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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Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Edward Hamilton Sociology Professor January 15‚ 2014 The “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner‚ is an article that examines the various rituals that manifests within industrialized societies‚ specifically referencing to the United States. In the article Miner joked about the invasion of privacy and the obsession of becoming immortal. Miner provides gives outstanding evidence that the characteristics or an attitude of the human
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January 26‚ 2013 Horace Minor applied satire in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema.” to the culture of the American people. Several ways in which “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” relate to the core concepts of sociology are through the use of sociological imagination‚ ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. The American culture is described by Minor in a very unique and humorous way. The author uses satire to examine the rituals that are every day in American culture. The reader thinks
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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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“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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“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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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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Jefferies Body Ritual among the Nacirema In the Article‚ “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” anthropologist Horace Miner talks about a group of people known as Nacirema‚ or better yet‚ Americans. This article was to show how American’s are very ethnocentric. This is when we think our cultures are superior and everyone else is inferior. We find other cultures to be weird‚ but yet we’re not perfect. We think everything we do is perfect and better than everyone else. That is not the case at all. Miner talks
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Reaction Paper In his article Body Rituals among the Nacirema‚ Miner effectively convinces his reader of the ridiculous nature of America’s obsession with the body’s health and visual appeal by allowing his readers to form an opinion about themselves without realizing they are their own subject. At first glance the reader may be convinced he is reading about magical beliefs and extreme practices of a little know civilization. Miner effectively employs an academic tone as he opens the paper with
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