Nacirema - Body Ritual in Anthropology

Effective communication has many aspects that can be described as either transparent or a hidden unknown, which in many readings it describes how ambiguity is a necessary evil in communications. The “Triangle of Linguistic Structure” can give phonology meaning form, semantics the value of meaning, and pragmatics that feature the intention to uncertain communications. The direct statements of saying someone is dead, can be harmful so they use etiquette to give reason to use a buffer and instead say they have moved away. For a literary example I will use “Who am I this time?” by Vonnegut and “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Miner, for both readings use ambiguity to hide an allegory of communication concepts. The “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema What is the precise geographical location of this strange tribe, the Nacirema? The Nacirema is a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, though tradition states that they came from the east.

Theoretic perspectives have been used for years now to try and explain why people behave and interact with others, the way they do. Three common perspectives that are used are structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Structural functionalism is a theory that sociologists use to describe human behavior by studying different institutions and how they correlate with one another and function together within a society. The structural functionalism can be explained using the human body for example. The body is made up of many organs, and each of these organs play a specific role. When the organs (which portray different institutions) operate successfully, they make up a healthy and appropriately functioning body

Therefore, structural functionalism is an assumption “That society is a unified whole” which all parts work together to create stability (Ferris, and Stein, 2016, p. 20). However, the experimental study does not occur with complete cooperation, but it does involve culture. The test includes four hundred syphilitic men along with two hundred uninfected men. In result, the researchers hope to have information about “The natural course of disease until the death” among the ill (Massy, 8th Ed., p. 75). The four hundred men are African American and are in the control of the dominant group. The ones with higher authority, such as the government based Doctors, Researchers, Scientists, and other medical professionals are the “dominant” group in the essay. They all believe in ethnocentrism, “A means or standard by which to

In the essay “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, anthropologist Horace Miner depicts a group of people known as the “Nacirema”, but is referring to Americans, whose cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in the perspective that the human body is prune to sickness and disfiguration. Consequently, a substantial part of their lives is spent on unusual rituals and customs to improve conditions of the body that are filled with magical components. Moreover, Miner uses the Nacirema’s unusual culture to establish his view that we simply could not judge another culture that it is different from our own, as opposed to another anthropologist Malinowski’s point that we can judge another culture since we are

Horace Minor applied satire in his article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema.” to the culture of the American people. Several ways in which “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” relate to the core concepts of sociology are through the use of sociological imagination, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. The American culture is described by Minor in a very unique and humorous way. The author uses satire to examine the rituals that are every day in American culture. The reader thinks at the beginning of the article that they are reading about some uncivilized tribe of people but soon realized that the “rituals” that are being performed are just everyday events that take place in every American household.

In this article, Miner takes the role of an outsider and judges the Nacirema just as we judge other cultures. Miner does an exceptional job of wording things in such a way that we don’t even recognize our own culture. Miner wants us to realize that when someone, such as an anthropologist describes another culture, we can interpret that into being abnormal but in actuality, it is, by all means, very normal.

After reading Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema I cannot say that I would want to be part of the tribe. A huge reason would be that I could never go from my own Christian faith to the religious practices of the Nacirema. My second reason for not wanting to be part of the tribe is that I could never be subjected to the horrific medical practices and “magical potions” used on every citizen in the tribe.

Horace Miner describes the people of the North American tribe the Naciremas as persons “devoted to economic pursuits (Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. Miner. 503.3.2)” and ritual activities of the human body. Miner uses a satirical style, play on words to abnormally describe such cultural upon this tribe. Throughout the text, Miner uses words and or phrases such as: “sadism, masochistic, neophyte, awls, and objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.” Horace Miner, uses those such words and phrases to describe the various everyday rituals conducted by the Naciremas by producing ethnocentrism through the readers of his text.

This study examines Horace Miner’s essay “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema. While using the participant observation approach, he gives us a new perspective on the daily behaviors within this group of people. Exploring ethnocentrism and how we view cultures outside of our own.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of

Are you connected? Many of the native americans are spiritually connected to the world. As conspicuous as it may seem their religion and beliefs are known to be in depth. They have many rituals to do to cleanse themselves from the evil and purify their souls to live in tranquility. They do this to live with purpose and connection.

For this project, a friend and I attended and participated in Shabbat on Friday, November 13th at 6pm. The ritual was held at the UGA Hillel Church and lasted about an hour. Shabbat is a Jewish ritual celebrating a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. According the to the textbook, a ritual is a behavior that is stylized, repetitive, and stereotyped (Kottak). Shabbat is the most important ritual in Judaism. Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and ends at nightfall on Saturday. It is a very cherished time: a time for peace, harmony and tranquility.

A structural-functional approach, also known as functionalists, have a tendency to believe that society functions as one, but it separated into distinct classes to help keep things running as smooth as possible. Many consider this approach to be very

Cultural anthropologists study humans through a descriptive lens called the ethnographic method, based on participant observation in tandem with face-to-face interviews, normally conducted in the native tongue. Ethnographers compare what they see and hear themselves with the observations and findings of studies conducted in other societies. Originally, anthropologists