In the story‚ “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”‚ by Horace Miner he talks about the Nacirema tribe and describes the body rituals that their society does on a regular basis that they view as the norm in their society and culture. While reading about these strange and unusual rituals‚ one can’t help but think that what these people are doing is totally and completely ridiculous. Ethnocentrism comes over and judgment takes place‚ but in reality some could view our American culture as just and crazy
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“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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Fatih Elmali Body Ritual and Witchcraft Many native males and females from a highly developed culture in Nacirema engage in a body ritual almost daily‚ which involves from leaving their homes at various times in the morning or afternoon and engaging in activities that strain the body as well as the mind. This ritual usually encompasses males and females of ages 18 and older. In this strange place‚ the ritual is a requirement to keep their bodies as well as their families’ bodies functioning
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The Nacirema people value developing a religious connection with their deities because every family possesses at least one shrine in their home. They garnish and decorate their shrines with charms and other accoutrements and commune with them on a daily basis. The Nacirema people also put a lot of faith in their Medicine Men and Listeners‚ as a means of communing with the Divine through their rituals as a means to heal the sickly. Maintaining good health is also a pinnacle to Nacirema society. The
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Elise Murray Analysis of the Nacirema Sociology 101 04D Ivy Tech Community College Abstract The analysis of the article Body Ritual Among the Nacerima by Horace Minor uses key principles to help decipher the hidden meanings behind his work. The article is based off of Americans but written in a primitive manner to help show readers the importance of keeping an open mind. Cultural relativism is crucial when researching a new topic. This culture is different than others based
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criticize on a backward culture‚ and others may judge on it fairly. Like the authors of “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” and “Voodoo in Haiti”‚ they hold quite different attitudes and views to these exotic cultures. Broadly speaking‚ Horace Miner‚ the author of “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”‚ criticizes Nacirema’s uncivilized culture. In the article‚ Miner describes how the tribes perform the strange sadism rituals to very extreme level. The holy-mouth-man uses a variety of tool to enlarge the client’s
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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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Stephanie Brinks Sociology 151 September 30‚ 2008 Would you want to live among the Naciremas? Why or why not? After reading Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema I cannot say that I would want to be part of the tribe. A huge reason would be that I could never go from my own Christian faith to the religious practices of the Nacirema. My second reason for not wanting to be part of the tribe is that I could never be subjected to the horrific medical practices and “magical potions”
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primitive Nacirema‚ who carve out an existence somewhere between "the Canadian Cree‚ the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico‚ and the Carab and the Awawak of the Antilles" ("Body Ritual among the Nacirema‚ p. 1). Who could even think to compare Americans‚ in our advanced state‚ with such a remote and isolated group? However‚ upon closer reflection‚ however‚ it occurred‚ much to the present author’s surprise‚ that the Nacirema and Americans are in fact mirror images of one another. First‚ the Nacirema have
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Horace Miner writes about the Nacirema‚ a culture steeped in magic and superstition. Their ways of life are portrayed as uncivilized and barbaric. The Nacirema perform rituals and rites that are strange to us here in the civilized world. The description and portrayal of this tribe make it very hard for the reader to connect or even begin to understand such a strange people. Miner starts of the article creating an atmosphere of wonderment; “if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior
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