American Culture Reaction PDF

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Jesus Redemption And Ethics...

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Hi my name is Makenna Gervais and this is my American Culture Reaction Video to the article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” for my Communication-263 class at GCU. The article talks about the Nacirema culture, which is America spelled backwards, so that we can view it from an outsiders perspective. After reflecting on the depiction of American culture in the reading "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" by Miner from Topic 1, record a 5-8-minute reflection video about American culture. 1. Your video should start with 1-2-minute reflection on your reaction to the article and how it depicted American culture. a) I think the article was an interesting way to force us to view America from an outside perspective. We get so caught up in thinking that our culture is the only culture, but reading this article shows us that we’re not it. I think it’s a great reminder and it’s a great way to pop us back into a little bit of reality. b) I think it’s interesting the way they describe doctors and therapists. They describe therapists like they’re “witch-doctors” but they’re able to exorcise demons out of people’s heads which seems more like a priest thing to do. I do agree with the description of the hospitals though. You go in hoping that they can fix you, but with no real certainty that you’ll walk out again depending on your condition. And everything is so expensive (all the gifts that you must leave behind). c) One of the things that I’m not really sure about though, saying that women don’t nurse their infants. Considering this article was written in the 50s, maybe that’s what the women of high power did because they’d have wet nurses and such, but I didn’t really think that the poorer women would have someone else nurse their child. d) It depicted American culture like they were crazy in my opinion. It makes them seem barbaric and like they’re horrible people. So self-centered and focus on fixing the ugly parts about themselves. It does talk about cosmetic surgeries though (breast implants and reduction) which is a few popular things nowadays. 2. Then take about 2 minutes to describe a communication pattern, practice, ritual, or event in your culture as it might be seen from an outside observer (not one that is addressed in the article). Explain how this communication pattern, ritual, or event is connected to a U.S. cultural worldview or values a) Something that is becoming more popular in our culture, is tattoos. Young kids like myself are finding more and more of an attraction to tattoo things on ourselves. This is not something that was practiced heavily until more recently and there’s still a lot of the older generation is very against it. b) But there’s some cultures, some Native American cultures like Samoans, that use tattoos as a way to symbolize accomplishments or their status of rank. c) The ancient Greeks used tattoos from the 5th century on to communicate among spies; later, the Romans marked criminals and slaves with tattoos

3. Next, spend 1-2 minutes describing how this pattern, practice, ritual or event has changed throughout history. a) Early 1910s, 20s, 30s: tattoos were mainly seen on people that were deemed “other” ie sailors, circus freaks, prison inmates, etc. Sailors used tattoos as a way to document their travels, popularizing nautical tattoos like anchors. Other tattoos had specific meanings in the nautical community: a swallow tattoo meant that a sailor had traveled 5,000 miles, and a turtle told people they’d crossed the equator. They were also uncommon because “they hurt” because they just used the stick & poke method. b) 1940s: they boomed with women getting more to support the USA and men got them to show off their time in the armed forces. c) 1950s: went back to being “bad” because people wanted a more conservative society d) 1960s: peace sign SOARED through this time and it was a sign of rebellion because people weren’t happy with the Vietnam War e) 1970s: they became more intricate and bigger. f) 1980s: tattoos as a form of self-expression g) 1990s: women used them for mastectomy scars and more feminine types came about h) 2000s-now: they’re more popular but some people still shame us kids for having them. 4. Finally, spend 1-2 minutes, briefly share your evaluation of these changes as beneficial or detrimental to U.S. culture. When evaluating the change as beneficial or detrimental, include at least one verbal citation of a credible or authoritative source that supports your evaluation. a) Christian’s find this change to be a bad thing. The bible states in Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.” So lots of us, including myself would be going to hell for that one. b) I think it’s been a beneficial thing because it allows us to express ourselves just like our music, our clothes, or literally anything else that we did that separates us from society. Also, someone once decided that tattoos are bad or unprofessional and it’s ridiculous that we’ve just decided to listen to them instead of making tattoos normal or at least acceptable. Submission: Upload to YouTube.com creating an unlisted video link to share with professor. (Cannot be private.) See the "Uploading A Video To YouTube Guide" course material for instructions....