In Body Ritual Among the Nacirema‚ the writer writes about the extreme rituals that people hold in America. It brings out the idea that what they are doing is only to improve the looks which are actually unnecessary. Although the writer does not use the word America at all‚ we can tell from the content and the examples that it is reflecting the Americans. Actually‚ if the word “Nacirema” in the title reverses‚ it is America. He uses some events that may be trivial and happen in our every day lives
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The Nacirema tribe has many strange rituals in regards to the cleanliness or beauty of the body. They believe the human body is ugly and debilitating. Everything they do is in response to that thought process. They spend a large portion of their day in rituals to cleanse their body. They go to medicine men or witch doctors in order to perfect their body. One such horrific ritual is that they go to a medicine man that performs the decorative body rite. The Decorative Body Rite The Decorative
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of Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” Abstract This paper is a summary of Horace Miner’s paper “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”. It talks about how every culture has a set of rituals they practice religiously‚ and in particular‚ the unusual rituals and beliefs of the Nacirema people from an outsider’s perspective. Amanda Carson Sociology 111 Writing Assignment #1 January 25‚ 2015 Summary of Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema Every society‚ tribe‚ or group
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Brooklin Jefferies Body Ritual among the Nacirema In the Article‚ “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” anthropologist Horace Miner talks about a group of people known as Nacirema‚ or better yet‚ Americans. This article was to show how American’s are very ethnocentric. This is when we think our cultures are superior and everyone else is inferior. We find other cultures to be weird‚ but yet we’re not perfect. We think everything we do is perfect and better than everyone else. That is not the case at
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Read the Body Rituals of the Nacirema and answer the following questions. 1. What are 3 things these people believe? As the article states‚ The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children and for that the doctor has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched All natives believe they couldn’t live without many charms and magical potions They also believe that The Nacirema human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility
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Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put‚ ethnocentrism is defined as "judging other groups from the perspective of one’s own cultural point of view." Cultural relativism‚ on the other hand‚ is defined as "the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative‚ depending on the situation‚ environment‚ and individual." Each of these ideas has found
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“Body Rituals Among the Nacirema‚ “ by Horace Miner‚ is an essay written about the Nacirema‚ or American people‚ from an outsider’s perspective. Miner gives an insight on the Nacireman people‚ which he describes in his essay as an unknown tribe‚ and the completing of the Nacireman’s magical beliefs and practices‚ which involve daily‚ involuntary body rituals that cause much pain and discomfort. Miner shows how an outsider’s perspective can affect the way a culture is seen. In his essay‚ Miner uses
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Body Ritual in Nacirema When I started reading Miner’s “Body Rituals among the Nacirema” I wasn’t really ‘reading’ it. By the end of the first page‚ it “hit me” and I had to start reading it over again. Realizing the essay was speaking of Americans gave me a whole different perspective. I found some of it quite amusing as well as enlightening. My feeling is that the author intended the reader to see our own ethnocentrism and question our own acts towards others with whom we are not familiar
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In Nacirema‚ Horace Miner uses satire and wordplay to teach us how easy it is to judge cultures that we don’t know much about. Miner is sneakily describing American culture‚ their entire way of life including both material and symbolic elements‚ the whole time77. Miner is trying to teach us that ethnocentrism‚ using your own culture as a standard to evaluate another‚ leads to the belief that other cultures are inferior78. Instead‚ we should be using cultural relativism‚ understanding other cultures
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Cole Martin 23 January 2013 Ethnocentrism in America “Race” to me is essentially a classification method that everyone uses to sort humans into large‚ distinct groups based upon an excess of different affiliations‚ such as nationality‚ ethnicity‚ culture‚ and class. “Race” is totally just a myth and is no way something that is real or genuine. It has absolutely nothing to do with genetics. The view that reflects the conviction that civilization is divided into these distinct groups called “races”
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