Summary of “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” According to the article by Miner‚ there is a “present in some yet undescribed tribe” in the east America called the Nacirema. The Nacirema’s culture is a highly developed community and they spend a lot of time with ritual activities. They believe that ritual activities could change their bodies both physically and mentally. The first point that was highlighted in the article was the shrine. The shrine is a box that “kept the many charms and magical
Premium Ritual Culture Illness
Nacirema When I read Body Rituals Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner the first time‚ I couldn’t imagine how a culture could behave this way and live their daily lives following these rituals. They believed that their bodies were ugly and its natural tendency was to debility and disease. They devoted much of their time trying to prevent these characteristics After observing the Nacirema customs‚ I found it to be crazy that they had shrines with a box or chest built into the wall full of magic
Premium Human Culture Sociology
"Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them‚ societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are." The rituals and ceremonies that one finds in many societies today are largely relics of the past. They were born at a time when humans were still struggling to understand the awesome powers of nature‚ and thus‚ feared them. At first‚ they were no more than simple pagan rites that were performed to appease the sun god or the rain god. Later on‚ these rituals and ceremonies
Premium Sri Lanka Ritual Sociology
“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” Summary In the essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”‚ anthropologist Horace Miner depicts a group of people known as the “Nacirema”‚ but is referring to Americans‚ whose cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in the perspective that the human body is prune to sickness and disfiguration. Consequently‚ a substantial part of their lives is spent on unusual rituals and customs to improve conditions of the body that are filled with magical components. Moreover‚ Miner uses
Premium Sociology Culture Ritual
emphasizes the feelings of the work people. The "lonely reception room‚ lavatory‚ switchboard" (5) and the "ritual of multigraph‚ paper slip‚ coma" (7) are the feelings that only people can feel. However‚ the rooms are lonely and ritual is endless. In actuality‚ the people who work in the reception room‚ lavatory‚ and switchboard rooms feel the loneliness of working everyday‚ doing the same "rituals" over and over. The "sadness of pencils‚ neat in their boxes" (1-2) gives the reader the impression of
Premium Ritual Employment Sadness
Body Ritual among the Nacirema Kim Wilson Ivy Tech Community College This article written by‚ Horace Miner‚ was my first read in where I was shocked to discover such barbaric rituals from other areas of life. I took the time to re-read this article several times. I have learned of many different cultures in where people do things that seem out of the ordinary; however the beliefs and practices of the Nacirema people just seem outlandish. According to‚ Professor Linton‚ who brought the
Premium Ritual Culture Religion
General Anthropology Body Ritual Among the Nacirema ` In this article anthropologist‚ Horace Miner writes about the depiction of the North American group called the Nacirema‚ described by a Professor Linton in the early 1900s. The Nacirema people were characterised as being obsessed with rituals about the vanity of the human body. There is a description of a shrine with medicines and magical materials placed inside. A daily ritual that is described is “scraping and lacerating the surface of
Premium Anthropology Culture Ritual
Burial Rituals of Native American Culture At some point in our lives‚ we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures‚ the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example
Premium Native Americans in the United States Burial Ritual
wonder of culture and ritual. Societies around the world use these phenomena to express their beliefs and establish a profound way of life. More often than not‚ it is these practices that education individuals and groups the truth behind their society. However‚ a culture and its rituals differentiate from the rest of the world. Many groups fail to understand the way in which other cultures function based the biased opinion of their own. Horace Miner‚ mastermind of the work‚ Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Premium Culture Human body Ritual
(1949: 71).[2] In this light‚ the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go. Professor Linton [3] first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago (1936: 326)‚ but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree‚ the Yaqui and Tarahumare
Premium Ritual