The Ritual Of The Nacirema
Jennine Selina G. Boado 11418877 INTHROP Reading #2 Body Ritual among the Nacirema Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” discusses the magical beliefs and practices of the North American group called “Nacirema”. By re-reading the article I have found out that Miner created this article to by using symbolization to look at the “vanity” of the lifestyle of the Americans and to provide an outside point of view of the “Nacirema” or “American’s” culture. From the article, Miner characterizes the Naciremas as highly focused on their appearance and health which signifies American’s obsession with their personal apperance. Their fundamental belief, according to Miner is that the “human body is ugly and the only way to avert these characteristics is through the use of rituals and ceremonies”.
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.
Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their
1.) Peculiar-something that is different than most others 2.) Peculiar-strange, odd, or unusual 1.) According to my society, the McClellans aren’t peculiar. By my definition however, the McClellans are peculiar because they act different from other people in the novel.
Francis Bacon a member of Queen Elizabeth I’s Court, in his essay “Of Studies” wrote “some books are to be read only in parts…and with diligence”. Bacon’s perspective on reading is that no matter the size if done with diligence and a willingness to try can provide great insight. A reader reading the loss of a loved one can gain an understanding of loss without actually having experienced the loss. Reading about other experiences, or situations can coerce readers to empathize with the author’s standpoint.
Through partaking in interaction rituals, individuals become members of something greater than themselves. This feeling of being apart of something greater than oneself provides a moral community for the individuals, which then guides individuals in their beliefs and behaviors. It is similar to a never-ending circle; as individuals see the emotionally charged environment that this religion provides, they want to be a part of it, so they partake in unusual rituals, which furthers their engagement and emotional connectedness to their community. It almost reminds me a bit of an addiction. This community turns objects, such as poison and snakes as sacred, which in turn creates a sacred and profane world.
Horace Miner, a American Anthropologist wrote an academic essay titled “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” In this article Miner described some of the bizarre rituals and practices of the “Nacirema” which the reader comes to find out that he is talking about North Americans. The way Miner goes into detail about how these people live makes them seem foreign. Thus making the norm for an American lifestyle seem odd because the certain type of lingo Miner uses to make this “tribe” more exotic then the actually are. His point in doing this is to show the reader how obnoxious anthropologist can be when they are explain a different culture.
After reading Laura Bohannan’s Shakespeare in the Bush and Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, a common theme presents itself between the two articles. Ethnocentrism, particularly within the U.S., is elucidated through the actions of Bohannan while in West Africa, and the reaction of any American reading Miner’s piece about the “magical” Nacirema culture. In Bohannan’s piece, she struggles to prove that Hamlet is a universal story that any culture can easily understand. She speaks to the elders of the Tiv people, and is shocked to conclude that they do not understand Hamlet the way Americans understand it. In Miner’s piece, he cleverly presents the idea of the culture of the Nacirema people who are sadistic in nature, and lack logic
In Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” he describes various habits and traditions the Nacireman people go through in everyday life and throughout the year. Miner also describes different places and how the people interact with each other as a society. While describing some of the customs, he points out how barbaric and sometimes inhumane the rituals are. Another reoccurring topic is the Nacireman people’s ideas of beauty and what ways to make themselves better looking. Miner concludes with the fact it is arduous to understand a different culture other than our own when only looked at face value.
Horace Miner in 1956 wrote the satire piece, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" describing the natural human in the 1950s as a tribe that were obsessed with what their bodies looked like going to the what seems as the extremes for perfection. Two of these satires were the "shrines" which in short are bathrooms and describes going to the bathroom as, "the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. " The underlying belief to why the bathroom is kept a secret to others it’s a way that a human can get the "disease" and ugliness out of them without facing anyone. Miner talks about the medicine cabinet behind a mirror describing it as box or chest built into the wall.
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.
The fact that Coalhouse exhausted all his legal means of obtaining justice before resorting to the violence that would later be associated with him led to anger being pent up inside of him. He acted respectful, and throughout his initial push for revenge he demonstrated exceptional patience towards others. However, his very persistent and exceptionally optimistic view of American society proved to be the nail in the coffin for his descent into violence. Father observed that Coalhouse’s insistence on impossible justice was such a foolish thing to have happened. In fact, society viewed Coalhouse’s plight as “his fault, because he was Negro and it was the kind of problem that would only adhere to a Negro.
Perceptibly, these sexual encounters endure as commonly accepted, apparently being widespread in the populace. Due to this detestable undertaking, numerous scholars write, “There having arisen, in former days, a pestiferous disease that existed due to the evil of the deity Pan, where the people became addicted to strange rites in their worship of goats.” Notably, this uncleanness
Some of those rituals are avoiding exposure of their body and bathing in secret. They believe that the body is an ugly thing. In order to make it better they have to perform a ritual and ceremony. Many of their homes have multiple shrines dedicated to this purpose. The more powerful
The practice of modifying one’s skin as a means of expression has been active for as long as 5300 years (Haskings-Winner, Collichaw, Kritzer, & Warecki, 2011). However, in modern day societies the stigma against body modification, including tattoos is still prevalent. To understand why people of a North American influence would subject themselves to this potential undermining, one must first uncover what motivates a person to permanently enhance their skin. Primarily, research into the topic, history, traditions, modern meanings, was conducted using printed resources, online databases, and online-published journals. Notes and condensed summaries of said research was used to create survey questions and a general audience was decided.
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