Weekly Assignment 7

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University of the Fraser Valley *

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100

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Anthropology

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by ProfKingfisher2935

Weekly Assignment 7 Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner The article, "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" is written about a North American group known as the Nacirema people. These people reside in the territory between Canada and Mexico, as reference to the United States of America. Horace Miner tells us about their traditions in detail and makes us a little familiar to their mindset. The Nacirema people actively take part in rituals using magic materials that focus on the human body, as they are used to attempt to cleanse and beautify it physically and internally. Most of the rituals are there to beautify and unburden one’s body. The Nacirema group live their lives by the idea that bodies can be ugly and can be harmed by the unhealthiness of the world. Miner tells us that the Nacirema people think that “human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.” (503). They strongly think that people need help and healing in forms of ritualistic medicines to have a healthy and happy life. Many of these ritualistic treatments are harmful and painful according to Miner and can be called a form of “torture” being done to individuals. Horace does not agree with their culture and portrays it to be negative and unhealthy according to the western culture. He writes about the ritual and calls it “barbaric” and “inhumane”. Horace also uses the word “magic” to denote the Nacirema rituals, which sends a message to the readers that magic (rituals) is just a belief that people imagine and not something that people should base their lives on (507). Even though in many of this article’s paragraphs, Horace is only providing a detailed version of the ritual and explaining how it works, his tone is something that spins every part of the ritual in a negative way. While using the participant observation approach , he gives us a new perspective on the daily behaviors within this group of people. Exploring ethnocentrism and how we view cultures outside of our own. He uses a distinctively anthropological form of observation and writing called “ethnography.” It is as if he is from another planet and is merely reporting what he observes without the benefit of any understanding of the culture he describes. The goal of Miner's article is to critique ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in anthropology and society at large . He aims to challenge readers' assumptions and biases when studying other cultures by presenting familiar practices in an exaggerated and strange manner. CITE- Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist , 58 (3), 503–507. https://www.jstor.org/stable/665280?typeAccessWorkflow=login

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