HRM582 – Managing Global Diversity

The Nacirema Tribe
The Nacirema tribe is a very interesting tribe that lives between Canada and Mexico in the continent of North America. These tribes have very interesting rituals involving their bodies and how to care for it. They see the human body as very ugly in its natural form and if left alone will eventually disease and can lead to the person dying. In an effort to mitigate this occurrence, they have developed very interesting rituals. I will primarily focus on the ritual ceremonies of the mouth.
The Nacirema have what seems to be an unnatural fascination with the mouth. The mouth, they believe possess supernatural powers that have the ability to bring them friends or drive away friends and lovers. They believe if they do not go to the holy-mouth man to perform these sadistic rituals, their teeth will all fall off, their jaws will shrink, their gums will bleed and they will be rejected by friends and lovers.
They believe in the mouth-rites so much that they eagerly follow all the rules prescribed to them by the holy-mouth man. Even though they follow all the rules, it is still not a guarantee that their teeth will not fall off or their gums will not bleed. Some of the daily rituals concerning the mouth involves inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth along with certain magical powders and then moving the bundle in a formalized series of gestures.
In addition to the daily rituals, the people also seek out the holy-mouth men twice a year for a checkup to ensure that the mouth has not diseased. Some of these rituals appear very painful and disturbing but yet they continue to visit the holy-mouth man. It makes one think these people must like pain being inflicted on them and the holy-mouth man must enjoy administering the pain. During their semi-monthly visit to the holy-mouth man, a set of objects are displayed to be used in the ritual ceremonies. The objects consist of a variety of augers, awls, probes and prods. These objects are used to exorcise the evils of the mouth so that friends and lovers will not be driven away but rather will be gained.
The holy-mouth man opens the client’s mouth and using the tools enlarges any holes that may have been caused by decay. These holes are filled with special magical materials. If no holes exist in the teeth, one or more teeth is removed so that the space can be created and the magical materials can be applied. During the rituals, it is clearly evident that the client is in a great deal of pain but still they return year after year even though their teeth continue to decay.

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