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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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 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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Good Luck Symbols Many of us believe in carrying good luck symbols or charms with us‚ so that we are successful in our task. The article enlists some of the popular symbols that are believed to bring good luck. Being lucky or unlucky is merely a mind game and the definition of luck may change from person to person. It is just a belief whether you consider a particular incidence to be a good fortune or bad. A good luck symbol is nothing but an event or object that is believed to bring good luck
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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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Professor Emma Linton of the Martian Institute of Interplanetary Cultural Anthropology might have come up with her unexpected conclusions regarding to the body rituals of the Nacirema people. Linton’s report was wildly inaccurate written due to the facts that she does not have any qualitative previous knowledge about the culture and she like to draw a comparison between cultures. She did not follow all the methodological process an anthropologist should follow‚ and a long term of studying of the
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