In his essay titled "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema," Horace Miner introduces us to a mysterious tribe of people and their strange daily rituals. According to the author, the Nacirema tribe members subject themselves to various daily tortures and ritualistic behaviors in hopes of achieving the ‘perfect' body. The article mentions several comparisons of the Nacirema tribe habits to the actions of today's society. One of the easily recognizable elements is the extreme mouth rituals referring to today's obsession with oral hygiene. Another example is the fixation with medicine men; a reference to today's fascination with doctors, psychiatrists, and the use of various medications. One of the aspects of today's culture that is similar to the ones …show more content…
mentioned in Miner's essay is the obsession of people with their weight and outer appearance. The issue of weight has always been of great presence in my life. This issue has been present in my home country, Poland, where I grew up as well as in the United States, where I have now lived almost half of my life. While growing up in Europe in the 90s, a picture of the "perfect" image was one of an anorexic runway model. Although my friends and I realized that most likely none us would ever walk the catwalk, we all strived to look as close to our model "idols" as possible. For many of us the harsh dieting, exercise, and at times even starvation paid off as we were reaching our late teenage years as hungry but at least thin, young women. Fortunately, none of us ever developed a serious eating disorder as a consequence of those silly and sometimes even dangerous behaviors. I believe that today's American society has a lot in common with what young Europeans were experiencing in the late 90s, and sadly, this problem is also reflected in Miner's writing. As the author mentions, there are many "rituals" that can help people become either "fat" or "thin" and this could not be further from the truth in today's society. The article about the tribe of Nacirema describes many bizarre behaviors that the members of that society are willing to subject themselves to achieve the perfect image. An idea that is quite reminiscent of our current society's unrealistic body image obsession. I found both of the articles to be interesting and fascinating. I found the essay "Growing up American" by Amparo D. Ojeda to be especially striking as it reminded me slightly of my own experiences. Although I finally settled in the United States when I was nineteen years old, I first started experiencing the American culture when I was only twelve. As we tend to be quite receptive to the changes around us at such a young age, the culture differences did not occur to me largely when I first arrived in the country. The friendly and smiling people, the outspoken children and teenagers, and the overall ‘relaxed' atmosphere were things that appealed to me and that I accepted quite quickly and easily. It was going back home that always made me realize how huge the differences are between my home country (and Europe in general) and the United Sates. In Poland, no one greets each other out loud, nobody smiles when they walk by each other on the street, and the children are polite and expected to hold up to certain standards. The ‘culture shock' was always the worst when going back home. Perhaps because at twelve, thirteen, or fifteen years old the American ‘happy attitudes' simply seemed much more attractive then Polish ‘sad' perspective. As I was reading Ojeda's article, I was reminiscing and comparing her initial experiences with the United States to mine. It was quite an interesting read because I realized how much our age plays a part in how we perceive or experience other cultures and their customs when we are initially exposed to them. As I grew and matured, I realized that it is important to learn, accept, and respect another society's habits and traditions. I no longer compare Europe and the United States. Somewhere along the way I learned that these are two different worlds, and they are best enjoyed when I accept and respect their unique habits and traditions. The article "Slumber Unexplained Landscape" by Bruce Bower was quite eye opening.
As a notorious insomniac, I have struggled with sleep for many years. In today's busy world, it seems that everyone wants to experience what we think is ‘normal,' healthy, and restorative sleep. I think that it is interesting that the sleep industry brings an enormous profit each year, yet most of us do not realize that we might be chasing a goal that we were never programmed to achieve in the first place. Learning that it might be natural for our bodies to wake and ‘meditate' every few hours in the middle of the night was quite fascinating. Upon experiencing such ‘awakenings' myself, however, I have never felt rested or fully restored the next morning as the author suggests our ancestors did. I wish the sleeping routine described in the article would produce a restful night. Unfortunately, however, it does not work in my case. I might some day try the techniques described in the article but for now I will continue to focus on getting a solid and continuous …show more content…
rest. Since I was born and raised in Poland, my first language is Polish.
I did not grow up learning English. My first major experience with the English language was at twelve years old when I visited the United States for the first time. I did not start ‘officially' learning English in school until I was fifteen. However, visiting the US every summer greatly contributed to my acquiring of the language later on in life. The only language that I used and was exposed to growing up was Polish. Nowadays, there are only a couple of my family members that live in the US and speak fluent English. Most of my family still resides in my Motherland, and my mom who does reside in the US does not speak English. Due to these circumstances, I am exposed to both languages on almost daily basis. Speaking fluently in both languages and using them frequently has been an interesting experience in my life; one that still puzzles me, especially when I visit my family in Poland. As mentioned in the article "The War of Words," by Mark Pagel, our native language helps us "affiliate with people with whom we share a distinct identity." This feature is one that I tend to experience quite a bit every time I go back to visit. Not only speaking Polish helps me connect on a deeper level with my family (sharing stories, memories, etc.), but it also helps me feel and remember how it 'feels' to be Polish. Being able to communicate in my own language every time I visit makes me feel 'at home and close to my fellow
Polish citizens; a feeling that I love and cherish greatly. Being bilingual has opened up my eyes to a variety of aspects of life. In the article titled "How Language Shapes our Thoughts," by Lera Boroditsky, the author mentions that people who are bilingual "change how they see the world depending on which language they are speaking." I fully agree with this statement as I have myself experienced perceiving the world slightly differently when I speak in either one of the languages. I especially notice such difference when I am visiting my family back in Europe. For example, I found myself being quite fascinated while watching American news while in Poland. Watching the daily news is a part of my routine in the United States. In fact, often the news becomes just a background noise during the daily activities. But this certainly was not the case back in Europe where watching the American News seemed fascinating and almost ‘exotic.' Another interesting aspect of being fluently bilingual is that my personality and certain values change when I travel to visit my family. As the article titled "My Two Minds," by Catherine de Lange mentions, some studies suggest that our memories, values and personality can change depending on which language we speak. This is certainly true in my case. Another interesting aspect of being able to speak two languages is the occasional change of the accent. I found myself to speak with much ‘harder' Polish accent for a short while immediately after each visit. Finally, one of the best features that come with speaking two languages is the ability to switch back and forth between the languages and thus, having the opportunity to develop quite ample translator skills. Upon reading the article "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Communication," I realized that the miscommunication between males and females due to a vastly different ways of conversing happens around me almost every day. I can think of many examples of such conflicts at work, school, and within my family. One specific example of miscommunication happens quite frequently between my husband and I. Although we do not argue frequently, there had been times when my husband expressed frustration over receiving an answer to his question with a question. Although my husband is a very non-confrontational individual, he had expressed that he "just wanted a simple answer" on multiple occasions. My husband's responses caused to second guessed myself. I thought that I should improve my listening and response strategies, as this "quality" seemed to be bothersome to my husband as well as my boss and my male cousin. That was until I read the above-mentioned article. I was extremely relieved to find out that answering a question with a ‘question' is simply one of the features of women's conversation. I was finally able to explain to my husband that there is a ‘scientific' reason for some of my responses. I also no longer feel guilty while responding in this way to any other male counterparts. Nowadays, I respond with "this is simply my conversation style."
The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into
In Horace Miner’s article, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, he talks about a tribe and describes their odd behavior. He tells about how the tribe performs these strange daily rituals and how their peculiarity is extreme, but in fact he is actually speaking of Americans as a whole (Miner). Miner uses this style of writing to more effectively prove his point: that Americans are ethnocentric.
He describes the American health system and many aspects of the an American’s personal health as inhuman and uncivilized. Simply changing the way a word is spelled makes this culture seem far away and distant but in reality it is the culture in which we live every day. The article, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner makes the readers think about what they know to be true and evaluate how strange the many aspects of their lives
Human needs are similar- health, physical appearance, human body and economic resources to meet these needs. Nacirema culture bears some semblance to more civilized culture. While reading this article it seems most of the practices are similar with modern culture. A major difference is the magic, ritual and the crude method of doing things. One of the cultural practices that stood out for me is the “holy-mouth-men” ritual, which seems like what a dentist will do. I also find interesting the diagnostic ability of the diviner.
The author Horace Miner’s article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” is a comment on the vanity that is present in the American culture. He focuses on a North American Group, which he considers Naciremas which is Americans backwards. Horace Miner demonstrates that attitudes or daily rituals have a convincing sway on numerous establishments in Nacirema society. The writer uses many metaphors to describe this vanity including his statement that “women” try to cover up their impurities by applying makeup in addition to getting surgeries and other things to fix what they think is wrong. However, in reality Miner uses this metaphor to show that the American culture is vain and always tries to fix its faults and mistakes. Basically, Miner uses the
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
In “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, Horace Miner (1956) revisits the rituals of a North American group, the Nacirema, as first described by Professor Linton in the early 1900s. Miner depicts these people as quite vain; obsessive over money, appearance and health. While the economic status of a Nacirema individual is extremely important, nothing compares to the significance of the rituals of the body. These rituals tend to involve various steps that allow the Nacirema people to present themselves to the world in their fittest, most beautiful form. The majority of these rituals are performed by the individual in their own home, in extreme privacy. The body is viewed as a disgusting vessel, in need of constant upkeep to be presentable to others. The Nacirema home contains one or more ‘shrines’, devoted to transforming the body into the definition of health and beauty. The main purpose of the shrine is to hold charms and magical potions, bought from
One of the fundamental beliefs of the Nacirema is that “the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.” According to the Christian tradition, the human body is fallen and is therefore prone to disease and weakness; so in that respect, I do not completely disagree with the Nacirema. However, they seem to take the ugliness of the body to a whole new extreme. Their fascination with the mouth is extremely interesting. In today’s society we don’t necessarily see the mouth as an evil device, but more as a tool for communication and sexuality. The relationship between oral and moral characteristics is an interesting way to see the world. I had a lot of cavities before the age of 16, and I can honestly say that I wasn’t an overly evil child; it’s just a byproduct of not brushing and too much sugar. The Nacirema seem to read a lot into things that are just repercussions of a life lived.
In the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by Horace M. Miner, some of these same problems are faced.
In reading one, Body Rituals Among the Nacirema, since this is my second time reading this article this year I have a clear understanding of what the Nacirema tribe believes to be deviant and how they seek to get the deviance out of their daily lives. This community believes that their bodies are deviant, hence men and women would visit a godly like medicine man to perform what we would consider as deviant medical
Many studies of the role of sleep are partial or total sleep deprivation studies which support Oswold’s restoration theory. One of these supporting studies was Dement’s. He deprived participants of REM sleep and consequently found that they increased their number of attempted REM stages from 12 to 26 over 4-7 nights. During their first uninterrupted night, participants increased their REM sleep by 10% which is known as REM rebound. This suggests the importance of REM and the possibility that the purpose of sleep is to get into REM sleep. The participants reported anxiety, irritability and difficulty concentrating which shows that REM sleep is needed to avoid these affects and enable brain recovery which corresponds with Oswold’s theory. Even so, Dement’s study has low ecological validity, it has low population validity because there were only 8 participants and they were a self-selected sample. Participants would probably have shown demand characteristics because the experiment took place in a lab. It also has low mundane realism because people would not usually sleep in a lab and be interrupted repeatedly.
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the idea that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleep, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during sleep.
Thus we see how medical anthropology studies and provides analysis on the issues of the body, bodily perception, and the representation of the body, as well as meaning and symbolism. Also we see how medical anthropology takes these interpretations and uses them to critique the system’s practices. The biomedical system largely ignores the social aspects of illness, and this does a disservice to the suffering individual it seeks to restore. It emphasizes a biological reductionism which limits the care it can bring to the person it reconstructs as a patient, and in doing so, it discounts the multiple meanings medical symbols can hold for the patient.
Historical archives record famous short sleepers and notable insomniacs—some accounts reliable, some not. When Benjamin Franklin counseled, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” he was using sleep habits to symbolize his pragmatism. Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.
“Twelve Simple Tips to Improve Your Sleep.” (2009, Dec. 18). The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Healthy