parents' refusal to provide medicine for their child, Dr. Ernst called the medical examiner and Lia was removed from her parents' custody. He showed no improvement in foster homes and it was obvious that his development was far behind where it should have been. The crises have not stopped, on the contrary they have increased. Luckily, a Turlock hospital was able to get her to a stable place where she could go home. This opened up to Lia a variety of unknown things… paper medium… considered the baby's first and best piece of clothing. The Hmong would bury the placenta outside face up because they believe that after death the soul returns to the placenta for rebirth. In American culture the placenta is not considered a special element of the labor process, nor is it associated with a soul, and is immediately discarded. However, the umbilical cord is considered symbolic and is kept by many people after the birth of their child. In The Spirit Takes You and You Fall many MERCED doctors were aware of this Hmong tradition and provided an envelope with the placenta immediately after birth. Many ethnographies like this one by Anne Fadiman have helped people from other cultures learn about how other societies work. The purpose of ethnographies is to provide true and factual accounts of other cultures and this is what Fadiman has done.