“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” In Horace Miner’s essay on the tribe of Nacirema‚ it takes little effort to determine that Nacirema is a depiction of a typical American’s health habits. This essay is important for two reasons: It teaches principles about our own culture and it makes us assess the value/downfall of looking at other cultures with an etic approach. Without a doubt‚ this essay personalizes the study of cultures and its respective peoples. Regarding the view of North American
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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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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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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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Wrap-up Why did Horace Miner write the article on the “Nacirema”? (That is‚ what point was he trying to make?) What do the “lessons” of the Nacirema reveal about the conflicts described in The Spirit Catches You? What did you learn from the assignment? Horace Miner writes this article to captivate his audience. Miner takes a full on anthropological approach in an attempt to expose his own American culture to their egocentrism‚ vanity‚ and narcissistic views that are presented throughout his
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The article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner‚ was very interesting because it mocks our society as a whole without blatantly stating the similarities. The reader is supposed to view the Nacirema as being quite outrageous in their way of life; the magical beliefs and superstitions. However‚ if you step back and look at the bigger picture of the article‚ is the Nacirema really any different from us? This statement‚ “The focus of this activity is the human body‚ the appearance and
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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 all. Miner talks
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Running head: BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA ASSIGNMENT 1 Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Assignment Name Community College BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA ASSIGNMENT 2 Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Assignment “Body Ritual among the Nacirema" is a paper written by Horace Miner that illustrates American culture in a very different way than most American’s would view it. While it describes many areas of the American lifestyle‚ it is written to manipulate
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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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Horace Miner Response Horace Miner’s essay "Body Ritual Among The Nacirema" is deeper then a clever critique of the absurdities of the American culture. Other then mocking the science of anthropology‚ Miner shows how an outsider would view America. This sight would not be much different from an American viewing an uncivilized village in the middle of the forest. Miner’s essay extensively proves that the culture of America is not very different then many other civilizations. The perspective
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