...Body Ritual Among the Nacirema The observation of the Nacirema society as presented by Horace Miner was enlightening in its reflection of our own societal norms. At first I did feel a sense of culture shock upon reading the essay. After further contemplation, I felt that the cultural relationships and practices were not all that different from my own. I found it very interesting that the social and economic structure of the Nacirema society is the same as that in which we live in. As with our culture, goods and services are the pinnacle of the economy and each person has their place or purpose within the society. The cultural universals of the Nacirema seem to parallel those of our own culture. The shrine that is the location for private rituals to take place is what our society considers the bathroom. The socialization of the Nacirema children to these rituals can be equated to potty training and personal hygiene in our culture. The daily body rituals that the Nacirema men perform may be viewed as a masochistic but in our society that is the same as shaving. It is not uncommon for a culture to view the natural body as ugly and seek to modify it to be esthetically pleasing. Even though the language used to describe the body rituals preformed in these shrines may sound unusual or even barbaric, the rituals described are the same as in our culture. The obsession with the mouth and visits to the “holy-mouth-men” are folkways that our culture participates in as well. We may...
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...Body Ritual among the Nacirema It is a fact that whenever you visit a different culture and try to observe it from an individual's perspective, your first impression of a society is going to be based on what you have heard about it or what you think about it. Each one of us learns certain prejudices, assumptions and stereotypes that alter our perception of others. It is not realistic for somebody who has no interaction with a society to fully understand how and why things are working in that society unless this observer keeps his/her personal perspective away and practice the self-awareness. If I am visiting a so called Nacirema society, my perspective of viewing at their culture would be totally different than how I would see this culture as soon as I would realize that it is actually world famous American culture. There are a few rituals that I would like to observe from that individual’s view who have never been to Nacirema society before this. The “use of expensive magical charms and potions” and “spending quality time in shrine” would make me think of this society as a magic ridden people who are shallow and superficial with their appearance. They would make their body go through extreme pain by following some rituals, such as, going to” holy-mouth man to get the painful procedure done”, “putting hog hair in the mouth” and ”women boiling their heads in ovens.”(Miner) Being an outsider in this culture, I might quickly attribute these strange rites as supernatural...
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...Nacirema Rituals and its influences on society In the article Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by Horace Miner, the author vividly describes the elements and rituals incorporated into the Nacirema society. The rituals practiced by the Nacirema have an unique underlying fundamental belief as does all rituals in other cultures. The Nacirema believed the human body to be flawed, ugly, and has a “natural tendency to disease.” Therefore, daily rituals including the rite of ablution were conducted in order to purify the body using holy water (washing of hands). The holy water was kept in the community “Water Temple” for the public to use. In addition, every household has a “shrine” which includes a chest as the focal point (bathroom cabinet)....
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...In “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” Horace Miner explores the superficiality and vanity of humans in the extreme and unusual rituals of the Nacirema people. The Nacirema have a fascination that borderlines obsession with the human body, dedicating shrines and ceremonial activities towards it. They believe that their own bodies are naturally ugly as well as prone to disease, so it is extremely necessary to perform various rituals in order to prevent these characteristics. For example, their shrines consist of a chest filled to the brim with a wide array of charms and potions whose purposes’ are forgotten and feared, yet are kept because the Nacirema believe the potions will protect them. Moreover, they have blind faith for medicine men and practitioners that assist...
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...Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner emphasizes on the role of culture and how it affects our idea of stereotypes and prejudices. Miner attempts to make familiar things seem strange and he does so successfully. He describes the peculiar rituals performed by a very dubious category of people called Nacirema. The “magical”beliefs and practices of the Nacirema comes off as bizarre and ancient and the primary belief of the Nacirema culture is that “the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (P1) and thus the reason for the rituals; to enhance and improve the conditions of the body. Miner explains that within the homes of the Nacirema are shrines devoted to sacred rituals and ceremonies. The Naciremas...
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...Summary In the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, written by Horace Miner, talks a lot about a North American group called the Nacirema which was first brought up by Professor Linton twenty years ago. He talks about the Nacirema having a daily ritual activity that focuses on the human body. To the Nacirema, they believe that, “the human body is ugly”, and they use what they call a shrine to help avert these characteristics. In these shrines are kept many charms and magical potions that are used daily for when the ritual activity takes place. There are practitioners called the ‘medicine men’ who write down ingredients for the magical potions and then given to the herbalists who then provide the potion for the Nacirema to use and store in their shrine for safe...
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...The article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner describes the rituals and society of the Nacirema, a North American group. The Nacirema group are described by Professor Linton as orthodox followers of their rituals and very superficial in their view of the human body. The article starts by illustrating to us how the houses of the Nacirema have a shrine dedicated for performing the rituals, with the powerful people having multiple shrines. The shrines contain various charms and magical potions; the items are important to the Nacirema as the article describes them as “without which no native believes he could live.” (Miner, 1956, Pg. 20) Furthermore, a ritual described as “involves scraping and lacerating the surface of the face” (Miner, 1956, Pg. 21) is performed by mostly men of the society. In addition, the article describes that people cleanse themselves with holy water from the “Water Temple.” (Miner, 1956, Pg. 20) The article continues by describing the roles of the “holy-mouth-men” (Miner, 1956, Pg. 20) who are responsible for rituals concerning the mouth and the...
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...In Horace Miner's Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, he characterized them as a culture based people who very much believe in strange rituals with reference to the vanity of the human physical structure. Doing these practices, in their beliefs, can cure their bodies' problems, debilities, diseases, and other ugly characteristics. Each Nacirema family shares a "shrine" as part of their practice to keep their bodies in good condition. A built-in chest or box is also located inside it where charms are placed for safekeeping and to reuse when needed. Rites of ablution are done everyday that requires bowing before the charm box and using the holy water. It also includes a private mouth rite, described as "revolting", that involves putting hog hairs into their mouths....
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...In Horace Miner's Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, he characterized them as a culture based people who very much believe in rituals with reference to the vanity of the human physical structure. Doing these practices, in their beliefs, can cure their bodies' problems, debilities, diseases, and other ugly characteristics. Each Nacirema family shares a "shrine" as part of their practice to keep their bodies in good condition. A built-in chest is also located inside it where potions or charms are placed for safekeeping and to reuse when needed. Rites of ablution are done everyday that requires bowing before the charm box and the use of holy water. It also includes a private mouth rite, described as "revolting", that involves putting hog hairs...
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...What message did I get from “Body Rituals among the Nacirema”? I have to admit that it took me a couple readings before I could start thinking about what I had read. Initially, with the vocabulary used in the article, I had no idea who the Nacirema tribe were or understood their tribal rituals. I didn’t catch, “They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Creel and Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.”, at first. But, after doing some research on-line it all kind of came together for me. The following are some things that made it easier for me. Nacirema = American spelled backwards. Shrines = Bathrooms Shrine Box/Chest = Medicine Cabinets Latipso = Hospital Medicine...
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...Anthropology introduces a very unique but very different sense to the world. In a Book of Mormon class, we are taught things that differ from different types of anthropology. Such as, differences in our way of thinking at Brigham Young University-Idaho. At this specific school we have a set of standards that allow us to attend classes and be on campus in general. Well, in a different culture we could be disobeying a certain way of living. For example, in the article, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, women who are impregnated have to wear certain clothes that cover their conditioned state. Intercourse in the culture doesn’t happen often. Usually, it happens on specific nights to remain within the cultural boundaries. In contrast, Mormons are expected after sealing to a man or women, in the temple to procreate....
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...[SS310 | Exploring the 1960s: An Interdisciplinary Approach] Body Ritual among the Nacirema Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Mitchell Miner Published in American Anthropologist, vol 58, June 1956. pp. 503-507. Most cultures exhibit a particular configuration or style. A single value or pattern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp on several institutions in the society. Examples are "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures, "face" in Japanese culture, and "pollution by females" in some highland New Guinea cultures. Here Horace Miner demonstrates that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema society. The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different people behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe. The point has, in fact, been expressed with respect to clan organization by Murdock[1] . In this light, the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go. Professor Linton[2] first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still...
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...In the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” Horace Miner tries to make us realize that we should not believe everything in which we are told. This is demonstrated when he mentions that it is sometimes difficult to collect accurate information about a culture when you do not belong to it because the information may be based on assumption. This is also demonstrated when he discusses that Americans always seem to believe what doctors say even though they are not always successful in healing individuals. It is also shown when he mentions that people always believe that they cannot heal without medicine therefore they cannot live without it. Firstly, it is very possible that information given about a culture can be described differently from...
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...Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Running head: THE NACIREMA Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Running head: THE NACIREMA BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA The Body Ritual Among the Nacirema was written by Horace Miner in which he describes the culture of a tribe a people that would make most Americans think that the Nacirema people are barbaric and mysterious when in fact we are more common than one may think. The Nacirema people are much like modern society Americans but uphold ancient traditions and language. Myself being of Native American culture I could relate with some of the descriptions given in the article written by Mr. Miner. Most people have the misconception that Native Americans believe in...
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...Abstract Horace Miner constructed an article named “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”. The intention of this article was to examine the ideals and way of life in the culture of the “Nacirema”. Miner tells of this culture which readers imagine to be extremely out there and different. This culture’s way of life is deemed as extreme paranoia and the extreme measures this culture takes when it comes to health, beauty, and death. However, readers are thrown in for a twist when they eventually realize that Miner is mocking their own culture, and that all of these strange practices and ideals are part of their very own everyday life. Because of the way Miner constructs this article he allows for readers to experience ethnocentrism and sociological imagination by tricking readers into thinking they are reading about another culture. Readers are able to detach themselves from their very own culture and view it from the outside looking in. Next they are able to examine their judgments and how quickly they may jump to conclusions when indulging into another type of culture, but then are able to examine their own when they begin reading it as unbiased and then become biased on the matter. It allows room for examination from the outside, and most importantly, examination of one’s own self. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner is an ironic and sardonic article that takes its readers for a journey. First, Miner mocks the tribe “Nacirema” making readers feel the urge to judge along with...
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