Summary Body Ritual Among the Nacirema 1 PDF

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Summary: “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by taylorfauteux This article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” is a satire on the United States of America and the society that has developed. “Nacirema” spelled in reverse reveals “American” and places the perspective of the reader as if one were investigating a native society that is based upon a primitive set of rituals and practices. Horace Miner in his article is attempting to describe a culture and society that is located “in the territory between the Canadian Creel the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles”(1956). The culture of the Nacimera’s is controlled and largely organized by a highly developed market economy, and that is steeped in ritual that revolves around the human body. The main practice of the Nacirema cultural rituals is based upon the premise that the human body is “ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease”. From here, Miner begins to describe the acts of ritual and ceremony that all of the Nacirema practice on their daily lives. A couple of examples include the use of charms and magic potions that are mostly prepared by mysterious practitioners called “medicine men”. This is undoubtedly referring to the large reliance that Americans have on pharmaceuticals that are prescribed by professional “doctors”. Miner continues his description by outlining the medicine men’s’ temple called the “latipso” in which sick people must attend and are obligated to pay a tribute in form of a gift to the “custodian”. While at the “latipso”, the Nacirema are subject to poor treatment and inaccuracies from their medicine men; yet maintain absolute faith in medicine men’s’ ability to cure them from sickness. This is a very apt description of the American hospital and health care system that can be cruelly expensive, inefficient, and misleading. The main goal in Miner creating this study is to force the reader to understand culture and society is based upon perspective and that a description of foreign society doesn’t mean they are lesser than other, just different. Also that individual perspective of societies will change depending on who is looking at a specific culture or society. Lastly, the specific rituals of society are the very fabric that holds society together. Therefore, it is simple to look at the American society in a negative way; however these customs are the American societal values....