An Analysis Of Horace Miner's Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

Effective communication has many aspects that can be described as either transparent or a hidden unknown, which in many readings it describes how ambiguity is a necessary evil in communications. The “Triangle of Linguistic Structure” can give phonology meaning form, semantics the value of meaning, and pragmatics that feature the intention to uncertain communications. The direct statements of saying someone is dead, can be harmful so they use etiquette to give reason to use a buffer and instead say they have moved away. For a literary example I will use “Who am I this time?” by Vonnegut and “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Miner, for both readings use ambiguity to hide an allegory of communication concepts. The “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”

The Huichol Indians are an indigenous group that lives “in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern Mexico” (Woolcott). The Huichol religion is an animistic religion. According to Dr. Pamela Lindell, animistic religions are “religions that believe that all of nature – humans, animals, plants, rocks, the ocean, etc. - is animated by spirits and souls” (“Professor’s Notes 2” 3). To better understand the Huichol Indians and their religion, this paper examines Huichol myth, symbolism, rituals, religious specialists, and deities from various anthropological perspectives.

In 1956 a professor from the University of Michigan, Horace Miner, wrote an article in The American Anthropologist that has become a mainstay of learning for anthropology students. Miner published the article to show a fictional exotic society called “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” as an example of how one’s own limited perspective might affect the perception of a foreign culture (Miner, 1956, p. 503). The article uses subtle humor to make the reader more comfortable in examining cultural behaviors, physical appearance, and health as the reader soon discovers that the actual society being examined is the American society. To the reader, the article begins to sound very familiar after each paragraph is

Caleb L. Fry and Lauren T. Rios Department of Anthropology Lake Tahoe Community College One College Drive South Lake Tahoe, California 96150 USA Faculty Advisor: Daryl G. Frazetti Abstract

Horace Minor applied satire in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema.” to the culture of the American people. Several ways in which “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” relate to the core concepts of sociology are through the use of sociological imagination, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. The American culture is described by Minor in a very unique and humorous way. The author uses satire to examine the rituals that are every day in American culture. The reader thinks at the beginning of the article that they are reading about some uncivilized tribe of people but soon realized that the “rituals” that are being performed are just everyday events that take place in every American household.

In Horace Miner’s article, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, he talks about a tribe and describes their odd behavior. He tells about how the tribe performs these strange daily rituals and how their peculiarity is extreme, but in fact he is actually speaking of Americans as a whole (Miner). Miner uses this style of writing to more effectively prove his point: that Americans are ethnocentric.

Horace Miner wrote the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, in which he described and detailed the various body rituals practiced among the Nacirema culture. Horace starts the article by explaining that anthropologists encounter all types of cultural and ritualistic extremities, but the Nacirema body rituals are among some of the most extreme observed. The

The story of Kana’ ti (The Lucky Hunter) and Selu (corn) revealed considerable amounts of evidence about how they perceived balance and harmony in their culture. In short, they maintained harmony and balance through their spirituality and rituality as Native Americans. Selu had her ritual for cultivating corn, as Kana’ ti had his ritual for hunting and gathering food. Both Kana’ ti and Selu offered a harmonious, ritualistic strategy to obtain food, which helped maintain an even spiritual balance in their system. (Spiritual)

"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" is significant as it establishes the issue of representation in ethnography. The purpose of the article is to raise the question of how can we study a different culture from the outside and how can we understand our own culture from within. Culture can be defined in many ways, Tylor (1871) stated that culture is; “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Therefore, the article presents the topic of cultural relativism, arguing that there is no impartial viewpoint from which to assess cultures, that every culture should be interpreted and understood from the

This is about a culture called Nacirema that is practiced in many different place and was brought to the attention of the Anthropologist attention by Professor Linton to talk about this culture that was poorly understood. The Nacirema is a type of culture that is summed up as that these people that believe in this culture that the human body is ugly and that the natural tendencies are meant to debilitate and cause disease. They are also big believes in rituals and ceremonies in the household to preform these ceremonies either as a family but in most cases it was privately. Where they would receive charms and other items form the medicine man of the community that would help with a certain problem. They would use these magic items to help with

The term Anthropology refers to the study of mankind as a whole. In the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, the introduction of a new cultural perspective crosses the boundaries of today’s societal norms. Horace Miner is mainly known for his studies in mankind, and as an anthropologist he must take into consideration, without preconceived opinions the variety of unique cultures within the human race. The Nacirema is a group living in North America whose culture, through the perspective of Horace Miner showcases human behavior taken to its highest degree. There is a common belief among the people of Nacirema in which it is the human body is prone to weakness and disease; therefore, in becoming the focal point of the

This study examines Horace Miner’s essay “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema. 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.

Miner’s article presents numerous anthropological concepts including culture, social behaviors, symbols, material culture and holism. While providing us with a synchronic view of an unexplored culture, Miner tackles the principle mindset that governs the “Nacirema’s” social customs and “rituals”, looks at key symbols and material possessions as the focus of the culture, and highlights the importance of studying a culture in its entirety to gain a full and accurate understanding.

For us to properly learn about culture, we must understand the meaning of cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. The two concepts challenge one another. Reading the article, we must pull away from our ethnocentric views and think critically about the Nacirema people's. However, the description of the culture creates an ideology that is hard to agree with. For example, the Nacirema peoples take part in a rite that involves hog hairs and magical powders. The Nacirema rituals do sound strange and displeasing but, we have to learn to recognize our ethnocentric judgments.

The Kula is one of the most complicated aspects in Trobriand society. Throughout anthropological history, two anthropologists, namely Bronislaw Malinowski and Annette Wiener, have successfully given people a look into the intricate works of the Kula. While no anthropologist is more right than the other, one can see how two different ethnographers can give two very different analysis of one ceremonial gift giving ritual. Malinowski studies the Kula through the lens of an individualistic functionalist while Wiener studies through a structural functionalist lens. Malinowski studies the causes and affects of this Trobriand gifting on the individual, while Wiener gives the people a look into the overall cultural meaning behind the Kula.