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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The Nacirema people‚ living in the territory between the Canadian Creed‚ the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico‚ and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles‚ are a group of Northern Americans who have chosen to live their lives in a strange manner. There is a main premise to their choice of lifestyle and that is to rid the body of its ugliness and natural tendencies towards debility and disease. (p. 503). The Nacirema people have devoted their lives to deterring these features of themselves through ritual
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"Body Rituals among the Nacirema" is a document written by Mr. Horace Miner. Miner was a graduate of the University of Chicago‚ with a degree in anthropology. Throughout his life‚ Miner was dedicated to his studies ranging in anthropology to sociology. He was very interested in the study of anthropology‚ but Miner disagreed with the way that other cultures were represented. He thought American anthropologists believed that the American culture was "normal" and‚ that the other studied cultures
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study on the Nacirema Tribe. In the study he talked about their body rituals‚ and revealed to the world every strange ritual these people had. After reading this study‚ I decided to do one for myself. So I visited the Nacirema tribe. The things I observed still puzzles me. I noticed that everyday around the same time at daybreak‚ young Naciremas are awaken by an unusual noise coming from some sort of object. I have never in my life heard such an agitating sound. The young Nacirema then changes
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The rituals of the Nacirema To most of us‚ hospitals are a place to help you when you’re in need or want to get healthy. But for the Nacirema‚ it’s quite the opposite. According to the Nacirema ritual article‚ they call hospitals a latipso‚ which is hospital spelt backwards without the ‘H’. They discuss and caricature the repulsive viewings on what they think goes on in hospitals (latipso’s)‚ or what they think they do. I will now tell you how in Miner’s perspective‚ the body is ugly and how
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purpose of spinning a different viewpoint on a culture we find normal will be addressed. This essay will elaborate on the theme that Body Ritual of the Nacirema and “This American’s Life” audio have in common. The ability to look outside the box and be open to different perspectives will be explained. Thoughts on Lamron Rituals in Society As I read about Nacirema‚ I began to see the clear parallels between their society and our very own in the United States
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the Nacirema” by Horace Miner discusses the ritual practice of Nacirema people‚ which is an ethnic group of people in America. In freshman year‚ I had a chance to take freshman seminar class about religion‚ so I know that even in one religion they have various way of ritual practice. The ritual practices are usually formed very early in the acient period of time‚ so most of them are unreasonable and superstitious. It is very interesting to read an article about the ritual practice of Nacirema people
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January 23‚ 2014 Writing Assignment 1 Horace Miner’s article “The Body Ritual” accurately depicts the obsession the United States has with self-image‚ while disguising Americans as a tribe called the Nacirema. The article shows how someone outside of the United States could potentially view America’s culture as strange with all of our rituals and self-obsession. “The Body Ritual” can provide examples of many topics presented in Sociology and people’s
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The Nacirema are a culture of vast ethnic diversity‚ yet the majority still share numerous similarities despite their unique trace origins. In the Nacirema culture there are many conventional values that most individuals try to adhere to‚ albeit the varying degrees of adherence due to their unique sub-cultures. The most prominent values are: treating all adult(18yrs) individuals equally with regards to making decisions about their leaders and allowing individuals to follow their own spiritual beliefs
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At first I wasn’t too surprised by the behavior of the Nacirema. Medicine men making potions and priests making sure water is holy are all things that I have heard about before. What really took me aback was the holy mouth man. I was shocked at the torture these people go through because of their beliefs in certain magic rituals. I’ve never had a cavity before‚ so just the thought of someone grinding holes in my teeth makes my mouth hurt. However‚ I guess if I was raised believing that these sort
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