Horace Miner Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” was a very entertaining essay. The essay made made fun of American culture without directly stating the name of the culture, other than including the word American spelled backwards. Miner bring to the readers attention the odd rituals practiced in America that the normal citizen would not find strange at all. However, by presenting his essay in the this form he shows how strange American customs are from the view of someone in a different country.

“Body Rituals Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner’s ethnography based passage centers on the isolated land of Nacirema. There, anthropologist studies studied the “odd” behavioral rituals and cultural norms that the Nacirema people have such as drilling holes into the mouth and a charm box the people bow their heads into. Seemingly being a foreign land will almost disturbing customs, the reader soon learns that Nacirema, in reality, is America and the routinely activities that is initially portrayed to be peculiar are things that we do on a daily basis. The main purpose for creating Nacirema is to provide an unbiased opinion to all, allowing the views to create their own opinion about some of the activities Americans do. Allowing the reader

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.

The rising popularity of tattoos and body piercing is more than just the latest fashion craze. This type of body art has been a part of this world for thousands of years. Tattoos and piercings have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment (Smithsonian.com). In the later years (1940 – 2000) tattoos and piercings were more common among teenagers and young adults, but now, people of all ages are expressing themselves through body art. To try and understand this rise in the desire to permanently mark ones self, we must first determine the origin and history of tattoos and piercings.

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”

Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” was a very entertaining essay. The essay made made fun of American culture without directly stating the name of the culture, other than including the word American spelled backwards. Miner bring to the reader’s attention the odd rituals practiced in America that the normal citizen would not find strange at all. However, by presenting his essay in this form he shows how strange American customs are from the view of someone in a different country.

Body modifications have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years. But certain stigmas still persists to this contemporary day. One such body modification is the act of inking or marking the skin: Tattooing. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to diverse groups of people. But are the popular perceptions of tattoos out of synch with the true meaning behind them? This essay will explore the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body. It will also explore why tattoos engender

This essay will be exploring how the key task of the anthropologist is “to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange”. I would define “strange” as being abnormal and different, not the norm and “familiar” meaning something we can relate to and are accustomed to. An anthropologist undertaking ethnographic research would be exploring the cultural and social variation and how as humans, we are unique but similar.

The American society tends to feel very high and superior to other cultures in the world. The Unites States is the home to multiple revolutionary technological, medical, and numerous advances. The country is in a developed state that other countries tend to look at in order to know how to grow and advance. However, when looked at from the outside, things that are done everyday, “rituals”, can seem strange. Horace Miner wrote the essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” in order to highlight actions people do everyday in a way that opens the eyes of the reader. Although the rituals seem strange out of place, Miner had a specific purpose to give a new perspective and to leave a lasting effect of thought and change on the reader.

In the article Body Ritual among the Nacirema, the author, Horace Miner, discusses the various types of strange rituals the tribe of Nacirema performs. The main reason for these rituals is that these people believe that the natural human body is unattractive according to their established standards. The article is solely focused on the rituals and traditions that the Nacirema go through on a daily basis. Their primary focus is centered around appearances and health instead of their economy. The Nacirema believe that by going through these rituals, it would help avoid diseases and to improve the “ugliness” associated with their bodies. A huge portion of their daily time is devoted towards this aspect of life. The Nacirema people have specialists

The tattoo is a very old form of body modification, but in spite of that there is still a certain rejection towards those who carry them in a visible area of the body, for some it disfigures what has been created in the image and likeness of God while for others associates this with convicts or gang members mainly because they were one of the first groups to use tattoos to differentiate themselves from the rest of society. But also it is true that there is a very limited understanding about this corporal modification that could be one of the reasons why it can not be appreciated as for how it should be. However, modern society reflects the current popularity of tattooing because it has acquired an entirely artistic meaning to a social expression and a way of identity.

Body modifications, with the focus of tattoos, have existed in our society for centuries and the way in which it is perceived has changed somewhat over the years, yet certain dishonors still remain our modern day. Like most body modifications, tattoos are an often misunderstood form of body modification. Despite the stigmas, tattoos have become a unique object of desire to endless diverse groups of people. But are the popular assumptions of tattoos out of sync with the true meaning behind them? Further explanation and exploration of the history will reveal the social and cultural practices of tattooing and the causal connection between the mind and the tattooed body, in addition to providing answers as to why tattoos stimulate uneasiness

For as long as there have been people, there have been methods of distinction amongst them. Throughout the years we have discovered ways in which to express our beliefs, our ideals, and our passions. Tattooing has been one of forefront methods in expressing our humanity, or in certain cases, our lack there of. For so many, they have taken on many different representations, each with an equal level of significance. The importance found in the symbolism of tattoos and their cultural relevance has consistently been a trend found throughout history, religion, and art.

What used to be the property of sailors, outlaw and rock star is now become a popular body decoration for many people. It’s not just anchors, skulls, and spider web anymore, people have found plenty ways to express themselves with their tattoo. You might be thinking to get your first one, but fear of the unknown can sometimes hold you back from it. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about the process how the human skin is transformed into a beautiful work of art.

Throughout time body piercings and tattoos have become a very common trend in today’s society. Body art including both piercings and tattoos have been around for many years, it used to be a way of communicating through each other but it has now become more of a fashion trend especially among today’s youth. Not only do tattoos and piercings have their own type of fashion but they can also represent many things such as religious traits. Many people ignore the dangers that can come along with tattoos and body piercings, things such as HIV and hepatitis are easily spread through the needles used for these forms of Body Art.