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Summary Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

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Contemporary anthropologists are faced with “the problem of representation,” in other words, they are faced with the problem of deciding who gets to “represent” a group of people. So, who is worthy of “representing” a group? As we learned in the lectures, anthropology is the study of mankind, therefore, based on their extensive studies an anthropologist should be able to “represent” a group of people. Unfortunately, all humans, including anthropologist, are subject to thinking in a bias manner. As a result, even anthropologists are likely to face difficulties in accurately representing a group of people. In Body Ritual Among the Nacirema we are exposed to “the problem of representation.” Horace Miner “represented” Americans by writing about them and interpreting their behaviors. Miner’s representations of the American, or in this case “Nacirema,” culture most likely differ greatly from the way we would represent Americans. As we saw in Who are the Nacirema? Miner’s representations of the American culture are so skewed that the culture is undistinguishable even to Americans. …show more content…

Couldn’t one argue Americans are obsessed with the human body, both the health and appearance? Or that only herbalist (pharmacist) are able to interpret the chicken scratch medicine men write? (The latter of course seems to be more light

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