Comparing the Nacirema culture to what I know to be considered "normal" from living in the United States my entire life gives you a whole new aspect of thinking towards why others act and feel the way that they do. One comparable thing is that everyone‚ no matter your culture or who you are‚ has a focus of concern towards their own appearance and health. The Nacirema culture is different in this aspect by the way they go about their concerns of their appearance and health‚ which I am sure the majority
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In the article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner‚ he writes about a North American group known as the “Nacirema”‚ who were described by Professor Linton in the early twentieth century. In the article described‚ the “Nacirema” are a cultural group who seem to be obsessed with rituals they perform in regards to the human body on a day-to-day basis. These people believe that the human body is ugly and debilitating and are described to waste great portions of their days performing the
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The original use of the term was in Body Ritual Among the Nacirema‚ which satirizes anthropological papers on "other" cultures‚ and the culture of the United States. Horace Miner wrote the paper and originally published it in the June 1956 edition of American Anthropologist. In the paper‚ Miner describes 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
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Many of the practices Miner mentions in the article aren’t really strange to the Nacirema culture. But an outsider views the practices as odd. For example‚ Miner mentions about a shrine box‚ which translate to a medicine cabinet being strange to the outsider. The charms and magical potions in the shrine box being the medicine needed cure the ills and maladies of an individual. Medicine had a purpose of curing those maladies for many with similar ills. But the outsider views pulling out these magical
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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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In the everyday life of the perceived “normal” individual‚ rituals and rites performed by individuals as part of a different culture might seem harsh‚ cruel or even barbaric. After my first read of "Body Ritual among the Nacirema"‚ that is how I perceived their daily way of life. They believe in magic potions‚ seeking pain from the “holy – mouth – men” a couple of times a year‚ and the men and women perform acts that seem to contradict one another by trying to obtain abnormal body shapes‚ and then
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1. Do you think you would enjoy a vacation in the land of the Nacirema? Why or why not? Where do the Nacirema live? Nacirema have different beliefs than I do. They believe you body is ugly and it is a vessel for disease and debility. This belief is not something I chose to believe. I believe we should all love our bodies. There are ways to prevent sickness and weakness outside conditions does these things to the body. The body does not function just for weakness and disease. I would not want to
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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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The Body Ritual of the Nacirema discusses the habits of Americans and medical professionals to someone outside the culture. The article is meant to make the Americans health habits seem like a new discovery. In the article it examined health habits that Americans follow‚ it also examined the bathroom habits of the Americans‚ and it also examined the medical professionals that treat them. But the distinction of the habits of the Americans in the article is that the author worded them as if they were
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The Nacirema Tribe By Edgar A. Maceo September 2008 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
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