Full Answer
What is the Nacirema culture?
What does Horace Miner demonstrate about the body?
Where did the Nacirema come from?
Why do women dress when pregnant?
How long do women bake their heads?
What is the fundamental belief underlying the whole system?
How often do you go to the holy mouth man?
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What do the shrines represent in Nacirema?
The shrines are explained as toilets, charm-boxes are medicine cabinets, medicine men are doctors, temples are hospitals, holy mouth men are dentists, men shave their faces while women dry their hair at beauty salons.
What was Miner's purpose in writing about the Nacirema in this way?
Miner's account of the Nacirema—American spelled backwards—was instead a pointed criticism of anthropologists' tendency to hype up the perceived weirdness of other cultures. His aim, as i09 puts it, was to show that "everything that's normal to us seems weird to someone else."
What is the secret of the Nacirema?
The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witch-doctor is unusual in its lack of ritual.
Where is the Nacirema tribe located?
They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east.
Who is Miner referring to as the Nacirema?
In the paper, Miner describes the Nacirema, a little-known tribe living in North America. The way in which he writes about the curious practices that this group performs distances readers from the fact that the North American group described actually corresponds to modern-day Americans of the mid-1950s.
What was the point of Miner's 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.
Who is the culture hero of the Nacirema?
Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east According to Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise known for two great feats of strength - the throwing of a piece of wampum across the river Pa-To- Mac and the chopping down ...
What are the most important values of the Nacirema?
The most important values of the Nacirema are their ceremonies that occur in their shrines and the care of their mouths. 3. Members of the Nacirema society emplify their power and wealth by the magic potions kept in the boxes on the walls of their shrines.
What is the basic focus of Nacirema society?
Nacirema culture is devoted to economic pursuits and ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, the appearance and health of which are major concerns for the people. Many of the Nacirema's traditions are based on preserving bodily health and youth.
What is holy mouth men?
The holy- mouth-man opens the client's mouth and enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. In the client's view, the purpose of this is to stop decay and to draw friends.
What impression is Miner giving of the Nacirema?
Miner concludes that the Nacirema are "magic ridden people" whose survival is bewildering. Though Miner never discloses it in the article itself, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" is a satirical account of American society itself.
What are the most important values of the Nacirema?
The most important values of the Nacirema are their ceremonies that occur in their shrines and the care of their mouths. 3. Members of the Nacirema society emplify their power and wealth by the magic potions kept in the boxes on the walls of their shrines.
Body Rituals Among the Nacirema Summary - Free Essay Example
The Nacirema culture believed that practices that most people wouldn't even think about. They were found in North America around the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. This culture believes that the human body is unappealing and naturally weak. The Nacirema
Summary Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner
Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” has many rituals that seem bizarre but are a reflection of their beliefs and what they think is the proper way to address their imperfections be it the way they look, the condition of their health, or their beliefs in attaining luck or fortune.
Analysis Of Horace Miner's “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema”
This article is important because it highlights the problem of representation in ethnography. After reading this article, one wonders how is it possible to be an outsider and observe another culture without a biased opinion or how is it possible to understand our own culture within.
Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Essay | Bartleby
“Body Rituals Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner’s ethnography based passage centers on the isolated land of Nacirema. There, anthropologist studies studied the “odd” behavioral rituals and cultural norms that the Nacirema people have such as drilling holes into the mouth and a charm box the people bow their heads into.
Body Ritual Among The Nacirema - Free Essay Example | EduZaurus
The Nacirema are an unusual North American culture. According to Horace Miner, one of their main characteristics is “the human body, the appearance, and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos of the people” (Miner, 1956).
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner | Goodreads
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What do the Nacirema believe about the mouth?
The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber. The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite.
What happens when a supplicant enters the Latipso?
The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions. Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household shrine, where they are ritualized as part of the body-rites. Psychological shock results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso.
What is the difference between a man and a woman who find themselves naked?
A man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excretory act, suddenly finds himself naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a sacred vessel. This sort of ceremonial treatment is necessitated by the fact that the excreta are used by a diviner to ascertain the course and nature of the client's sickness. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men.
Where did the Nacirema come from?
Professor Linton first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still very poorly understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Creel the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east.... Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which as evolved in a rich natural habitat.
What is the power of a listener?
There remains one other kind of practitioner, known as a "listener." This witchdoctor has the power to exorcise the devils that lodge in the heads of people who have been bewitched. The Nacirema believe that parents bewitch their own children. Mothers are particularly suspected of putting a curse on children while teaching them the secret body rituals. The counter-magic of the witchdoctor is unusual in its lack of ritual. The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember.
How long do women bake their heads?
As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists. The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size.
What is the ritual of hog hairs?
It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures. In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year.
What is the Nacirema culture?
Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labors and a considerable portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human body, ...
What does Horace Miner demonstrate about the body?
Here Horace Miner demonstrates that “attitudes about the body” have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema society . The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different people behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs.
Where did the Nacirema come from?
Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east. According to Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw, who is otherwise known for two great feats of strength—the throwing of a piece of wampum across the river Pa-To-Mac and the chopping down of a cherry tree in which the Spirit of Truth resided.
Why do women dress when pregnant?
When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants. Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people.
How long do women bake their heads?
As part of this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour. The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists. The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size.
What is the fundamental belief underlying the whole system?
The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man’s only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony.
How often do you go to the holy mouth man?
In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or twice a year. These practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these items in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man opens the client’s mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes. If there are no naturally occurring holes in the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the supernatural substance can be applied. In the client’s view, the purpose of these ministrations [6] is to arrest decay and to draw friends. The extremely sacred and traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holy-mouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay.
