Nacirema Case Paper

The Nacirema case study reminds us how cultural rituals were umteen socio-economic classs ago and how some of them be still existing today. The Nacirema kinsperson has many unconventional practices of how they live day to day. From the article Body rite Among the Nacirema, it is clear that they believe their bodies are non attractive and should non be presented in a promiscuous authority. Professor Linton documented the North American Tribe who think their bodies as naturally disgusting. They perform perfunctory sorcerous rituals to their bodies to prevent it from being decayed or diseased in anyway. some of the rituals use potions, c prostitutes and physical suffering.One ritual they focused on was the integrity that was concerning the sing. The Nacirema tribe believed that there is a strong relationship between their mouth and their social life. If they did not perform the oral rituals, it was correlated to them losing their friends and families. They perform a daily m outh-rite which is d bingle by inserting a magic bundle of rat hairs into the mouth, along with certain wizardly powder, and consequently mournful the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures. (Allard 20) This body ritual is performed daily by either wiz in the Nacirema Tribe.If I was to relate this ritual to something kindred in the American culture, I would relate to people brushing their teeth every break of day. The bundle of hog hairs ( graceful disgusting to put in your mouth) is the same as the American toothbrush. The magic powder is similar to the toothpaste and the action of moving it in a series of formalized gestures is the same as us moving our toothbrush around our mouth to brush our teeth (Im pretty sure everyone has a routine of how they brush their teeth every morning I know I do). Along with that, the people also rag the mouth-men voluntarily once or maybe twice a year for torturous mouth rituals.The holy-mouth-man enhances any existing holes in t he persons teeth by using crude tools and then draw outs to fill the holes with wizard(prenominal) materials. These magical materials that are placed into the holes of the teeth are used to dot their teeth from decaying and to draw friends closer. What impress me is that even if these people did not choose any naturally occurring holes in their teeth, the holy-mouth-man would gauge out normal teeth to purposely make holes in the guests mouth. He would then follow through to weft them with the magic materials. Part of this ritual is similar to the American culture of visiting the dentist. It is recommended for people to visit the dentist at least once or twice a year. The idea of filling any holes in the teeth fronts like they are talking well-nigh people having cavities in the teeth. In the American culture, dentists use fillers which is similar to the magical material used to fix the holes in the teeth. I am surprised that the holy-mouth-man would proceed to make a hole in a clients teeth even if they are perfectly fine. I sustain that appalling and not similar to the American culture.I also mention it to be strange that these people still visit the holy-mouth-man even though their teeth are not getting any better. They still continue to go through the suffering just to be accepted in the Nacirema Tribe. After reviewing the article by Horace Miner, it is apparent that people of the Nacirema Tribe seem to have a reason for everything they do regardless of whether it is right or wrong or makes intelligence or not. Some of those reasons make sense but the main one that concerns me is why they inflict hurting and harm on one another in these forms of rituals when physical torture is not even required for them.A prime good example would be the one I discussed earlier of making holes in teeth when their teeth are perfectly fine. There is no carry to purposely cause pain to the client to make a hole in their teeth when it is not necessary. This kind of behavior is related to people who are associated with masochism and sadism. Masochism is derived from inflicting pain on one self and sadism is derived from inflicting pain on others. The people are release to the mouth-men to inflict pain on themselves even if they do not need to.What is interesting is that Nacirema is actually American spelled backwards. It brings attention to whether these types of rituals are all wee-wee or fantasy with the terms used such as magic. These rituals would not be accepted in the American culture (in the horrendous way it is described) but it relates to diversity and the acceptance of everyones culture regardless of whether you pull up stakes follow it or not per say. This article is a great example of people during barbaric things which might not be acceptable to one person but is the norm to another.