“Body Rituals among the Nacirema” is an article written by Horace Miner about a group of people‚ the Nacirema‚ and their everyday functions or rituals. Miner relates the culture‚ practices‚ values‚ and beliefs of a seemingly exotic and strange tribe. He vividly and descriptively describes behaviors and activities that are interpreted as unusual and strange. The tribe Miner depicts seems primal and uncivilized‚ and yet somewhat familiar. They are a “North American group living in the territory between
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Chapter 2: Culture and Society. This was also when the class read the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner. This whole week was so intriguing and diverse‚ one in particular term made a large impression on me‚ and this was “rituals” as explained by Barken (p. 36) This term and act initially brought a sense of familiarity among all cultures‚ ethnicity groups‚ and societies‚ because each one of us performs a ritual daily‚ weekly‚ monthly‚ and yearly. These may vary from extreme acts‚ or
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n the article‚ “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner‚ the author’s purpose is revealed through judgemental and magical word choice. The author’s purpose is shown through his judgmental word choice. For example‚ to describe going to the dentist he uses the words‚ “ritual torture”‚ “augers‚ awls‚ probes and prods” and “gouge.” All of the words that Horace Miner used to describe going to the dentist sound negative and foul. The words make people judge the Nacirema for doing these ill sounding
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point has‚ in fact‚ been expressed with respect to clan organization by Murdock (1949: 71).[2] In this light‚ the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go. Professor Linton [3] first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago (1936: 326)‚ but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American
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Nacirema and Its Sociological Effects Rachael L. Smith SOCI 111 In Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema‚” the reader is introduced to an interesting group called the Nacirema‚ whose culture is then described and dissected in very tribal and primitive terms. At first‚ it is unclear as to where or how this culture exists under the guidelines and practices and beliefs its society maintains; but‚ the reader soon discovers‚ with contextual clues and a bit of pondering‚ that
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Horace Miner’s article first prepares us to find an example of the extremes to which human behhavior can go. He gives us the locations of the Nacirema‚their myth of origin and their market orientation. He introduces his topic ritual activity‚the main point of the article of which is the human body‚the way it looks and health. "The fundamental beliefunderlyinig the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease." Nacirema people work
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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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“Body Ritual Among The Nacirema” As I started to read “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema” by Horace Miner I was really confused. You told us that the homework was to write what was the real true meaning of this reading but I had to reread the pages over and over to find the true meaning to the reading that Horace Miner was talking about. It is a culture named Nacirema and that no one really know much about this culture. And also that they come from the east. He talks about the rituals they have
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article‚ I realized Nacirema is American backwards. Horace Miner’s article Body Ritual among the Nacirema is about the way a group of North Americans and their culture. Nacirema’s people lived in the early 1900’s and these people were extremely obsessed with body rituals. During one of these rituals men used what’s described as a chisel to scrap faces. These rituals are usually done in what’s described as a shrine area where there’s potions and medicine to be used for these rituals they conduct during
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Body Rituals of the Nacirema tells a story of a tribal group’s lifestyle and the rituals of it. Miner is actually talking about the American culture. As most of us know‚ Nacirema is American spelled backwards. In this article‚ Miner’s intention is not to express the extreme human behavior with the Nacirema‚ but the way it affects our perception of an unfamiliar culture. If we were to look at the Nacirema’s behaviors with regards to appearance and hygiene without the slightest bit of knowledge about
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