Analysis Of The Nacirema Culture

While reading the Nacirema I could not help to think how different they were and question the different rituals and customs they practiced. After finding out the meaning behind the allegory I was shocked and surprised. I was surprised int the similarities that are visible after knowing that the parable of the Nacirema was actually about America. My brain started making connections to the American culture. One of the first connections that immediately made to the reading was the part where Miner talked about how the human body was viewed as disease and an ugly thing. How could someone view this of their own body? But that is exactly the way Americans consciously or not view our bodys. The way that we go to the doctor often and take vitamins or shots against viruses and disease. Often we are even required by schools that we have certain vaccinations. This could appear different to people who do not get vaccinated as often as Americans do. People grow up viewing everything they do on a daily basis as normal and what's correct. That when we see different from one's ordinary practices we are alarmed, but our own culture or even habits are also different from others.

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

Within many known religions, the devotional practices has been known to acquire great importance. The essence of practicing what you preach has scolded many religious groups, introducing true beliefs, righteousness, and a wider connection to the supreme being . In the book entitled “ Living religions” by Mary Pat Fisher, clarified and firm descriptions were introduced about religious rituals. Surprisingly; the author utilized small parts of modern concepts, limiting the reader from a full comprehension of religious practices today, therefore; I will only discuss the basic and traditional rituals. To elaborate; in this paper, I will be providing an opinionated but also, comparative description of the major practices and rituals that undergo in both the Abrahamic and indigenous religions.

In my opinion, this article about the Nacirema people was very fascinating. These people have a very different culture than we do, which I find very intriguing. They believe that the human body is ugly, and describe it as weak and prone to disease. Due to many aspects of the nonmaterial culture in America, I was raised to believe that the human body is beautiful and can accomplish incredible things. Therefore, I find it hard to see the meaning of their rituals, however, I do respect our cultural differences. The Nacirema people also build shrines within their houses. These shrines contain chests full of previously used magical healing potions and charms. The Nacirema people perform personality ceremonies at the shrine daily in order to ensure

Furthermore, the Nacirema seek help of the “temple” or “latipso” for other serious illnesses, comprised mainly of medicine men and other female specialists. The culture’s devotion to rituals is undeniable as a considerable sum is required for the service of the “temple,” although “these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people’s faith in the medicine men” (173). This belief of the “temple” constitutes checking in to the hospital to treat diseases in the American culture. Often times a significant hospital fee needs to be paid for even a short visit and it is not guaranteed that one would be healed as a result. The American culture’s “ fundamental belief…human body is ugly and its natural tendency is to debility and disease” can help explain the society’s faith in hospitals

In this article, Miner takes the role of an outsider and judges the Nacirema just as we judge other cultures. Miner does an exceptional job of wording things in such a way that we don’t even recognize our own culture. Miner wants us to realize that when someone, such as an anthropologist describes another culture, we can interpret that into being abnormal but in actuality, it is, by all means, very normal.

The article then describes the community temple believed to help the extremely sick, which an individual can only enter after offering a rich gift to the custodian. Once inside of the temple, an individual undergoes a series of painful and humiliating rituals believed to cure human sickness and possession. According to the article, if an individual survives the temple ritual, he or she then must offer another great gift before return home. Finally, the article detail taboo associations with sex, pregnancy, and human excrement, and describes how individuals hide these taboos from the community.

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

"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

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

Horace Miner describes the people of the North American tribe the Naciremas as persons “devoted to economic pursuits (Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. Miner. 503.3.2)” and ritual activities of the human body. Miner uses a satirical style, play on words to abnormally describe such cultural upon this tribe. Throughout the text, Miner uses words and or phrases such as: “sadism, masochistic, neophyte, awls, and objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.” Horace Miner, uses those such words and phrases to describe the various everyday rituals conducted by the Naciremas by producing ethnocentrism through the readers of his text.

Rituals around the world all teach valuable lessons that help initiates see the value and importance of life. Each culture has different rituals that provide experiences for their youth to learn these valuable lessons of life. Many coming of age rituals are intense procedures. The Amazon's Satere Mawé youth enter adulthood through the bullet-ant glove initiation, teaching courage and endurance, and the crocodile scaring ritual that the men from the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea participate in teaches them pain and accomplishment.

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.

1. The Nacirema culture gradually developed into a market economy that is extremely devoted to daily rituals. The tribe's perspective towards the human body shows unusual and strange behaviors that they possess. They believe that the human body is hideous and is prone to illness and weakness. The Nacirema tribe also have an irrational fear regarding the mouth, because they believe that their teeth would fall out or their gums would bleed which shows their behaviors are vaguely eccentric. From my perspective, the ritual activity that involves washing a child's mouth to enhance moral behavior is fascinating, because they believe that a strong bond exists between oral and moral traits. The ritual ablution they perform on children is supposed to improve the ability to do what is right, no matter the situation.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of