Article 30: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
The naive and primitive acts of body rituals in the Nacirema show the rest of the world faith is a truly powerful thing. The way this culture regards the body and then places their faith unquestionably in the hands of their “holy men”, “listeners” and “holy-mouth-men” shows learned behavior at its best; after all, faith is just another learned behavior. Even when things are at there grimmest the Nacirema still look forward to going to the said “holy-men” as if they will grant them everything they need for being healed. Exactly what that is unclear however, are they looking for rights of passage to the afterlife, are they looking for a miracle, what is it they really hope to gain from being mutilated by the “holy-men”?
While growing up Nacirema has its problematic situations, their children hold certain reservations about going to the “holy-men” showing faith in their gut feelings that marvels their adult counterparts. Perhaps if these children had more of a backbone they would be able to stand up for their rights and not attend the “holy-men” for healing. The benefit is undoubtedly longer lives by perhaps improved dental hygiene at the very least.
No matter how different the Nacirema are, they are a beautiful culture that deserves the right to practice their unique faith. The inclusion of this article in the class text is valid to show just how left cultures can be from American culture and still their cultures work for them. The American way is not always the best way and it can be certain the Nacirema would not want to live within the confines of the American culture anymore than any American would wish to throw themselves down at the feet of the “holy-mouth-men” for their semi-annual dentist appointment or the “holy-man” for their yearly physical.
The naive and primitive acts of body rituals in the Nacirema show the rest of the world faith is a truly powerful thing. The way this culture regards the body and then places their faith unquestionably in the hands of their “holy men”, “listeners” and “holy-mouth-men” shows learned behavior at its best; after all, faith is just another learned behavior. Even when things are at there grimmest the Nacirema still look forward to going to the said “holy-men” as if they will grant them everything they need for being healed. Exactly what that is unclear however, are they looking for rights of passage to the afterlife, are they looking for a miracle, what is it they really hope to gain from being mutilated by the “holy-men”?
While growing up Nacirema has its problematic situations, their children hold certain reservations about going to the “holy-men” showing faith in their gut feelings that marvels their adult counterparts. Perhaps if these children had more of a backbone they would be able to stand up for their rights and not attend the “holy-men” for healing. The benefit is undoubtedly longer lives by perhaps improved dental hygiene at the very least.
No matter how different the Nacirema are, they are a beautiful culture that deserves the right to practice their unique faith. The inclusion of this article in the class text is valid to show just how left cultures can be from American culture and still their cultures work for them. The American way is not always the best way and it can be certain the Nacirema would not want to live within the confines of the American culture anymore than any American would wish to throw themselves down at the feet of the “holy-mouth-men” for their semi-annual dentist appointment or the “holy-man” for their yearly physical.
***Spoiler Alert*** The article about the Nacirema is actually an article about Americans written in the 1950's. Some of the examples used of the culture are no longer relevant but the view point is. Here is someone looking at our culture from an outside perspective and this is what/how they saw it. Lesson Learned!
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