Preview

Summary Of The Naciremea Culture

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
238 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of The Naciremea Culture
According to the article, the people of the Naciremea people believed in their physical appearance, pregnancy prevention, and health care needs. They believed their bodies was ugly and needed rituals and ceremonies to avert being healthy. The author used religious language to try to get people to understand how cultures are look upon differently. Naciremea is America spelled backwards. When I first read this article, I was in total disbelief and confused as why people live the way the author described. The author was able to describe something that I assumed was common for everyone to do, seem strange and uncommon. For example Nacirema men appear to cause hurt to their faces daily. I asked, why would they intention hurt themselves. This culture

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    n the article, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, the author’s purpose is revealed through judgemental and magical word choice.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article Body Ritual Among The Nacirema by Horace Miner, he makes fun of people’s weaknesses, mistakes, foolishness, and wrong behavior. He uses confusing vocabulary words to make it hard for use to know who the article is talking about. Miner refers Nacirema as to America. He wanted to make Nacirema seem magical and silly by describing them as born with behaviors. Miner also, believes that Nacierma do bizarra thing because he does not understand the meaning behind their behavior. One of the behavior is the belief in the ugliness of human body. In society, we are told what is pretty from what is ugly. This is determined by models, hairdressers, barber shop, spa, and infomercial. As a society, we have the power to decided what is right…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I read Body Rituals Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner the first time, I couldn’t imagine how a culture could behave this way and live their daily lives following these rituals. They believed that their bodies were ugly and its natural tendency was to debility and disease. They devoted much of their time trying to prevent these characteristics…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Nacirema are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawark of the Antilles. Little is known about their origin but people believe that they came from the east. These people concentrate on the human body, which is their main concern which makes the Nacirema unique in their rituals and ways of thinking. The Nacirema believe that the human body is ugly in the sense that it’s not perfect because it’s weak and prone to catch diseases. They believe that the only way to rid of these characteristics is through rituals and ceremonies.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, I can’t help but notice blatantly obvious similarities between our culture and theirs. Their rituals, rites, and customs are bizarre in nature and seem to illustrate a nearly obsessive fascination with the human body. The main focus of their culture appears to be shaming people based on their appearance and forcing them to conform to the societal norms. Upon further reading, I noted that while the Nacirema put a high value on the upkeep of their bodies, they made it exorbitantly expensive to do so, even if a tribe member was dying of sickness and the supplies, or “potions”, were readily available to cure him/her. This seemed backwards. There are some aspects of the Nacirema culture…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Horace Miner was attempting to illustrate a civilization that is similar to ours, who become victims of their culture. In this article I could see how rituals and beliefs could destroy a civilization. The Nacirema did unthinkable things to each other and to themselves they showed us how we can be our greatest and worst critic. Americans try to change themselves to meet a certain standard that we have created. We are not confident in who we are, so we start picking at the flaws we see in ourselves, that we think others see as well. Mr. Miner pointed out that there were certain rituals that could make you lose or gain weight; they also have some that are to enhance a woman’s bodily features. Today some of those “rituals” would be considered normal…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This article written by, Horace Miner, was my first read in where I was shocked to discover such barbaric rituals from other areas of life. I took the time to re-read this article several times. I have learned of many different cultures in where people do things that seem out of the ordinary; however the beliefs and practices of the Nacirema people just seem outlandish.…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The analysis of the article Body Ritual Among the Nacerima by Horace Minor uses key principles to help decipher the hidden meanings behind his work. The article is based off of Americans but written in a primitive manner to help show readers the importance of keeping an open mind. Cultural relativism is crucial when researching a new topic. This culture is different than others based on their obsession with physical appearance but it does not make them wrong. Also, the culture that practices different rituals has a different belief system. One culture may place great importance on preserving the land while…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first thing I noticed about the article, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner is that Nacirema is American spelled backwards. That caught my attention right away and I thought to myself how interesting. Then as I started reading further into the article, I realized that the Nacirema people are us. What I found most interesting about the Nacirema people is how obsessed and focused we are on our health and body. There is always a fad diet that guarantees amazing results or a new cross fit workout that will mold our body like those on American Ninja Warrior. I was bothered by the statement that said “the fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” (McCutheon, 1). After I read this sentence…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Had the audience not caught on from the backwards “American” to form Nacirema and tried to solve each practice as it was discussed, they were in for quite a confusing, yet intriguing story (being essentially the entire objective!). His amplified examples of simple American practices, from hospital visits to shaving, all seems extremely bizarre and unusual due to the tribal diction and exaggeration. For example, Miner describes the act of brushing one’s teeth as “a ritual consisting of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures” (p. 504). Miner also confuses the reader by twisting the statements and behaviors of the Nacirema culture; for example, he writes “They [Nacirema] also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber” (p. 504). How could the reader possibly guess that Miner was talking about washing out a child’s mouth to prevent them from saying bad words, with no prior…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much of the article depicts the “Nacirema” people as pathological and obsessive in their rituals. Hoarding potions and creams, whether they are old or useful, rituals to fix imperfections of the body by “medicine men” of different types. Telling their problems to listeners instead of sharing with their families. Is this to make themselves happier, or to justify their actions? It seems that the Nacirema have lost the site of being individuals and must strive to be like all others. People are…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of The Nacirema

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nacirema Tribe Analysis

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The article that I read is called “Body Ritual Among the Nacierma”. The Nacierma is a North American Group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico. My first thought was, wow, I never heard of this tribe before, and they are North American. As I continued to read this article, I became more fascinated by it and wondered, how come I’ve never heard of this tribe. They appear to be a lot like us or us like them, and we as a society have seemed to have used their ways to this day.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nacirema

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema”, by Horace Miner, is an essay written about the American people, from an outsider’s perspective, which he calls Nacirema, American spelled backwards. He disguises what he’s talking about by spelling many nouns backwards and giving things different names. Miner writes about American rituals in a foreign way that comes off as barbaric and heinous. He starts off talking about George Washington and how he founded America and how he’s seen as a hero. Then he moves on and talks about how vain the American people are, their focus being on money and the way they look. How the majority of people spend a good amount of time in the bathroom, which he calls “shrines”, prepping ones self to look different than they naturally do. How the richer you are, the bigger the house you live in and the more bathrooms you have. Then he goes on to talk about our medicine cabinets and says they’re full of “medicines and potions”, in which people believe they can’t live without. He talks about our doctors, dentists, and psychologists and gives them the names of “medicine men”, “holy-mouth-men, and the listener.” He even goes as far as talking about hospitals and what goes on there, which he calls “latipso”. He also talks about our dentist visits and our obsessions of keeping our mouths cleaned. Miner made his point quite clear, you can’t make an assumption or judgment until you have participated in another’s ways or “know the whole story”. It’s completely rude and demeaning.…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once I finish with that putting my stuff in my room, I was lead to where the rest of the sophomores who had arrived were at. When I first walked into the gym, I look around and it was about 200 students here all ready and about 100 more coming. The very first guest speaker was a man and he studies, anthropology, but he did tell us this at first. He gave a sheet of paper that read “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”. As the group of people, I was sitting with and I read it, it was about a culture obsessed with rituals and the human body as a whole. They did many things that in America we would like were not “normal”. As we finish his told us who this culture was about, it was about modern American. Nacirema is American spelled backward. Once I read all of it again, I began to see the characteristics of North America. In just the first 1 hour of the seminar, I was already shocked. This writing piece “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” shows how you can view other cultures and how other cultures would view us, that even though it may be odd or foreign it is still their way of life.After we reflected on the article we got our groups that we would be with for the rest of the weekend. After a couple minutes in our groups, we got our warm fuzzies which those are things that…

    • 1219 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays