The Body Ritual of the Nacirema Essay

Charles Murray’s American Exceptionalism invokes ideas I had not considered before. The way he describes America in its early life is unrecognizable to me. Murray discusses the geographic setting, American ideology, the traits of the American people, and the operation of the American political system. Now, centuries later than the time he described, it is like America had gone on a rapidly fast down torrent. I agree with Murray’s ideas of the exceptional traits America exuded, however, the traits I observe now, and as Murray talks about later on in the book, have taken on a different meaning. It is almost as if the once amazing concepts have been reduced to nearly half their worth. I am in no way stating America is no longer exceptional, but

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

This passage shows the disappointments of the trip and the unfairness of the rush. This author helps the reader understand the miners’ lives by showing the disappointments and some of the outcomes of the miners’. The author of this article uses words such as oppressive and meager to help describe the lives. In the passage it states, “laws are very arbitrary and strictly enforced,” this helps the readers understand the miners’ lives, because it shows how difficult it even was to even find the gold. In the article it states, “half of all mining land is reserved for the crown, a quarter or more is gobbled by corrupt officials, and a meager share left for the daring miners...” this helps understand the miners’ lives, because it shows the unfairness for the miners. Overall, the author of this passage shows the unfairness and difficulties that this miners had to

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

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema What is the precise geographical location of this strange tribe, the Nacirema? The Nacirema is a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, though tradition states that they came from the east.

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 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.

After reading Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema I cannot say that I would want to be part of the tribe. A huge reason would be that I could never go from my own Christian faith to the religious practices of the Nacirema. My second reason for not wanting to be part of the tribe is that I could never be subjected to the horrific medical practices and “magical potions” used on every citizen in the tribe.

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

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 Charles Murray’s journals he examines the changing American landscape and how it evolves from 1960 to 2010. He looks at marriage, honesty, industriousness, religion, and crime. The first journal to examines is titled “Belmont and Fishtown— On diverging classes in the United States”. He begins the journal talking about American exceptionalism and many different qualities that make up Americans. American exceptionalism is the idea that americans are exceptional. More specifically it is the idea that the way of American life is exceptional when compared to others around the world. He describes Americans has a group of hard working people always striving for something better. He talks about American neighborliness. He talks about how generosity

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 idealization of a pure culture creates a strong wave of chauvinism. America became the epicenter for the idealized culture to form, but idealization leaves out the human aspect surrounding it. Mukherjee added to this idealization, dreaming, “’America’ in contrast, exists as a myth of democracy and equal opportunity to live by, or as an ideal goal to reach” (Mukherjee 1997, para.1). Mukherjee’s dream is beautiful and what many people desire out of America, however America is not an ideal; it

American Indians shaped their critique of modern America through their exposure to and experience with “civilized,”