Body Rituals of the Nacirema

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“Body Rituals among the Nacirema I think Hoarce Miners publication of Body ritual among the Nacirema is effective in showing a true example of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. The qualaitive research method done by Professor Lipton made it very clear by many indications that the rituals and strange behaviors the Nacirema exhibit are very much like the American culture. While I was reading about the Naceirema I began to judge the culture and it s behavior. I was appauled and I had to stop a few times to think about what I had just readto gather my thoughts! The rituals of these people were outrageous! I thought to myself, II grew up watching channel 11 PBS, and as an adult the Discovery Channel and the History channel, I have never heard of or seen any tribe or culture like the Nacirema tribe! I wanted to share this paper and expose this weird and strange culture of people to everyone! Some of the points that stood out the most for me in this article was how the Nacirema view the body as “ugly” and how they were consistanly trying to alter and change it, especially when it came to the teeth and mouth. The secret rituals performed in the “shrines” is so mysterious and time consuming in their cultureas well. I was heartbroken when I read how the children were scared of going to the temple because the were afraid they would die there. Could this culture really be so willing to give up their health and well being of their children for the sake of being treated by a medicine man? Another startling discovery was how the Nacirema devoted themslevles to the pain and agony they received from the prestige specialists they call ‘holy mouth men.” I questioned over and over again, Why? Then I recognized the routines the Nacirema displayed and discovered our own American culture is so very similar.Americans deem the body as ugly. We alter the body in many ways

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