“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” is important because it demonstrates the problem of representation in ethnography. The purpose of article is to raise the question of how can we study a different culture from the outside and how can we understand our own culture from within.
Table of Contents
What is the point of Body Ritual among the Nacirema?
“Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” is important because it demonstrates the problem of representation in ethnography. The purpose of article is to raise the question of how can we study a different culture from the outside and how can we understand our own culture from within.
What role does the listener play in nacirema culture?
The listener treats people simply by listening to their talk of themselves. Towards the end of “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” Miner adds a few more characteristics of the tribe like “ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat” and a fixation with women breast size.
What does the story about nacirema teach us?
This story is trying to get us to look at our own culture from the outside sine we are always thinking we are normal but other cultures are very strange. When in reality, we are just as strange as other cultures are to us.
What rituals performed by the nacirema seem most outlandish to you why?
Why? The ritual performed by the Nacirema that seems the most outlandish to me is the fact that they believe the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to disease. They go to such extreme measures to make their body not appear ugly.
Who is the most powerful of the practitioners in nacirema culture?
medicine men
What is a ritual in sociology?
Updated November 18, 2019. Definition: A ritual is a formalized mode of behavior in which the members of a group or community regularly engage. Religion represents one of the main contexts in which rituals are practiced, but the scope of ritual behavior extends well beyond religion.
How do our own cultural norms affect our understanding and perception of other cultures?
Other cultures are simply different, but sometimes “different” is unsettling. Our norms affect our understanding and perception of other cultures because they impact our concept of “right” and “wrong.” What is deemed socially acceptable in the United States may not fly in Mongolia or Egypt or Peru, and vice versa.
Is the nacirema a real culture?
The Nacirema are a group of people who live in the territory north of the Tarahuamare people of Mexico. No one knows much about their origin, but traditional legends say they came from the east. Their customs have been studied for many years, yet their culture is still poorly understood.
What is the secret of the nacirema?
The Nacirema have special medicine-men which hold secret knowledge of special substances. These medicine men also function in a central temple in which people undergo brutal practices aimed at “curing” them from illness.
Can you list those aspects of social life in which magic plays an important role?
According to Miner, the magic plays a vital role in the following social aspects of the Nacirema’s lives: Beautification methods of women which symbolizes the fact that the ideal form is outside the range of human variation; and the mouth rite where they believed that strong relationship exists between oral and moral …
What is the ancient secret language?
Doctors. Ancient Code/Secret Language. Refers to the Joke that a doctor’s handwriting is illegible, particularly on prescriptions.
Is nacirema American?
It is obvious at this point that the Nacirema are not some exotic culture, but are in fact American, and that “Nacirema” is just “American” spelled backwards.
What is the holy mouth man?
In the Nacireman culture, there are also people known as “holy-mouth men,” who the people must visit twice a year. A holy-mouth man’s job is to enlarge any holes that decay might have caused in the mouth.
What is the Latipso in nacirema culture?
The latipso – in every community, there is a temple called the latipso where the Naciremas believe they will be healed. Intercourse – this is a very taboo subject in the Nacirema culture. It is a scheduled event, and, sometimes, magical materials are even used to prevent pregnancy.
What is America spelled backwards?
Nacirema (“American” spelled backwards) is a term used in anthropology and sociology in relation to aspects of the behavior and society of citizens of the United States of America.
What made it difficult to identify the nacirema?
The word Nacirema is the word american spelled backwards. It is a term used in sociology to describe the behaviors and cultures of american people. What made it hard to identify who they are? Their cultural believes were complicated and poorly understood by many.
Why do some of the practices and rituals of other cultures seem odd or foreign to us?
Some practices or rituals of other cultures might seem odd to us because we are unfamiliar with the culture and its practices. Since we are used to our own practices it may create a bias when we are exposed to different cultures because we would compare it to our own culture.