Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

This handout tells the story of the Nacirema people and their rituals associated with the quest to keep their bodies in good shape.  It attempts to describe the actions of these people in an objective manner.  The reader eventually realizes that the author is describing the American Culture and that Nacirema is American spelled backwards.

I believe the meaning for this work it that people who are studying a culture have a difficult time looking at their own culture because they do not have an objective viewpoint.  This is because they look at culture through their own frame of reference and accept those rituals that they have become accustomed to.

Notes Form

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner (Handout Packet)

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