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
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the behavior of the Nacirema. Medicine men making potions and priests making sure water is holy are all things that I have heard about before. What really took me aback was the holy mouth man. I was shocked at the torture these people go through because of their beliefs in certain magic rituals. I’ve never had a cavity before‚ so just the thought of someone grinding holes in my teeth makes my mouth hurt. However‚ I guess if I was raised believing that these sort of mouth rituals could make help me
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In the story‚ “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”‚ by Horace Miner he talks about the Nacirema tribe and describes the body rituals that their society does on a regular basis that they view as the norm in their society and culture. While reading about these strange and unusual rituals‚ one can’t help but think that what these people are doing is totally and completely ridiculous. Ethnocentrism comes over and judgment takes place‚ but in reality some could view our American culture as just and crazy
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Nacirema HR 582 Managing Global Diversity Patsy A. Shepherd March 22‚ 2012 In Body Ritual Among the Nacirema‚ Horace Miner writes about the strange rituals that people do in America. While reading the story I was almost fooled‚ but as read further I realized the spoof of Nacirema; Nacirema is American spelled backwards and the references in the myth are the backward strange American everyday rituals. Miner’s word usage made it obvious it was just a myth‚ words like magical‚ fascination
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Ethnocentrism & Ritualistic Behavior in the Nacirema Culture Ethnocentrism is defined as a belief that one’s own culture is superior. This article uses metaphors’ to describe our own well to do American society. As we read the article we automatically judge and think that the Nacirema’s are barbaric people who seem very uneducated and masochistic‚ when in fact we follow the same practices. As we read this article‚ we see the Nacirema as a masochistic culture which gave their possessions for
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In "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" Miner is ridiculing how much society cares about their appearance. He talks about the unnecessary rituals that we go through just to please society. An example the author uses is how people are never pleased with what they have. Everyone is trying to fit in with what society thinks is right. Since society has its own perception of what is beautiful women try and do whatever it takes to fit into that definition. This is why women get breast implants or breast
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Miner’s view‚ “The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth‚ the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships”(Miner). Miner is correct‚ we choose to keep our mouths clean‚ I consider this relevant for the reason that this has become a routine‚ this is necessary‚ but there are other activities we do for example‚ clothing and making sure we look our best which is honestly just a custom. If I am right about this concern‚
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Ethnocentrism in Anthropological perspective - Avatar Using highly advanced technology to replicate and to creating false bodies which humans use to walk amongst the natives known as the Na’vi living in the planet Pandora hence the name ‘Avatar’. The story focuses on an ex U.S. soldier name Jake Sully who is wheel-chair bound‚ was called upon as a last resort to replace his late brother whom had trained for 3 years in a project which was invested with so much money that the researchers could not
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After realizing “Nacirema” is American spelled backwards‚ it becomes evident that Miner is criticizing American culture. He describes the “tribes” behavior with a focus on changing personal appearance and magic-based rituals. Everybody goes to the “Latipso” to see “medicine-men” when they are sick and often are given potions or end up dead. This is like a looking glass into American culture. In our culture‚ there is a huge focus on physical features‚ but we don’t pray to fix it. Instead we take vitamins
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Anthropologists define a ritual as an act of social practices that are repeatedly performed but are not always associated with religious beliefs or practices. These rituals are not the same as the day to day normal activity a person partakes in but more of symbolic gestures performed in a specific manner by a specific order in doing them (Lavenda & Schultz‚ 2013). The Nacirema culture performs specific ritual acts on a daily basis and as I quickly realized American culture is not that much different
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