Nacirema Case Study Concerning Cultural Rituals and Diversity
Rebecca Gawthrop
Keller Graduate School of Management

Abstract
This is a case study reminding us of observations performed many years ago demonstrating some of the most uncommon but existing cultural rituals and diversity found on our (small) planet. The Nacirema Tribe could top the charts for most unconventional practices. The unique tribe believes that their bodies are ugly and therefore perform daily magic based rituals to prevent disease and decay while enhancing personal relationships within the tribe. The sometimes bi-annual rituals concerning the mouth and the rituals of the sick are beyond morbid and truthfully, probably cause more pain and suffering than if nothing was done at all. The objective of this assignment is to select and describe a ritual, discuss the symbolism used within the ritual and to discuss any “special” roles of those within the case study.
Key words; cultural rituals, diversity, Nacirema Tribe, unconventional

Through the case study done by Horace Miner on the observations performed by Professor Linton, we are enlightened and reminded of how tremendously diverse those even not so far away can be. In 1936, Professor Linton was able to document for anthropologists his observations of the North American Nacirema Tribe who believe that their bodies are naturally disgusting. To prevent further ugliness from happening the Nacirema perform several inhumane rituals consisting of magic, potions, charms, and a very large amount of physical suffering. The daily rituals are a personal practice done by all who are of age and are done in a shrine built within the home. While in the shrine, rituals are performed in front of a box of magic potions and charms believed to prevent illnesses and deformity.
Even today, it is not completely unusual to hear of a person or religious type of people who believe in magic. Children may easily be considered as part of the group of believers because they have a tendency to believe that events in their imaginative young lives are somehow associated with magic since they do not know the true origin or practice that brought about the usually positive outcome. Something that Professor Linton observed though; is that the Nacirema’s practices do not include beautiful sparkles, fairy dust, or a cute little chant. The tribe’s practices could be seen as very dark and scary, especially when considering the level of pain they endure during their extremely peculiar rituals. I found that the observed rituals concerning the mouth were most intriguing. The Nacirema people believe that there is a strong relationship between oral and moral characteristics and that if the rituals are not performed, not only will poor oral hygiene issues occur but their social life will be ruined as well through loss of friends and lovers. The daily “mouth-rite” (Miner) ritual was the most disgusting thing I had ever heard of (I personally am disgusted by all aspects of all swine and cannot stand the thought of eating even common pork products such as bacon and pepperoni). Aside from my personal opinion, even the author thought that the daily practice consisting of inserting a ball of hog hair and magic powder into the mouth then doing some specific type of physical performance with the saliva soaked ball was quite revolting as well. The Nacirema do not limit their oral procedures to just this ritual, every year (sometimes bi-annually) they also voluntarily go for torturous visits to “holy-mouth-men” (Miner). These men, whom I am not quite sure of how they acquire their unique credentials, perform acts that include enhancing any existing holes in the clients teeth with crudely designed tools then continue on by stuffing these holes with “magical materials” (Miner) to remove the “evils” (Miner) within the mouth. If a client has no existing holes they should not be concerned, the “holy-mouth-men” (Miner) see it as their duty to make some so that the magical treatment may still be performed. The author appears to have taken the approach of reminder and informer of the observations (not so much participant) of Professor Linton. Through the case study it appears that tribe has a reason for everything that they do whether it makes sense or not. The only aspect that is not making sense to the observer, author, or myself is the extreme levels of pain that the Nacirema expose themselves to for reasons that do not require such physical torture. When reading through the case study, it appears that this tribe has some reasoning for their oral fetish and other body rituals but the pain associated with them is not necessarily required. I agree with the author’s thoughts that the pain endured by the Nacirema people is on a level that could be easily associated with masochism, an aspect that includes personal gratification (usually sexual) when either afflicting and/or receiving pain caused by another. While some people may be informed of and may be interested in these practices, overall, these rituals would not be very well received by those in our culture but that is what creates diversity and we all must learn to embrace it somehow. While I will never conform to such barbaric behavior and honestly I do not understand why anyone would have in first place, I have been taught that there are people who do things that I find to be horribly disturbing but they think it is more than normal, it is functioning properly in order to bring good health and community acceptance and that those same people would probably would find some of my behavior to be alien like as well.

Reference:
Harvey, C.P. & Allard, M.J. (2009) Understanding and Managing Diversity: Readings, Cases, and Exercises 4th Ed. Prentice Hall/Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.