How Did Horace Miner Felt When Entering The Nacirema

1 Grant Global Village Activity
Unit 2 Assignment 1 (Global Village) September 24, 2013

Global Village Activity I could only imagine how Horace Miner felt when entering the Nacirema village. At first glance he must have had culture shock when learning about the daily mouth cleansing and the temples where some enter and never return. I came to realize that western cultures share many of the same daily rituals just like the Nacirema. This non-material culture has many reglionist beliefs such has the use of witch doctors, medicine men, shrines and oddly enough the Nacirema woman bake their heads in oven. In evaluating the culture of the Nacirema we can break down each of the beliefs and compare them to
the western cultures. We can begin with the daily mouth rituals witch the Nacirema perform every day.
This takes place in the shrine located in the home. Many in the USA, handle similar daily function in there shrines also called the bathroom. Mouth care is very important to both cultures. Nacirema place herbs in their mouth to provide care and freshness, western cultures enter there shrines and place a dab of tooth paste on a small brush and move it around the inside of the mouths. While they may seem different they are meant to accomplish the same purpose, keeping the mouth clean and free of Bactria. The use of medicine men, holy mouth men and herbalist in the Nacirema tribe is very interesting. The medicine men find the perfect diagnoses for the client and write down a prescription for the client and this is than filled by the herbalist. In the western culture this would be the job of the doctor and pharmacist. Holy mouth men are the ones, who remove the evils of the mouth and treat the client, visit from these holy mouth men are due twice a year. In Western culture these Holy mouth men would be known as dentist, these men handle different tools to extract cavities and any tooth decay. Many visit the dentist every six month or like the Nacirema twice a year. The temple or
Latipso is used to treat the tribe’s ill. Before entering the temple you must provide a gift. In the temple you will see vestal maidens who are woman with outfits and head dresses roaming the halls. Many who enter are subjected to ceremonies and may not even live to exit the Latipso and is your able to recover the patient has to give another gift on the way out. I viewed the Latipso had being a hospital, and the vestal maidens as nurses. Entering an emergency room without proof of insurance may lead to the patient not being seen. Many injures are untreatable and lead to an untimely death. During this essay I have realized that different cultures have their own meaning and ritual. You should never judge a person or culture on their differences, after reading the article about the Nicerma tribe had an uneasy feeling. How could these people do this to themselves and think its ok? My second time reading the article I began to understand that I have daily mouth rituals and visit a holy mouth man twice a year. Instead of judging a culture you should hone in one what you have in common. Taking a second look at the big picture allows a person to grow and expand.

Works Cited Miner, H. (Jun., 1956). Body Ritual among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, New Series,Vol. 58, No. 3., pp. 503-507.