Essay On Nacirema Culture

Culture has a paramount influence in everyday day life from the way people dress to way people gather food to how someone greets others. It united group of people based on their share ideas, perceptions, and knowledge (Blanco). Although some cultures share similar aspect, some can vary differently in their customs and norms. An example would a clan known as Nacirema whose culture would be described by outsiders as extreme and sadistic. Their culture consists of unique ritual, strong believe in magical essences, but how different does it vary from the American Culture?

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

There is a cliché quote that people say, “Beauty is in the eye of beholder.” But in the essay “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” (1998) Dave Barry argues about how women who spend countless hours on their so called “beauty” whereas men seem not to care. Barry uses juxtaposition and exaggeration to poke fun at men and women behavior and shed light on the harm that the beauty industry is doing. When Barry argues his point of his essay he addresses both genders, but more specifically teenage to middle age men and women, but he writes about it in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

It is human nature to describe one's own culture as the most advanced and most intellectual. Unfortunately, it is also common practice to look down upon the practices of another culture because they are not similar to one's own traditions. The ability to do this can sometimes be a damaging characteristic for society as a whole. Horace Miner realized the implications of egocentric views and wrote a groundbreaking essay to open society's eyes to their biases.

Although the Nacirema tribe has very unique methods and focus on the human body and appearence, they are similar to our society. I feel like this tribe's beliefs are particularly similar to ours because they try to achieve "beauty" just like we try to be "prettier" or "perfect". The Nacirema can be described as a weird/unique tribe because they use torture to achieve their beliefs. One thing that striked me as particularly odd was the "mouth-rite" and "latispo" rituals because the people knew that they might die if they went through them and they still do it. They do this because they want to fit in and it is also something that has been tought all their lives. In a way, we also go through a type of torture when we decide on changing the way

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.

While reading about the Nacirema culture, I was very shocked to hear their beliefs, rituals, and way of life. The first thing that stood out to me was the fact that they viewed the body as causing diseases, weakness and ugliness. Never before have I been taught about a culture that views human bodies so negatively. Second, it amazes me how much power the charms and magical potions have on these people. They truly believe that without these "magical potions" and "charms" they would die.Third, the whole "holy-mouth-men" concept baffles my mind. They believe that without these men, their gums would bleed and their teeth fall out. When in reality the "holy-mouth-men" cause the bleeding and take their teeth out. Even when they see these men

By keeping reading this article, I do understand that Nacirema is a tribe with a deep and unique connection with their culture. For example, they have a created a special structure of society for their ritual and ceremony of the human body. Indeed, the Nacirema tribe has a deep believe in their religion, culture and their belief. We understand from this perspective that our diversity makes us certainly different, but connected. For example Horace mentions that Nacirema body cleansing is a must for social recognition, and mouth rituals make them (the Nacirema) more accepted by others. These rituals may look odd to some point of view. In this logic, one may argue that the author emphasizes the fact that diversity acknowledgement can be complex.

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

I like your post and agree with you. I also think that Nacirema’s culture is barbaric and could not believe these strange activities at the first time. I also wrote in my discussion about the holy-mouth-men. The way the author describe the dentist is very appropriate for me because I am very scared when I go to dentist since I was young. Also, I think the listeners are psychologist. Psychologists’ job is to help people solve their problem from internal and provide them therapy. I think this is a interesting article to learn. I am wondering if someone outside our culture read this article, how would that person react? Will he or she think we are the barbaric nation?

It was not only till the Nineteenth century where makeup became gender inclusive to society and became a women dominated industry. As the years progressed society was conditioned to think that makeup was made for women. Outside ancient Egypt women had done above and beyond to enhance their beauty to become better suited for a mate or to be considered beautiful. Before makeup was even introduced to world, women went to the extremes of using burnt matches to darken their eyes, using berries to stain there cheeks and lips, and even swallow oxblood to improve overall complexion. And if it wasn’t for the help of social media, men would still be struggling to this day to get the cosmetic recognition that they deserve. Gender roles has always created social boundaries for not only men but for women as well.Women have also dealt with the hardship of trying to be accepted in a society. Since the nineteenth th century restraints of not being able to vote, or work has carried on to the Twentieth century. Women are taken seriously when it comes to sports or having physical strength. Till this day women are making less on their paychecks compared to men. Both genders have their disadvantages and both deal with trying to break the labels that have been created. A new societal culture is happening and regardless of gender the traditional constraints that have been created it is becoming less significant in not only the

It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.

The cosmetics business is a billion dollar industry. Every year, women are responsible for consuming millions of cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is so large because of several factors. The media is a huge contributor to the intense pressure to look a certain way. The idea that "sex sells" is evident in gossip magazines, movies, advertisements, music, and more subtly- in the business world. People first notice what race someone is, how beautiful or ugly they are and what clothes they are wearing. Beauty is skin deep; however, first impressions are usually what others use to base their

“Makeup has been used to enhance the beauty of both men and women for over thousand years. It its through teaching others how to apply makeup, we can strive to help others feel comfortable and confident in their own skin. Wearing makeup help embrace our natural features and may also help express the ideas in a creative way like art.”

Natural beauty, in this day and age, is a term that has many definitions because it is a controversial term. With the way people dress, act, and express themselves, it is extremely hard to find the true denotation of natural beauty. This is also true with the growing popularity in makeup in both genders. When asked to define it, people have formed their own opinions of the term along with the commonly known denotation, connotation, synonyms, and antonyms. The definition of the term also can be described and derived from my personal experiences along with others’. Though there is much evidence for and against the belief, natural beauty is more than what’s on the outside.