Reaction Paper In his article Body Rituals among the Nacirema‚ Miner effectively convinces his reader of the ridiculous nature of America’s obsession with the body’s health and visual appeal by allowing his readers to form an opinion about themselves without realizing they are their own subject. At first glance the reader may be convinced he is reading about magical beliefs and extreme practices of a little know civilization. Miner effectively employs an academic tone as he opens the paper with
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Miner’s article describes the Nacirema culture as one that pays special attention to economy‚ wealth‚ and body-focused rituals performed to keep oneself looking aesthetically pleasing‚ not unlike our own American culture. Found between Canada and Mexico‚ the people of the Nacirema tribe perform these rituals to keep death and disease at bay‚ while also improving the looks and social life of the worshipper. Common practices mentioned in the article include washing themselves with purified water‚ visiting
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entering the Nacirema village. At first glance he must have had culture shock when learning about the daily mouth cleansing and the temples where some enter and never return. I came to realize that western cultures share many of the same daily rituals just like the Nacirema. This non-material culture has many reglionist beliefs such has the use of witch doctors‚ medicine men‚ shrines and oddly enough the Nacirema woman bake their heads in oven. In evaluating the culture of the Nacirema we can break
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Dillon O’Brien Merrill Singer Anthro 1000 15 April 2012 Nacirema Paper It has been rumored that are extraordinary beings on another familiar planet close by our home of Nacirema‚ and it is our goal as the Interplanetary Nacirema Research Center team to investigate the situation. We plan to focus our trip on the specific coordinates that the University of Connecticut campus lies on‚ and being the curious creatures we are‚ we plan to delve into specific areas within this concentrated area. We
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In the article‚ “Body Ritual among the Nacirema‚” author Horace Miner talks in detail about the culture of a North American clan‚ the Nacirema. Horace Miner seems to be particularly interested in the magical beliefs‚ practices‚ and rituals of the Nacirema clan. The “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” article shows many different examples of culture‚ cultural relativism‚ ethnocentrism‚ and qualitative research methodology. The sociological concept of culture is shown in nearly every paragraph of this
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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 than the Nacirema’s. I am beginning to realize that it isn’t the cultures around the world that differ so much as the languages
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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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comes natural to judge by our own standards. From studying “Body Rituals Among The Nacirema”‚ it is obvious that the Nacirema people have unusual and extreme customs. Using charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live (Miller)‚ the Nacirema go to extremes to achieve the perfect outer appearance. In my home town‚ it is normal for pregnant women to be proud of their baby bumps‚ but in Nacirema society‚ it is frowned upon‚ and women dress so as to hide their condition (Miller)
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In the essay “Body Ritual Among the “Nacirema”‚ anthropologist Horace Miner describes a group of people known as the Nacirema‚ a little known tribe living in North America. The way in which he writes about the curious practices that this group performs‚ distances readers from the fact that the North American group described actually corresponds to modern day Americans of the mid 1950’s. The Nacirema’s cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in the perspective that the human body is prone to sickness and
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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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