The Nacirema: Another Look Essay

Horace Miner does a terrific job in this satire. Once view of this paper is noticed, the reader can be entertained by the mysterious ways of the Nacerima people. This essay has brought attention to the ways of American culture, which is not only informative but very entertaining.

the pain that the readers must feel as they witness as the tribe’s erosion under the influence of the

This essay is told from an anthropologist perceptive yet it is difficult to string out which research method Miner has taken on the understand the Nacirema. In my personal opinion the viewpoint Miner used to gain information from this “tribe” is by the etic method. Two main reasons why I think Miner used the etic method rather than emic is because there was no real cultural insight of the Nacirema and language/description Minor uses throughout “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.”

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.

Overall this tribe has a lot of rich history that they are keeping strong. Their website was extremely informative and shows they take great pride in who they are and their history. The tribe keeps who they are alive by focusing on passing down information though legends and teaching young members basket weaving. These are both ancient practices for this tribe and it is amazing that they still matter so much to the members of the tribe. This is a strong group of people who are determined to keep their traditions and culture

Lenina and Bernard, two Alphas, are alone in the reservation while their guide went for information. They are observing how the people interact and as Lenina is disgusted, Bernard is, instead, quite interested by the savages since they are naked, old, sick and some are even mothers breastfeeding their babies. Everything is from the “old fashion way” and not the same as Ford’s society where there are casts, no motherhood and no one becoming old and sick.

The Chimariko was a small group that is now part of list of extinct tribes in America. According to Kroeber (1976,109) they are a descendent of the Hokan, it is noted that they maintained their original language better than other groups such as Shasta and Pomo. (109) The Chimariko were estimated to be at 250 people in 1849, six people in 1903, and according to Kroeber “In 1906 there remained a toothless old woman and a crazy old man.” (1976,109)

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 Patrick Tierney’s article “The Fierce Anthropologist,” he discussed the faults that are, or may be, present in Napoleon Chagnon’s anthropological research of the Yanamamo, or “The Fierce People,” as Chagnon has referred to them in his best-selling book on the people.

There are three parts to the way that traditional Navajos view sickness and healing. There is ceremonial healing, church healing and biomedical healing. The ceremonial healing traditionally been the main avenue for health care on Navajo lands. This involves ritual healing performed by a Shaman. Native american church healing involves work with the church and involves faith and a priest. Biomedical healing is relatively new on the reservation (Csordas 2000). The implementation of Indian Health Services has really opened the door for the Navajo reservations. They are able to receive modern health care when they had to go hundreds of miles before.

Horace Miner was a professor for the University of Michigan. He sought out to teach young people the importance of cultural anthropology. ("Horace Mitchell Miner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", n.d) In June of 1956, he released an article that he had written called, “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema” in the American Anthropologist (vol 58, pp 503-507) Miner writes so cleverly as he explores the culture that of the

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

Miner’s article presents numerous anthropological concepts including culture, social behaviors, symbols, material culture and holism. While providing us with a synchronic view of an unexplored culture, Miner tackles the principle mindset that governs the “Nacirema’s” social customs and “rituals”, looks at key symbols and material possessions as the focus of the culture, and highlights the importance of studying a culture in its entirety to gain a full and accurate understanding.

The Suri are viewed as one of the “last remaining primitive or vanishing tribes” (Abbink 177), which makes their villages an ideal spot for consumerist tourism. They live in the remote lowlands of Ethiopia, which is considered an insecure environment, and practice agro-pastoralism, hunting, and gathering. The Suri are very proud of their independent way of life and desire little to no help from the Ethiopian government. These people are known for their lip and ear disks in women, dueling among men, body modifications, and their unusual diet which consists of drinking blood from live cattle. Body modifications among the Suri ensue rather large lip and ear disks in women, and body scarification (Abbink 896). Body scarification is similar to tattoos; the skin is removed in a distinct pattern that will heal. The healed scar tissue will then resemble the desired pattern.

Russia is much more diverse than may be expected. Our item of clothing represents a group of Russian Indigenous people. In the Russian Federation there are 40 recognized and legally protected Indigenous people of The North, Siberia and the Far East, with a total population of about 244,000. However, there are over 100 ethnic groups not recognized. Our focus today will be on the Chukchi Tribe of Chukotka. There are two main tribal groups: the Reindeer Chukchi, who herd and migrate, and the Maritime Chukchi, who settle on