Summary Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

Mina Grace

Professor Paison

Writing Assignment 2- Body ritual among the Nacirema

Jun26, 2015

Many anthropologists due to the vast interest in their culture, rituals, and tradition have studied the Nacirema tribes. Professor Linton was the first to study the rituals. Hoarce Miner shows in his research that lineage is shown because the members of the group believe that they come from a common ancestor. Their nation originated by a culture hero, who is known for two great feats. The Nacirema believe that rituals and ceremony will meet one’s hope and goals. There were many core values that were shown by this particular culture throughput the research about them. They value the rituals, which relate to the human body. They believe that the human

The "holy-mouth-men" are the medicine men in prestige. The Nacirema people believe that if it were not for the rituals of the mouth by the holy-mouth-men, they believe that their teeth would fall out and there gums would bleed. These "holy-mouth-men", are very similar to dentists that we have in our modern society. Really sick natives enter a temple to recover from their disease. Sick adults are eager to undergo the protracted ritual purification even if there is a chance that they die. No person will enter the temple to be helped if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even if one gained admission and survived the ceremonies, he will have to make another rich gift. This type of trading a gift for a service is known as balanced reciprocity because a gift is provided for the service and the time of the delivery of the ceremony is known. What I found interesting was in modern times; we value the idea of a nuclear family that consists of a husband, wife, and children that have a strong conjugal bond. The Nacirema people on the other hand, might have a strong conjugal bond but they try to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials. Intercourse in this culture is a taboo and it is scheduled as an act.

This concept is known as cultural adaptation. Shrines are kept in every house in belief that it saves the body. Professor Linton who was the first to study this culture, used participant observation which allowed him to take part in the events he was observing. Ethnocentrism played a big role as I was reading the research. As I was reading about their culture, it seemed like our culture is superior while we observe the Nacirema culture as being bizarre, unique, and judging their behavior and beliefs. Although there can be inequality in power and prestige, Nacirema is viewed as an egalitarian society because there is equal access to economic resources. It is not considered class societies because in a class society, there is completely unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige. Although it wasn’t clear what type of innovation there is in that culture, I believe that their cultural hero started the primary innovation but the people of Nacirema just add on the existing ideas, which is known as secondary innovation. There are several more concepts that were covered in this research that relates to cultural anthropology. Overall, the Nacirema culture is seen as bizarre and is judged by many other cultures, but for me