ipl-logo

Analysis Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

466 Words2 Pages

The Nacirema’s are said to be a tribe located between Canada and Mexico. With very exotic beliefs and customs, the Nacirema’s are viewed as vein and selfish. They focus on an obsession and a hatred of the human body. If you have not already figured it out, Nacirema is American spelled backwards. In the essay Body Ritual among the Nacirema, Horace Miner explains American culture and customs which he finds to be very exotic and unusual. Americans are very hard on themselves when it comes to their body image and what others think of them. Horace Miner makes very good points about how we see our self and others.
A ritual can be defined as a ceremony or action that's performed in a certain way. Rituals are different in every religion and cultures.

Show More
Related

  • Shamanism In Paleolithic

    289 Words  | 2 Pages

    This reading is talking about shamanism. Shamanism is a religion practiced in the Paleolithic period. Shaman is a person who is the leader of the religion shamanism. It could be healer, magician, or a person who has knowledge and could travel around the world. A shaman can be a male or female however, not everyone can become a shaman.

    Read More

  • Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    Horace Miner in 1956 wrote the satire piece, "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" describing the natural human in the 1950s as a tribe that were obsessed with what their bodies looked like going to the what seems as the extremes for perfection. Two of these satires were the "shrines" which in short are bathrooms and describes going to the bathroom as, "the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries. " The underlying belief to why the bathroom is kept a secret to others it’s a way that a human can get the "disease" and ugliness out of them without facing anyone. Miner talks about the medicine cabinet behind a mirror describing it as box or chest built into the wall.

    Read More

  • Sacred Boundaries In Etruscan Societies

    591 Words  | 3 Pages

    In class we talked about many issues surrounding the Etruscans and our understanding of Etruscan societies based off of the ruins and artifacts that they left behind. At one point during class we discussed how temples were often built to accent a natural feature such as a stream, river, or a hill. We also discussed the differences between scared and non-sacred boundaries in Etruscan societies. I would like to look back on these discussions for a moment and contribute some new thoughts that I hadn’t necessarily worked out earlier In both the Edlund and the Warden articles they discuss how in Etruscan society everything was sacred and under “divine protection” and that there was no division between the divine and the earthly.

    Read More

  • AVID Induction Ceremony

    432 Words  | 2 Pages

    In your lifetime you can experience, watch, and even help with a ceremony. Ceremonies are formal occurrences for religious and public occasions; usually to focus on one specific thing. There 's basically a ceremony for about everything. Ranging from a Christian baptism to an AVID induction ceremony. There 's a huge difference in experiencing, watching, and helping in a ceremony.

    Read More

  • Body Ritual Among The Nacirema Analysis

    1419 Words  | 6 Pages

    As a western civilization we are guilty of making other cultures seem strange and unrelatable by describing their culture in an exuberant way. However, Miner does an excellent job at executing the description of the “Nacirema” as foreign individuals with him being a American himself. This essay is told from an

    Read More

  • Essay On Yanomami Tribe Religion

    1040 Words  | 5 Pages

    10 BIZARRE TRADITIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD From funny to glory, rituals from around the world could leave one shell-shocked. With innumerable races and ethnicities populating the face of the Earth, the rituals are in plenty and a list of the weird, wacky, unbelievable ones are compiled here. Take a look. 1.

    Read More

  • The Holy Ghost People Sociological Analysis

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    These rituals also create a sense of moral community, in which people conform to, which furthers their purpose and meaning in

    Read More

  • Summary Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

    598 Words  | 3 Pages

    I believe part of the reason a vast amount of the people reading Miner’s book would not recognize America as Nacirema is the language he uses in describing the ways the people do their “rituals”. Many people take medicine, brush their teeth, go to the dentist, and go to the hospital but it is the way they think about it and how Miner describes it that do not line up in their

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the study called Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, the author calls the rituals and ceremonies the people perform “excessive”. They are insane rituals that people in America wouldn’t seem to think about doing. They sound so different, and unusual. As one reads the fieldwork, it raises a lot of questions and concerns. To anyone from another country it would seem these rituals are excessive because of the way they are performed, and the things they use to perform them.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

    746 Words  | 3 Pages

    Horace Miner, the author of “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, used very interesting and descriptive choice of words to describe the routines that modern Americans go through from an outsider point of view. He gives different terms to describe mundane routines, like brushing your teeth, and exaggerate the details as something that is bizarre. Some rituals Miner described as illogical because there was a low rate of success in what they are trying to achieve. This reveals that what determines something to be socially acceptable is not through logic, but only though the popularity of the community. One of the rituals that Miner described as illogical but everyone still do the ritual was the fact that the people kept going to the “holy-mouth-man”, or also known as the dentist, even if their teeth are still decaying.

    Read More

  • Grief And A Headhunter's Rage Analysis

    468 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that ritual is a personal experience and to those within the purpose is apparent, those outside are subject to cultural barriers such as the one described by Rosaldo. I also question the fact that denying rage within grief; one cannot understand these actions, like not knowing love in the matter we as members of a culture that includes non-arranged marriage do could cause those that support arranged

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Whaling

    532 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do you agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption? Answer: I think to certain extend I agree to maintain some level of whaling, I guess that it should only be allowed in the villages that depend of this meat as a main source of food, and it should be banned in places where is only done to seek monetary gain. Do you think the whaling ban constitutes a violation of these nations' sovereignty? Answer: I don't believe that sovereignty should be taken that seriously as it is only an idea and it does not affects peoples life in any way and it is not vital for human kind survival, I do think like I mention on the question below, that if it is an imperative

    Read More

  • Rituals Through Battuta's Travels

    210 Words  | 1 Pages

    Through Battuta’s travels he learned and was shown many rituals of introduction and witnessed many ceremonies. One ceremony that was carried out, was one of Genghis Khan’s descendants he “watched the daily ceremony of this great Mongol King… noting their “handsome robes””. (Gordon, 107). When the Sultan held feast days Battuta went in depth when he described the poets and their costumes. He also described how they give their poems as “They stand up in ridiculous makeup and recite their poems”

    Read More

  • Columbus Day Wedding Ceremony Analysis

    1001 Words  | 5 Pages

    ceremonies and rituals are often unique, varying from every culture. The practice of people participating in rituals and ceremonies date back to the beginning of human civilization. Ceremonies and rituals are usually cultural traditions, but not all. The variations between every culture’s rituals and ceremonies are what gives a group or custom their identity and twist of uniqueness, often giving significance to their ceremonies or rituals. A ritual or ceremony could be as simple as a monthly meeting among co-workers at the nearest bar to gather in fellowship or as significant as a wedding ceremony that hopefully occurs only once in a lifetime.

    Read More

  • Primitive Culture: Primitive Culture

    1030 Words  | 5 Pages

    What does one understand by the term ‘Primitive Culture’? According to various texts and discussions the term ‘primitive culture’ refers to a society believed to lack cultural, economical and technological sophistication. They were relatively isolated, relatively simple social institutions and had slow rate of sociocultural change. In these cultures history and beliefs were passed on through oral tradition. There are a lot of things that people might consider culturally primitive, for instance, cultures that lack written language might be considered less culturally sophisticated than the ones that have written language, hunters-gathers might be considered economically backward than capitalised societies.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Body Ritual Among The Nacirema By Horace Miner

Open Document