The Nacirema

     Every culture is different. As Americans we tend to think of ours as being the best or more correct. We look at and judge other peoples cultures based on our own. This is called ethnocentrism and we all do it...and ALWAYS will. The goal however is to acknowledge that we do it and try to look past it and observe cultures from the point of view of its people.
     Below are a few excerpts from an article titled "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" written by Horace Miner (I know people like to skim through blogs but bear with me and read through it, I promise it has a point!).
     The Nacirema "are a North American group living in the territory between  the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of  Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of  the Antilles. Little is known of  their origin, although tradition states that they came from the east. According to Nacirema mythology, their nation was originated by a culture hero, Notgnihsaw".
     "Nacirema  culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of  the people’s time is devoted to economic pursuits, a large part of  the fruits of  these labors and a considerable portion of  the day are spent in ritual  activity. The focus of  this activity is  the human body,  the  appearance  and  health  of  which loom  as a dominant concern in the ethos of  the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects and associated philosophy are unique. Every house-hold has one or more shrines devoted to this purpose.The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and  disease".
     "The daily body ritual performed  by everyone includes a mouth-rite.It was reported  to me that the ritual consists of  inserting a small bundle of  hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of  gestures."
"practitioners have an impressive set of  para-phernalia, consisting of  a variety of  augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of  these objects in  the exorcism of  the evils of  the mouth involves almost  unbelievable ritual torture of  the  client."
   " ... This part of  the rite  involves scraping and lacerating  the surface  of  the face with  a sharp instrument. Special women’s rites are performed only four times during each lunar month, but what they lack  in frequency  is  made  up  in barbarity. As  part  of  this ceremony, women bake their heads in small ovens for about an hour.  The theoretically interesting point is that what seems to be a preponderantly masochistic people have developed sadistic specialists. "
     I think that after reading this we are all appalled at some if not all of these cultural traditions of the Nacirema. However the BIG SUPRISE comes when.... the Nacirema are Americans. We are the Nacirema. The above article was a satire aimed at american culture and our tendancy to judge other cultures without truly seeing it from their points of view. Just in case you didn't catch on: Nacirema is American spelled backwards, the geographic location (in between Mexico and Canada) is America and their hero (Notgnihsaw) is Washington spelled backwards.
     Reading this article was a huge wake up for me because I (maybe unlike some of you) didn't catch on to the fact that is was a satire until someone told me. I read the article twice...for two different classes....and still didn't catch on. So I had plenty of time to make judgement after judgement on the Nacirema culture. The gory practices such as men cutting their faces and women baking their heads seemed awful and inhumane. However from our cultural point of view men shaving their faces and women using hair dryers at beauty salons is perfectly normal if not expected. Miners article allowed me to experience my own ethnocentrism behavior and become aware of it so that hopefully when I come into contact with foreign cultures I will be able to take a step back from my own cultural lens and view the culture through its peoples eyes.
     I'm posting a link to Miners full article so hopefully you can read through it and appreciate it as much as I did.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1956.58.3.02a00080/pdf