The article “The Body Ritual among the Nacirema” gave me a different perspective of how humans look at the human body. I was very shocked and upset because of how much we think the human body is ugly. These people see the body as ugly dirty, and a thing that needs to be hidden and covered. They don’t only think the body is ugly but they think that they must continuously change their body image may it be their teeth breast, whatever it needs to be changed to be seen as prettier. I was able to make distinct connections with the article about some of the changes but I could wasn’t able to connect the painful rituals with body change. I love learning about different cultures and I’m usually not too harsh however, I thought they were much more abusive to their body and unappreciative of it. I could usually watch a video about a Malaysian rural tribe that put metal rings around their neck that makes their neck so thin and long that usually when they are removed their neck snaps however I thought that the Nacirema people’s rituals were worse than that. The Nacirema people practically go to medicine men and can sometimes end up dead because of the extreme changes their trying to do to their bodies and that is just considered to be a part of culture. I was also shocked that the Nacirema people would go to the temple the …show more content…
Some of the painful “remedies” we use to “cure” themselves. We go to the dentist and have them use sharp tools to drill holes to fix old teeth, pull ugly teeth out, put new teeth. We pay lots of money to go to fancy “medicine men” or doctors to have our breast bigger or smaller, our stomach flatter, and our buts bigger. We go to “latipso” or hospitals when we are sick where doctors run test or procedures to help us get better but if we are too sick we can sometimes die right there in the hospital. The Nacirema people are much more like us than we
The “counselor will validate the individual’s experiences”, and “entertain blame of others” for his or her “problems” (Rose, 2015). “Providing analysis”, and “interpretation of what the individual has experienced (Rose, 2015). Similarities and Differences of Indigenous Healing and Western Psychotherapy The similarities of both Naikan Therapy and Western psychotherapy are that they both help individuals with their suffering, and help them to feel better about themselves, and their lives. Both approaches can and have worked together in some form or another.
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
“Rituals and Traditions; It Takes a Tribe,” written by David Berreby and “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” written by Jane Tompkins, both exemplify a typical controversial topic in the United States of America today. The US prides there self on the basis of freedom, and how Americans are made up of individuals with backgrounds from all around the world. Many consider the US to be a “melting pot”, a society where cultures are just blended together and not recognized fully on their own, where as others consider the US to be a “salad bowl”, where people of international cultures hold fast to their traditions and practices and coexist with the cultures around them. Both authors of the readings propose that generally speaking,
In the US., the therapeutic group seldom has approaches to correspond with individuals of societies so drastically unique in relation to standard American society; even a great interpreter will think that it troublesome deciphering ideas between the two separate societies' reality ideas. American specialists, not at all like Hmong shamans, regularly physically touch and cut into the collections of their patients and utilize an assortment of capable medications and meds.
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
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
There is absolutely no way I would ever want to be part of a culture like the Nacirema. I think we can learn a lot about devotion from this culture. They devote their lives to learning and living for what they believe which is very respectful in a lot of ways. However, the practices that require mutilation and torture are not things that I could ever be part of. No society should ever require their people to suffer in order to hold to their beliefs. It is interesting to study cultures so different from ours because it puts a lot of the freedoms we enjoy into perspective.
2. The body as a subject is evincing humanity beyond cultural construction and linguistic formulation.
The body rituals that I had the privilege of reading in this article among the Nacirema people group were extremely shocking. In America we are sheltered from the information on how these other people groups live around the world. We live in a generation were different ethnic food is shocking, let alone something as intense as the practices of the Nacirema group. A portion of the reading, I found extremely interesting, was the Nacirema’s take on their appearances. It seems no matter where you are in the world; apperances always seem to chain people. It was very intriguing to read about how the people go about the care of their teeth. The “holy-mouth- men” was a vivid description of a very unhealthy approach to dental care. A lack of education
In the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by Horace M. Miner, some of these same problems are faced.
When early Europeans arrived in the United States more than 500 years ago, they were surprised to see Native Americans recovering from illnesses and injuries that they considered fatal. In many ways, the Indians' herbal remedies were far superior to those known to the new immigrants. But, for the Native Americans, they had no remedies for the "diseases of civilization," or white man's diseases, such as measles and small pox, which would wipe out thousands of them over the next few centuries. Not
Horace Miner’s article, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, talks about the extraordinary customs that individuals in this particular “tribe” perform. The principal thing that is seen is "Nacirema" and how it is depicted all through the article as a tribe, yet in the wake of perusing the story it turns out to be clear that it is the American individuals that are being examined. Regardless of the possibility that the title isn't a definite indication that it is American in reverse, there are pointers in the story that uncover the subject that is being talked about. As stated in the article, “The magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example of the extremes to which
Miner noted that the Nacirema are 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 (503). Miner makes it sound like this society is miles away from civilization. However, at the same time he also states that this society is in North America. Miner’s tone is so unique throughout the article, it almost sounds mythical. For instance, Miner mentions how a man’s only hope is to avert the ugliness of a human body, only to be powerful influences of rituals and ceremonies (503).