Nacirema Summary

In this article, Miner takes the role of an outsider and judges the Nacirema just as we judge other cultures. Miner does an exceptional job of wording things in such a way that we don’t even recognize our own culture. Miner wants us to realize that when someone, such as an anthropologist describes another culture, we can interpret that into being abnormal but in actuality, it is, by all means, very normal.

The Salisbury Essay’s main purpose for being written was to show the reader how the certain patterns of the early Natives of North America shaped the continent into what it is today. Before the contact of Europeans, the Natives were a very intelligent and organize group of individuals that started trading goods and riches before the Europeans ever thought they could be able to. Archaeologists believe that the first main group of Natives that started all of the beginning patterns of the Natives and even 10 thousand years before Columbus landed was the Cahokia Indians.

The, “Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers”, is a ethnography written by anthropologist Edward Schieffelin, derived from his fieldwork with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. The main focus of the book of the book is how many of the fundamental notions that are implicit in Kaluli culture are found in the Gisaro ceremony, which Schieffelin uses as, “a lens through which to view some of the fundamental issues of Kaluli life and society” (p1).

Within this passage, Mann explains how the loss of Native America to the havoc of European arrival robbed the world of numerous advanced societies, who had not only developed the land itself, but also had explored the fields of politics, literature, religion, and science. Furthermore, in order for the Native Americans to nurture such advanced ideas, they also must of have settled in the Americas thousands of years prior to originally believed. Thus, the thesis of the book is that the societies that existed in times before European integration were great in number, early in arrival, and sophisticated in

According to Miner, Nacirema is a little-known tribe living in the North America territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Terahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.

This ritual unlike the savage reservation is more pleasure based and Different from the Savage Reservation citizens of Brave New World are offered a stable and community

"Their (Natives) present condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies…By persuasion and force they have been made to retire from river to river and from mountain to mountain, until some of the tribes have become extinct and others have left but remnants to preserve for a while their once terrible names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by destroying the resources of the savage doom him to

Horace Miner describes the people of the North American tribe the Naciremas as persons “devoted to economic pursuits (Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. Miner. 503.3.2)” and ritual activities of the human body. Miner uses a satirical style, play on words to abnormally describe such cultural upon this tribe. Throughout the text, Miner uses words and or phrases such as: “sadism, masochistic, neophyte, awls, and objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.” Horace Miner, uses those such words and phrases to describe the various everyday rituals conducted by the Naciremas by producing ethnocentrism through the readers of his text.

The author’s purpose in writing this article was not to show the “Nacirema” as an example of how extreme human behavior can become, but how an outside perspective can affect your perception of an alien culture. If one were to look at the “Nacirema’s” cultural behaviors regarding physical appearance and health without any insight or knowledge of the specific beliefs or values of that culture, they might seem bizarre and even incomprehensible. By showing behaviors and “rituals” performed by this unknown tribe, Miner allowed others to see that the way studies were representing distinctive cultures was narrowminded and defective. Without the proper comprehension of the basis of any society, huge cultural misunderstandings could occur. Of

Often, these people would feel ignored or even spat upon. The Explorer recognizes this, capturing their feelings. The fear discussed shows just how real and terrifying this experience and time period was.

With Captain Narita's daily inspections, when the war is over and the Japanese leave, and when they are trying to find there mother. At the beginning of the book when Captain Narita and his men came for they're inspection, I was feeling curious that day. "Mother had always told me to go quietly inside whenever Captain Narita and his men came to the house, but this time I just stood there and looked at him" (Choi 6). It shows that Sookan was curious and that she would sometimes take chances, this is important because she dose this throughout the book. In the middle of the book Kisa came back from the nuns with medicine and some news. The was over and the Japanese were leaving, but the Russians started coming into Korea. "we better lock the

Fresleven is described as "the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs" and yet apparently has no qualms about savagely beating a village chief over a minor dispute. As Marlow journeys further upriver, it becomes clear that Fresleven’s story is far from being outside the normal realm of what to expect on such expeditions. Physical acts of violent cruelty toward the natives is an everyday practice of the Europeans who decided to venture out into the savage lands of the Congo. Beyond this, the local Europeans seem to harbor a deep and ungrounded loathing of the natives without any true cause of such resentment. One character, who Marlow even admires, goes so far as to say that “one comes to hate those savages-hate them to the death.”

There are still people in this world who have no idea that civilization exists.On the remote islands in the Bay of Bengal live mysterious tribes. The five-foot high black skinned Andaman islanders are rumoured by sailors to be cannibals. Their origins are mysterious, but this film, “First Out of Africa” directed by Peter Getzels, reveals how modern DNA analysis suggests that these ancient people have close links to being the explanation of the evolution of modern man and Africa, from where they have been separated for 100,000 years. In this documentary I am expecting there the be detailed explanations of some of the cultures more interesting or striking characteristics. It is vital for a documentary to include material that really grabs and keeps the viewers interested. Throughout the entire length of the film there is hope that I will not only be entertained but also inclined to learn more about the Andaman Islanders culture. A powerful documentary should always entice the viewers to be inclined to learn more about the subject that is being focused on in the documentary. Being that most documentaries have a clean and understandable narration, I am expecting a sufficient narration of this documentary as well. Proper narration is crucial in a successful documentary. A clean narration helps the viewer feel more involved in the film and assists them in getting a better understanding of the documentary. There was

The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians [Natives] on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind -such were our ancestors. . . . They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch;

The first time I had met a native was while walking to the bathroom. I had made the innocent mistake of greeting her good day. She turned her gaze towards me to smile amiably and proceeded to regurgitate a slew of information at me. I registered a few words in the midst of my bewilderment, but most of her language was obscure and convoluted — the kind in the English lexicon one would find buried in a dictionary, and after five continuous minutes of the woman 's monotonous voice, I hastily bade her goodbye and shuffled past her.