...In regards to the article, the Nacirema culture has created a way of life that is unique and unorthodox to my local area. After narrowing down the main points of the article, three words that describe their unit include theocratic, naive, and seclusive. Theocratic: The dynamics of their daily living display similar characteristics to the make-up of a theocracy. The medicine men, herbalistis, "holy-mouth-men," and "listeners" hold a distinct amount of authority over their people. For example, in order for the medicine men to provide treatment to someone, they must be given "substantial gifts." The severity of someone's health is not taken into account. Therefore, without a gift, no cure is practiced. The same pattern is followed...
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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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...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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...Trevor Gilliam Dr. Jim Merryman ANT 101 Nacirema Essay 7 June 2012 The origin of the Nacirema is unknown but the tradition states that the culture migrated from the east but not all from the same location and not all at the same time. The geography of the land of the Nacirema is very mixed. There are large areas of cold, snowy terrain as well as locations that seem to get rain daily. A desert inhabits part of the territory and a large river serves as a geographical landmark. Strangely, the people of Nacirema have not settled all of their territories equally and instead choose to live very close together in organized villages called Seitic. The Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed economy that has produced extreme wealth. The Nacirema are weirdly possessed with a demon that drives them to spend most of their time and efforts to collect certain material goods. Even though most of the people's time is dedicated to the economic hunts, a large part of the labors and a significant portion of the day are spent in ceremonial activity. The main focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which appears as a major concern in the character of the people. By worshipping their deities, many of the Nacirema confront and may even cause large social problems throughout the civilization. Nacirema culture is unique in that it has many different forms of worship and though these forms are all accepted by most, the moral problems...
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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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...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 him. Next...
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...The article “Body Rituals of the Nacirema” by Horace Miner was interesting and different, because there’s a question before the first paragraph in the article asking if they were more like us. By “us” I would assume he is talking about the American people and if you could find similarities in our culture and practices with theres’. I am also raised in a Filipino household, which will probably make me interpret a few things differently, but it won’t greatly affect how I answer the question. The Nacirema are a North American group living between Canada and Mexico, and that they came from the east. Miner further writes about the Nacirema “mythology” stating that their nation was founded by a culture hero named Notgnihsaw. After reading that statement, I noticed how...
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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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...Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. Courtney Moore Writing Assignment 1 1/25/15 The Nacirema culture is one that isn’t found to be too popular in most cases; in fact I had no education on the Nacirema before doing research on it. Nacirema culture is a magic based culture characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat, one that may be looked at as absurd to outsiders. After reading about the shocking culture of the Nacirema I was left with many questions, about the culture as a whole and about the individuals and the activities/rituals they participate in every day. As I thought about all the possibilities and endless questions something came to my mind; would the Nacirema culture still be around if the people were placed with other culturally diverse people and expected to live their “normal” life and would they continue to believe what they’re doing is normal or would the social norms around them prove otherwise? I believe that the Nacirema culture is so strong today because most people who chose the Nacirema culture have also chosen to live in an area populated with others who have chosen the same culture. As with any culture, if you are surrounded with people who have the same beliefs as you, then you will feel more comfortable sharing your beliefs with the people around you. Although many people don’t realize, you are extremely influenced by what is going on around you, and you are more likely to do the things that others...
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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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...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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...Horace Miner entitled Body Ritual of Nacirema by Lynn Byrne Horace Miner depicts a group of people from Nacirema, but is actually referring to Americans, whose cultural beliefs (totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior) are rooted in the perspective that the body is prone to sickness, degradation, and dis figuration. Miner states that Naciremians spend a substantial part of their lives on magic based rituals and actions to improve the condition of their body. Miner went into great detail when he wrote up his findings. His detail let me look at my life, as an American, in a different perspective. Miner used cultural relativism and qualitative research methodology to explain why the Naciremain culture uses magic to maintain their physical conditioning and why magic is prevalent in their lives. Cultural relativism (the viewing of people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture) and use of qualitative research methodology (research that relies on what is seen in the field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical date) are prevalent throughout this article as Miner used ethnography (the study of an entire social setting through extended systematic fieldwork) and observation (a research technique in which an investigator collects information through direct participation by closely watching a group or community) to give us a deception of how the culture of Nacirema view the human body and use magic to...
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...rituals, practice and culture in general. I have come to the conclusion that just as I am comfortable practicing what I believe in, and find comfort in doing so, so are the Nacirema people. As each one of us grows practicing traditions/ rituals, passed on from generation to generation we become used to the " normalcy" of our culture. We do not consider the perspective of an outsider, who might find our rituals, beliefs, traditions, just as odd as we find theirs. Just as I don't view my culture as odd, they don't view theirs. We all derive reassurance and comfort from our practices. This is why we have created them. They serve...
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...different, as their religion is based on magic and organized by witch doctors in a hierarchal caste system. Although “Nacirema” is “American” spelled backwards and could theoretically refer to the Nacirema as a backward people, Miner does not explain how and where the name originated. In his thesis he refers to the Nacirema people “as an example of the extremes to which human behaviour can go” (1956: 503). This example is laid out in the article by describing the practices of “holy-mouth-men,” the “latipso,” and the “listener.” As it is for many, it’s all about beauty and health, and this is definitely the focal point for the Nacirema in all of their rituals and ceremonies. Personally, I believe their thoughts on beauty and health consumes them, considering that the Nacirema have proven to go to great extents and is seen as barbaric, “[t]he fundamental belief […] that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (1956: 503). They would practice rituals and ceremonies that are believed to work because of magic and faith in the practice and of the medicine men, shown in the examples below. An offshoot of their obsession with beauty and health is their preoccupation with their own mouths! They have medicine men they call “holy-mouth-men” (1956: 504). Compared to our modern culture, you can say they are the dentists for the Nacirema. They would go to such extents as to stuff and enlarge their teeth cavities in the belief that this would welcome...
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...The Nacirema people practiced extreme human behavior or ethnocentrism, in their rituals and culture. These people were highly economically developed, buy believed in witchery, magic, folklore of their religion, and many, many rituals. The focus of their rituals was the human body, through sexual exploitation of the human body, body fluids, and body parts. (Source: "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner). 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. 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. (Source: "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner). The Nacirema people believed the human body was ugly because as it debilitates and causes diseases. Therefore, the human body was idolized for the “good”...
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