Nacirema
Who are the Nacirema and how shall they be defined? The dictionary defines an Anthropologist as a person that studies human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture (Webster 2011). I am not claiming to be an Anthropologist however, from my viewpoint, I am not sure if I am capable of grasping my mind around the concept that “the body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease” explained, (“Horace Miner”, 2005). Unfortunately, the Nacirema people believe that this statement is true based on their culture and their belief system. The Nacirema has a rich and an untraceable culture and practice of ritual system that is not common to Americans. In fact their true origins are very mythical. The Nacirema’s economic society has an inspiring marketplace, which delivers many goods and produce however, the Nacirema also promotes two unique social classes, one of great wealth and the other poor. Regrettably from my thought process, a large portion of this lifestyle - the Nacirema practice rituals that I find to be quiet alarming. I am in no way judging the Nacirema people although, I would like to offer my perspective in one of two ways, the first by identifying one of their ritual/customs and the other defining what that ritual means to me along with our similarities. During the readings of this case study, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, my heart went out to these people and the more I read the article I compared their experiences to my cultural experiences. For each paragraph that I read in the beginning, I placed side notes to describe the Nacirema practices that were possibly similar to my culture. For example: the Nacirema people go to a person for what they term as the ‘holy-mouth-man’. I have compared this to that of a dentist, that I have to visit at least every six months. The first encounter I remember as a child going to the
Cited: Dimsdale, J. E. (2001). The Nacirema Revisited. Annals Of Behavioral Medicine, 23(1), 75. Hagan, F Ellin, N. (2008). Life support: Nacirema redux. Journal Of Urbanism, 1(1), 47-55 Allard, M., & Harvey, C. (2005). Miner, H., Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. Understanding and Managing Diversity (p.19 – 24) Hiebert, P., (1976). Anthropological points of view – Retrieved from website: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/points.htm Visited 05/12/12