Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Analysis
Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Elizabeth Brower
Introduction to Sociology
Matthew Howell
January 25, 2015
Abstract:
Horace Miner’s point throughout the entire article of “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” was to prove to us, Americans, that we are not superior to anyone else or any other culture, society, or religion. We are all the same, and we just to need to keep in the back of our minds that everyone does everything differently. Whether it is a dramatic difference, or barely noticeable, each person does everything different from the next person. Throughout this essay willbe examples on how Miner’s article went to prove how ethnocentric Americans through the use of sociological imagination.
Abstr
Anthropologist, …show more content…
We think the tribe, Nacirema, thinks that the human body is ugly and its natural leaning to weakness and disease is an awful thing, and that their only hope to avoid these characteristic of the human body, is to keep up with their daily rituals. Americans are always trying to come up with new ideas to prevent natural aging, the deterioration, and weakness of the body. We feel so ashamed of our supposed weak bodies that the rituals performed in our families’ shrines (bathrooms) are kept completely private and should not be shared with anyone. Just because of our shamefulness, we have already proven that we are not a perfect …show more content…
“…Professor Linton referred in discussing a distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is only performed by men. This part of the rite includes scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument.” (Miner Paragraph 12) This ritual described the process of men shaving their face with a razor and along with the ritual is a possibility of cutting the face. “Special women’s rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack in frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of this ceremony, women bake their head in small ovens for about an hour.” (Miner Paragraph 12) This ceremony is talking about women going to get their hair done to improve their looks. The small ovens are old fashioned hair dryers, which would dry their hair into the style that woman wanted it to be.
Another ritual that the Nacirema people go through is to find a holy-mouth man (dentist). The holy-mouth man pokes and prods at the client’s teeth, and it is not always a pleasant experience. The holy-mouth man likes performing uncomfortable and slightly painful rituals on the client’s teeth. The client allows for the holy-mouth man to whatever he or she likes with their
Elizabeth Brower
Introduction to Sociology
Matthew Howell
January 25, 2015
Abstract:
Horace Miner’s point throughout the entire article of “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” was to prove to us, Americans, that we are not superior to anyone else or any other culture, society, or religion. We are all the same, and we just to need to keep in the back of our minds that everyone does everything differently. Whether it is a dramatic difference, or barely noticeable, each person does everything different from the next person. Throughout this essay willbe examples on how Miner’s article went to prove how ethnocentric Americans through the use of sociological imagination.
Abstr
Anthropologist, …show more content…
We think the tribe, Nacirema, thinks that the human body is ugly and its natural leaning to weakness and disease is an awful thing, and that their only hope to avoid these characteristic of the human body, is to keep up with their daily rituals. Americans are always trying to come up with new ideas to prevent natural aging, the deterioration, and weakness of the body. We feel so ashamed of our supposed weak bodies that the rituals performed in our families’ shrines (bathrooms) are kept completely private and should not be shared with anyone. Just because of our shamefulness, we have already proven that we are not a perfect …show more content…
“…Professor Linton referred in discussing a distinctive part of the daily body ritual which is only performed by men. This part of the rite includes scraping and lacerating the surface of the face with a sharp instrument.” (Miner Paragraph 12) This ritual described the process of men shaving their face with a razor and along with the ritual is a possibility of cutting the face. “Special women’s rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack in frequency is made up in barbarity. As part of this ceremony, women bake their head in small ovens for about an hour.” (Miner Paragraph 12) This ceremony is talking about women going to get their hair done to improve their looks. The small ovens are old fashioned hair dryers, which would dry their hair into the style that woman wanted it to be.
Another ritual that the Nacirema people go through is to find a holy-mouth man (dentist). The holy-mouth man pokes and prods at the client’s teeth, and it is not always a pleasant experience. The holy-mouth man likes performing uncomfortable and slightly painful rituals on the client’s teeth. The client allows for the holy-mouth man to whatever he or she likes with their