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Similarities And Differences To The Nacirema Culture

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When professor Linton brought forth the attention of anthropologists to the Nacirema culture there was a lot of things about their traditions that were different than that of our own, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t also some similarities as well. As crude and vastly spiritual these people are it is rather impressive that they managed to survive for as long as they did living their rather extreme lifestyle. The people back then also had different social classes like we do now, they also had what we call surgeons to fix their imperfections, and they also have the same kind of cleanliness as we do when it comes down to our bodies. Some differences would be in their rituals we don’t go to those extremes to make sure we are okay spiritually. We also don’t believe that if we don’t take care of our teeth no one will love us. They go to such great lengths to preserve their bodies and now a days we don’t fully appreciate or take time to take care of ourselves. It seems as if we will never get rid of inequality of the social classes the Nacirema also had the rich and the poor and the poorer families would, “Imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine …show more content…

They had all these ceremonies that were always referred to as magic to help the people be spiritually in sync. They would “prescribe” them a couple of potions, but in order for them to actually give it to you, you would have to provide them with a gift as payment they wouldn’t treat you otherwise no matter how ill you felt. The same thing goes for our health care system in America if you can’t pay the hospital bill they will send you on your way payment always comes first. Their policy was, “No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian.” They wouldn’t just help you out of the goodness of their

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Body Ritual of the Nacirema by Horace Miner is a clever piece that describes a foreign sounding culture only to be realized that the group being described is one that is much more familiar. Through his process of describing conventional habits or “rituals” in an unconventional way, he allows the reader to look at this culture through a very unique lens. The Nacirema are the Americans and a representation of the American culture. Although this might not be immediately apparent to the reader, there are a number of hints throughout the text to help come to this realization.

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They followed their own religion that was similar to sorcery. They followed strict rituals in many areas of their lives and community. They had little to no “monetary” economy as each of the people had specific jobs that would sustain the

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It also has been further improved by the use of technology. When it comes to the differences one would be very clear, nothing is exactly similar to another. In today's generation, people live in diverse and different societies with different cultures. These little things make them distinct from others and also sets an identity for them. Miner also showed the culture of the Nacirema to be very dependent on their rituals and 'magical' beliefs.

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In the article ‘Body Ritual Among the Nacirema’ written by Horace Miner he goes on to describe the culture and rituals of the Nacirema. A group of North Americans that are found “between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.” Throughout the article he describes American rituals from an outsiders point

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The article written by Miner was one in which seemingly forced the student to keep reading. The varying ways in which the author described traditions created and passed down through generations of the Nacirema people evoked interest and question in the students mind. The student had never read this article, nor had he read an article written in such a way to make him feel emotions quite like the ones he felt while scrolling though the pages of this article. Fortunately, the student was able to find that he was not the sole student amongst his peers who had many questions and concerns that came to fruition while reading the Nacirema article. Questions fluttered around the readers head as he finished the first few paragraphs of the article.

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I was very scared after reading Miner’s article because of the descriptive details he used. If I had to practice those rituals I would be contemplating my life because it would be better than having to go through pain. Throughout Miner’s article, he describes Nacirema culture as both a material and nonmaterial culture. An example that shows that the Nacirema is a material culture is the fact that all the households that are of the Nacirema culture have shrines, and out of all the rooms in the houses, the shrines are the wealthiest rooms. Miner described that the families who are poorer put pottery plaques on the walls of their shrines to make them look a lot richer and imitate the richer families.

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