Perspectives of Dress JOURNAL ENTRY CHAPTER 1 1.6 Body Ritual among the Nacirema Horace Miner‚ University of Michigan In the article‚ the author introduces us alleging that the anthropologist is familiar with so many different behaviors that it is hard to believe he can be shocked by some exotic culture. However‚ he specifies later that the piece is just about how far humans can reach regarding their demeanors and rites. Along the article‚ Miner describes the habits – I might just call them obsessive
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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 hard ritually in order to fix these characteristics. As Miner goes on to give us descriptions of the
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INTRODUCTION After reading Laura Bohannan’s Shakespeare in the Bush and Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema‚ a common theme presents itself between the two articles. Ethnocentrism‚ particularly within the U.S.‚ is elucidated through the actions of Bohannan while in West Africa‚ and the reaction of any American reading Miner’s piece about the “magical” Nacirema culture. In Bohannan’s piece‚ she struggles to prove that Hamlet is a universal story that any culture can easily understand. She
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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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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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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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Miner is successful at making his point clear‚ his point was that we are in a routine and have our faith and placed on doctors and technology‚ that those have become customs. In Miner’s view‚ “The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth‚ the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships”(Miner). Miner is correct‚ we choose to keep our mouths clean‚ I consider this relevant for the reason that this has become a routine
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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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Miner: American Vs. Nacirema Horace Miner expresses both irony and ridicule towards the American culture in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”. He uses a sociological approach that is rather witty‚ using a fictitious North American group called the “Nacirema”. The views of this culture are much like our own‚ depicting the importance of societal status‚ wealth‚ health and appearance. Miner introduces the readers to a society living between Canada and Mexico‚ originated by a founder called
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Who are the Nacirema and how shall they be defined? The dictionary defines an Anthropologist as a person that studies human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character‚ environmental and social relations‚ and culture (Webster 2011). I am not claiming to be an Anthropologist however‚ from my viewpoint‚ I am not sure if I am capable of grasping my mind around the concept that “the body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” explained
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