BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA Horace Miner From Horace Miner‚ "Body Ritual among the Nacirema." Reproduced by permission of the American Anthropological Association from The American Anthropologist‚ vol. 58 (1956)‚ pp. 503-507. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most cultures exhibit a particular configuration or style. A single value or pat- tern of perceiving the world often leaves its stamp on several institutions in the society. Examples are
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Horace Miner‚ an anthropologist‚ has a different view on American society. American v Nacirema. Nacirema is American spelled backwards. He wanted to show people how satirical they were in 1956. Anyone can compare his ideas of American civilization then to today. For example‚ bathroom routine‚ body obsessions‚ and the need for a therapist. One can also contrast his ideas of the 1956 to now. The Nacirema avoided showing their bodies‚ women would go every week to the salon‚ and the poor health treatments
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Miner: American Vs. Nacirema Horace Miner expresses both irony and ridicule towards the American culture in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”. He uses a sociological approach that is rather witty‚ using a fictitious North American group called the “Nacirema”. The views of this culture are much like our own‚ depicting the importance of societal status‚ wealth‚ health and appearance. Miner introduces the readers to a society living between Canada and Mexico‚ originated by a founder called
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Anthropology Paper - Module 1 In 1956 a professor from the University of Michigan‚ Horace Miner‚ wrote an article in The American Anthropologist that has become a mainstay of learning for anthropology students. Miner published the article to show a fictional exotic society called “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” as an example of how one’s own limited perspective might affect the perception of a foreign culture (Miner‚ 1956‚ p. 503). The article uses subtle humor to make the reader more comfortable
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Nacirema 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 After observing the Nacirema customs‚ I found it to be crazy that they had shrines with a box or chest built into the wall full of magic
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Body Rituals Among the Nacirema Assignment “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
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JOURNAL ENTRY CHAPTER 1 1.6 Body Ritual among the Nacirema Horace Miner‚ University of Michigan In the article‚ the author introduces us alleging that the anthropologist is familiar with so many different behaviors that it is hard to believe he can be shocked by some exotic culture. However‚ he specifies later that the piece is just about how far humans can reach regarding their demeanors and rites. Along the article‚ Miner describes the habits – I might just call them obsessive – of a group
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Body Ritual among the Nacirema Kim Wilson Ivy Tech Community College 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. According to‚ Professor Linton‚ who brought the
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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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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 all. Miner talks about a lot of things American’s do that other
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