A true-life account of intercultural miscommunication— and its dire ramifications on a refugee family and a California community— has The Chicago School community talking.

At the heart of the conversation is Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, which relates the true story of Lia Lee and her battle with epilepsy. As this year’s Book of the Year, it has spawned discussions on—and raised questions about—the dilemma of cross-cultural communication, made particularly critical when a life is at stake. The activity supports the school’s deep-rooted focus on diversity and multiculturalism and is intended to foster intercultural understanding and engage the academic community in an ongoing conversation about psychological well-being and behavioral consequences around the globe.