The Nacirema are a society obsessed with the presservation and maintenance of their bodies. They have many body rituals‚ some thats are conducted in private‚ others that require the assistance of certain knowlegable medicine men. After reading about this tribe I was shocked at how much they focused on their appearance. "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" was actually written about Americans. Horace Miner chose not to directly reveal this‚ in order to demonstrate people’ ethnocentric tendencies. From
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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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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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“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” In Horace Miner’s essay on the tribe of Nacirema‚ it takes little effort to determine that Nacirema is a depiction of a typical American’s health habits. This essay is important for two reasons: It teaches principles about our own culture and it makes us assess the value/downfall of looking at other cultures with an etic approach. Without a doubt‚ this essay personalizes the study of cultures and its respective peoples. Regarding the view of North American
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Celebrating the anniversary of a person’s birth is very important in some cultures. For the Browns clan it is quite proper for family to have a yearly celebration of one’s birth. The Browns are a family of faith that consider themselves to be Christians. There is question among people of faith is it okay for Christians to celebrate birthdays? Why are birthdays celebrated? Is it sinful to celebrate birthdays? Surely there is no harm done in acknowledging the passage of time as another year
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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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“Body Rituals Among the Nacirema‚ “ by Horace Miner‚ is an essay written about the Nacirema‚ or American people‚ from an outsider’s perspective. Miner gives an insight on the Nacireman people‚ which he describes in his essay as an unknown tribe‚ and the completing of the Nacireman’s magical beliefs and practices‚ which involve daily‚ involuntary body rituals that cause much pain and discomfort. Miner shows how an outsider’s perspective can affect the way a culture is seen. In his essay‚ Miner uses
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Body Rituals Among the Nacirema Abstract This study examines Horace Miner’s essay “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema. While using the participant observation approach‚ he gives us a new perspective on the daily behaviors within this group of people. Exploring ethnocentrism and how we view cultures outside of our own. Horace Miner was a professor for the University of Michigan. He sought out to teach young people the importance of cultural anthropology. ("Horace Mitchell Miner - Wikipedia‚ the
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become a mainstay of learning for anthropology students. Miner published the article to show a fictional exotic society called “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” as an example of how one’s own limited perspective might affect the perception of a foreign culture (Miner‚ 1956‚ p. 503). The article uses subtle humor to make the reader more comfortable in examining cultural behaviors‚ physical appearance‚ and health as the reader soon discovers that the actual society being examined is the American society
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Wrap-up Why did Horace Miner write the article on the “Nacirema”? (That is‚ what point was he trying to make?) What do the “lessons” of the Nacirema reveal about the conflicts described in The Spirit Catches You? What did you learn from the assignment? Horace Miner writes this article to captivate his audience. Miner takes a full on anthropological approach in an attempt to expose his own American culture to their egocentrism‚ vanity‚ and narcissistic views that are presented throughout his
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