Summary Of The Nacirema

The Nacirema Study and the Priorities of the Modern American
When a person visits a museum or watches a documentary to learn about an unfamiliar culture, particularly distant cultures, often the information has been gathered and studied by an anthropologist. As defined by Merriam-Webster, anthropology is the study of humankind, their culture and how they react with their environment (Anthropology, n.d.). In Horace Miner’s essay about the Nacirema people, he observes a culture who is on the extreme end of human behavior (Harvey & Allard, 2015, p. 14-17). The term Nacirema is used as a literary device so the reader can separate their common knowledge from this anthropological view of modern American culture. Specifically, Miner uses his essay to show how little of the day-to-day ritual of the average American has to do with how we perceive our culture, how much value is placed on the body and hygiene and highlights some stereotypes, prejudices and ethnocentric beliefs common to modern American culture.
If the geographical references and thinly veiled terminology were removed, the average modern American would not see themselves in Miner’s anthropological study of the Nacirema (Harvey & Allard, 2015, p. 14-17). Most modern Americans would be hard-pressed to accept how much of their lives are
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of iterations of this setup might lead an outsider to believe that this is the typical American family. While a typical American will likely point out the diversity of America including the variety of cultures and backgrounds that comprise modern American, few would recognize, as Miner does, the rituals and priorities that unite us as Americans (Harvey & Allard, 2015, p.