Week 2 - Kenrick Chiang

Before today, I had very little knowledge about Shamans and Shamanism in general. I know of their existence and basic facts, but I never really knew anything else. A lot of the information that I knew was somewhat generic and surface level basic information. I've also personally never really encountered anyone who spoke of Shamans and Shamanism so reading about it definitely gave me a grander scope of how important this topic is. When I was reading about the Pa Lor's I thought that it really opened my eyes to see the experiences of Shamans and how they hold important roles in Hmong society. I thought that the article did a really good job explaining the significance of spirits and shamans and how the two somewhat play off of each other to help Hmong communities/society. I also find it really intriguing how there are different categories of spirits such as good and bad spirits and how these spirits can affect people and their families so much. I also thought that it was really interesting to see the process of becoming a shaman which is that it is not something that is trained, rather it is something that just happens. I feel like this is important to note because of how people tend to ignore the process of how one becomes a shaman and focus on the tasks of the shaman. I personally find shamans and shamanism very interesting because it takes into account of the different spirits that are around us and how these spirits can impact us on a daily basis. I've always been someone who never really understood the concept of spirits and I felt like this reading really helped me develop my understanding.