From an angry Hmong parent: “No matter how much we don’t know about technology, about human health, physical, but we have seen a lot in experience too. I don’t want any doctor to treat any human being like an animal. Animals, they don’t understand, but human beings do, we do know how to talk. We do understand like anyone who is a human being. We are just refugees but we are human beings like any doctor too”
This quote reminded me of discussions my Biological Anthropology class has had on anthropological research in developing countries. Often, the papers are incredibly offensive because they describe the human population that they are studying as if they were animals, not humans. The researchers assume superiority, and their resulting work is biased because of it. I see a strong parallel with that sentiment to the way some doctors may have been treating Hmong refugees.