Nacirema Reflection Paper
Nacirema Reflection Paper
As Filipinos, we believe that our way of life is inferior to all others but for other cultures they think theirs are superior to the rest. This feeling isn’t something that many people want to have, but it happens over time as a person becomes integrated into their own culture. Change is typically hard and being able to look at a completely new culture or way of life as normal doesn’t come naturally to most. However, with time and patience many can overcome the ethnocentrism they once felt.
Honestly, as I first read Body Ritual among the Nacirema, I thought it was totally talking about just a certain society that was undeveloped or poorly civilized. In addition, I quite appreciated living in a society which always provides security and highly developed services. People who were described in the essay seem to live like barbarians, enjoying masochistic treatments and having shrines in their houses to wish for their own private goals. Of course, I could imagine that there might be a tribe like the Nacirema in 1956. There might be still some regions not affected by modern technologies due to a lack of transportation. Especially, certain tribes rejected foreigners entering their territory to preserve their own cultures as some African tribes did. So, I considered the Nacierma as one of the groups of people mentioned above. Nevertheless, I was deeply concerned about the way the community would be managed well, thinking that we had to help them to become civilized citizens or, at least, stop carrying on their odd customs. However, what I first felt about this writing turned out wrong according to the hidden message of Body Ritual among the Nacirema.
American = Nacirema..!! After I found out what the piece actually was, I was quite curious if the Nacirema represent Americans whom we acknowledge as the most civilized people in the world. After a few minutes later, I noticed that whole descriptions about the Nacirema in the essay were related
As Filipinos, we believe that our way of life is inferior to all others but for other cultures they think theirs are superior to the rest. This feeling isn’t something that many people want to have, but it happens over time as a person becomes integrated into their own culture. Change is typically hard and being able to look at a completely new culture or way of life as normal doesn’t come naturally to most. However, with time and patience many can overcome the ethnocentrism they once felt.
Honestly, as I first read Body Ritual among the Nacirema, I thought it was totally talking about just a certain society that was undeveloped or poorly civilized. In addition, I quite appreciated living in a society which always provides security and highly developed services. People who were described in the essay seem to live like barbarians, enjoying masochistic treatments and having shrines in their houses to wish for their own private goals. Of course, I could imagine that there might be a tribe like the Nacirema in 1956. There might be still some regions not affected by modern technologies due to a lack of transportation. Especially, certain tribes rejected foreigners entering their territory to preserve their own cultures as some African tribes did. So, I considered the Nacierma as one of the groups of people mentioned above. Nevertheless, I was deeply concerned about the way the community would be managed well, thinking that we had to help them to become civilized citizens or, at least, stop carrying on their odd customs. However, what I first felt about this writing turned out wrong according to the hidden message of Body Ritual among the Nacirema.
American = Nacirema..!! After I found out what the piece actually was, I was quite curious if the Nacirema represent Americans whom we acknowledge as the most civilized people in the world. After a few minutes later, I noticed that whole descriptions about the Nacirema in the essay were related