Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

In the essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, anthropologist Horace Miner depicts a group of people known as the “Nacirema”, but is referring to Americans, whose cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in the perspective that the human body is prune to sickness and disfiguration. Consequently, a substantial part of their lives is spent on unusual rituals and customs to improve conditions of the body that are filled with magical components. Moreover, Miner uses the Nacirema’s unusual culture to establish his view that we simply could not judge another culture that it is different from our own, as opposed to another anthropologist Malinowski’s point that we can judge another culture since we are

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 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.

1) Horace Minor’s Nacirema was taking a look the American public in the 1950’s when Minor wrote the article. It was a satirical piece to give an objective look ‘to’ Americans, and Westerners alike, from the outside perspective without the immediate knowledge that it was western culture, but instead trying with the façade of a tribe. This article was riddled with symbols and symbolism that drew direct connections from a mysterious tribe to a well known western culture. For example the doctors, dentists and psychologists were all forms of medicine men: the doctors were actually named medicine men, the dentists were named ‘Mouth men’, and the psychologists were knows as ‘the listeners’. All three practitioners, just like in western society, were held in high regard, were higher up on the social latter and were very important to the entire tribe. This mirrors the respect and social structure that western society has for these types of professions. Also, the body shaming of the women in the tribe and the lack of respect that man has for women in the work place and otherwise in western culture, especially in the 50’s, draws more connections to identify the tribe as Americans. I really loved the attempt to make our forefathers into tribal gods. Washington being named Notgnihsaw, a man who couldn’t and didn’t lie when being confronted about the cherry tree he cut down. He also crossed a frozen river to fight a war. Everything from the unrealistic vanity the tribe would experience

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.

In the article “Body Rituals among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, the author uses this piece to describe American rituals in a different perspective. For example he uses this “tribe” called Nacirema which is just American spelled backwards, also uses the word “Notgnihsaw”.. Washington which is described as a cultural hero who is known for two great feats of strength. This piece uses three types of satirical devices: Invective, irony, and satire. Invective is a group overstatement, extreme exaggeration. Some pieces of this article that use invective would be how much time people spend so much time getting ready in the morning, buy so many medications for every illness, and go running to the doctor

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

The Nacirema endure many hardships they have imposed on themselves. As anthropology is the study of human kind nothing is alien to them, as it is among them “without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of

There is never an irrational decision or moment. As a result, the societies with state might find difficulty in finding themselves among the traits of the primitive societies. This hinders the ability of states to understand them. As stated by Brown (1978), they “remain unimaginable or merely imaginable”. Having reason in and for every action is to leave no space for identification – which is where its true value lies. As a result, even though Clastres has provided a coherent scenario of the primitive societies, his Indians are legendary. Their reason in principle as well as fact makes them mechanical. Primitive societies have transformed from foreign to another form of being. One that is difficult for individuals who live in states to truly understand. As such, Clastres teaches us about the Indians rather than about reason which can be applied to the states. This allows states to appreciate the situation of the Indians but it does not provide states with the knowledge to learn of one self. There is no room for application or practice of this new

Some torturous male rites of passage of the Native societies emphasize the capability of survival and the significant natural power of a man when dealing with the surroundings in a world of non-technology. The environment they live in is nature: trees, soil, grass, wild flowers and wild animals. In order to survive for generations in such condition, male adolescents – future husbands and potential leaders of the community – are forced to overcome the toughest experience that the initiation rituals cause to them.

In Evans-Pritchard’s article entitled “The Notion of Witchcraft explains Unfortunate Events”, he focuses on how witchcraft helps the people of the Azande tribe make sense of the relation between their people and the unfortunate events that they encounter. It does not only provide them with a “natural philosophy” but also dictates a way in which they are expected to react to such unfortunate events. Witchcraft is found in every corner of their culture and influences the way they perceive things and the way

Social Anthropology seeks to gauge an understanding of cultures and practices whether they are foreign or native. This is achieved through the studying of language, education, customs, marriage, kinship, hierarchy and of course belief and value systems. Rationality is a key concept in this process as it affects the anthropologist’s interpretation of the studied group’s way of life: what s/he deems as rational or plausible practice. Witchcraft and magic pose problems for many anthropologists, as its supernatural nature is perhaps conflicting to the common Western notions of rationality, mainly deemed superior. In this essay I will be exploring the relationship between rationality and witchcraft and

This final paper will explain how my group members and I worked together. This ties into the final project for this class. My paper will show how I related to all the myths within a culture and tie them to the real world. Below I will explain how everything turned out and how we came up with out topic for the final project.

This extended essay will involve a comparison of ethnographic material from two case studies, E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (Oxford 1937) and V. Chryssanthopoulou’s article on “The Evil Eye among the Greeks of Australia: Identity, Continuity and Modernization”, in J. C. B. Petropoulos (ed.), Greek Magic: Ancient, Medieval and Modern (Routledge 2008, pp. 106-118). The aim of this comparison will be to illustrate two different indigenous systems of knowledge and understanding of man’s misfortune in the world as employed by the members of these societies. In particular, I shall be focusing on the beliefs and practices of these societies which surround notions of misfortune in everyday

This institution of my culture functions similarly to the Azande and their witchcraft because they are both used to control society. The Author also states on page five hundred-fifty-five that, “Witchcraft is thought to be an actual physical property residing inside some individuals, who may themselves be unaware of their power.” I relate this statement to some of the Christian pastors and Christian churchgoers as well that get television shows because they claim that they met God in a dream or that they died and saw and talked to God before the paramedics or doctor revived them. Another way of similarity is that of how they control society with these institutions, the Christian church and the Azande use the institutions for their followers to act accordingly or get punished. For example the sinning and missing blessings in the Christian culture is similar to the Azande, where if you are believed to