Summary Of Body Ritual Of The Nacirema By Horace Miner

Originally published in 1956, Body Ritual of the Nacirema is an article written by world renowned anthropologist Horace Miner. In this article, Miner tells of his encounters with a Native American Tribe located between Canada and Mexico. This tribe is a culture obsessed with rituals that rely heavily on the image of their body and how it is judged by other individuals. The Nacirema believe that the body is ugly, and only through daily rituals can one find happiness and prosperity. In the article, Miner describes the “rituals” that all of the members must attend in order to be accepted by society and the different superstitious habits that the members take part in. Although it is never actually stated in the article, Miner uses an extended

This provided a great exigence for Miner to construct this article in his efforts to sway the general population’s opinion. Instead of taking a literal and more direct approach, Miner wrote this article as an argument very discreetly with the purpose to expose the American culture for what it truly is; narcissistic and conceited. By making the argument so hidden, the author allows for the audience to be vulnerable to the argument. Throughout the whole articles, readers think that the Nacirema is this radical, extreme society with intense rituals for their appearance. Once the reader realizes all of these rituals are coincidentally very similar to the ones Americans participate in every day, Miner captures the reader’s attention. The reason the writer created the article, they are questioning their lifestyles in the exact way Miner wanted them too. This was a great use of the audience’s emotions to sell the author’s point of view on the values of the American

In order to reinforce his reasoning is the reason why Miner had created this article. By creating this, it made Americans during the 1950s realize exactly how unreasonable they were acting. As Miner stated, “The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people”. It appealed to the emotion of a wide audience reading the article because of the primitive and ironic way Minor describes the typical behavior of a person in the United States. One such example would be when the author states “However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secretive language”. This is referring to the well-known stereotype of a doctor’s poor and illegible handwriting. In order to catch the general public’s opinion, the author adds a humoristic tone to the passage. This not only attracts the reader, but helps them remember Minor’s