I think this article actually refers to Americian. The author spelled the key words backwards, like Nacirema and Notgnihsaw. Although the author used different way to describe our daily activities, we still can see some similarities from the article. Also, I agree with you that the words the author used to describe each activity make it stranger and let people think this is a barbaric nation. We have the same things in our society, but if we are in the different situation or view our culture in the different way, people’s attitude would change and that’s why the differences exist.
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” –Marcus Garvey. The U.S. is a combination of many cultures and influences over the centuries and because of this we are alike to many of them. We could name many of these influences: the Greeks, the Chinese Dynasties but the Romans were particularly like us. We might see them as barbaric is some ways but the reality is that the U.S. takes pages from many areas of the Romans, and comparisons could be drawn between both of us. Examples include government, our religions, and in some ways entertainment. The U.S. is much like the old Roman Empire was more than a millennium ago
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.
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
It seemed like the author made many jumps from the evidence that they supplied and the conclusion. Throughout this essay, the author mainly focuses on how the authorities view the Pachucas, like how authorities thought they were involved with gangs, that they dangerous and violent, that they committed many crimes. And how the authorities reacted to this, how they sent these young women to juvenile detention centers and blamed the families for the girls being this way. The author does not focus on how the Pachucas effect their community. While the author briefly touches on how the families felt about the Pachucas and how the parents would react when their daughters would first start acting and dressing in this way, the author does not address how the Mexican American community went from the feelings of shame, dishonor and disapproval of the Pachuca fashion, attitudes, and actions to just accepting this part of the new Mexican American women. It seems that the author made too many leaps without actually showing the thought process behind it or providing enough evidence of this in the
At the beginning of the essay, Anzaldúa recounts a time when she was at the dentist. He told her, “We’re going to have to control your tongue” (33). Although he was referring to her physical tongue, Anzaldúa uses this example as a metaphor for language. The dentist, who is trying to cap her tooth, symbolizes the U.S. who is similarly seeking to restrict the rights of minority groups. Nevertheless, the tongue is preventing the dentist from doing his job. Likewise, there are several minority groups who refuse to abide to the laws of dominant cultures and are fighting back. Anzaldúa also touches on a personal story that happened at school. When she was younger, she was sent to the corner because apparently, she spoke back to her Anglo teacher. The author argues that she was unfairly scolded because she was only telling her teacher how to pronounce her name. Her teacher warned her, “If you want to be American, speak American. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong.” This short story provides an understanding of what Anzaldúa’s life was like. It demonstrates how even at a young age, she was continually pressured because of where comes
The article equips the reader with the tools needed to better understand other cultures, in terms of their own beliefs and rituals. Miner’s original approach does create a certain level of confusion that forces the reader to critically evaluate his purpose. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner ultimately brings people together, by illuminating the eccentricities present in all
When comparing the North American society with that of the Waknuk society to determine whether the environment shapes our perception, the answer becomes transparent. Our perception is forever changing due to the environment. In everyday life our family, our education, and our opportunities change our perception. We do not know what is right until we learn alternative sources and develop an opinion on life. Through growing up, our family, education and experiences work to persuade our opinions and alter our perception in everything we do. Our perception can be changed through life as we grow, learn new ideas and gain new experiences, but through the duration of our childhood, our perception is molded into an everlasting building block for our future.
In the article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner, the author describes that the Nacirema civilization connected by their social believe through the mythology of their cultural hero. According to the analysis of the author, the Nacirema culture uses different people to maintain their social believes and exercise their power to create social solitary. The people of Nacirema society believes their civilization was originated by a cultural hero, and they believe they should follow their rituals in order to survive (2, Miner). In my view, the peoples of Nacirema were connected by the tales of their religion. However, the people outside their religion might disagree their tradition, but the believe system of Nacirema still help this
Writer Tariq Ramadan once said, “Cultures are never merely intellectual constructs. They take form through the collective intelligence and memory, through a commonly held psychology and emotions, through spiritual and artistic communion.” This quote makes a valid point: culture has a major influence our opinions, art, and mind. Where we come from, where we live, who we’re around, and the values of the world around us shape who we are. In the stories Everyday Use, Two Ways to Belong in America, and Ethnic Hash, the idea of the influence of culture, whether it’s ours or someone else’s, is presented.
Therefore, a difference that they had between both articles were that one of the article is professional talking formal and used facts and the other article is unprofessional talking informal talking about food and opinions. Also Trumbull stated that” Most of the time, our own cultures are invisible to us ( Greenfield, Raeff,& Quiroz,1996 ; Phillips, 1983), yet they are the context within which we operate and make sense of the world”(Trumbull, P.5). Like Williams had stated, “It didn’t sound like Edna or Myrtle,” she says, as though that explains anything”,( Williams,P. 2). These two articles are different because first Trumbull’s article has a confident and direct tone because she was citing from different people and websites which makes her details credible and also she was direct with the facts and statements about everything. But Williams article was more interesting and admiring because she was just really talking about her parents culture which she seemed very interested and was admiring the culture and different traditions. Therefore, another difference these articles had was how they talked about culture and heritage. To begin with Trumbull stated,”This is the reason that stereotypes do not hold up: no two individuals from any culture are exactly alike. While living inside a culture allows members to become familiar with the total cultural heritage of that society, no individual
Growing up in an American society, we are surrounded by certain customs and mannerisms. We pay little attention to them, as they have been ingrained into our society and is apart of our everyday lives. It is when a new culture or society gets thrown into the mix that we notice the different customs. Our first reaction is to think their way is wrong or weird, but when you take a step back you realize that it’s not weird at all, in fact it is as natural as breathing. They are from a different country, therefore they have different customs and way of living. To them, our ways are just as strange.
Moffatt, Michael. "Ethnographic Writing About American Culture." Annual Review of Anthropology 21 (1992): 205-29. JSTOR. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
This leads into the past and current methodological approaches in studying American culture and what different authors have to say.
In the end, what we learn from this article is very realistic and logical. Furthermore, it is supported with real-life examples. Culture is ordinary, each individual has it, and it is both individual and common. It’s a result of both traditional values and an individual effort. Therefore, trying to fit it into certain sharp-edged models would be wrong.