My reflection on "Body ritual among the Nacirema"

         When I first saw this essay, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,” by Horace Miner, I assumed it would be a dry essay written by a professor of anthropology about an exotic tribe called Nacirema not much different from the ones in TV documentary programs. Also from the title of the journal, American Anthropologist, I knew it would be from the point of view of outsider. However, as I continued to read, there were points that were strange, and when I reached the end, I recognized the backward spelling of Nacirema is American. However, American here doesn’t mean a nationality, but most modern cultures, including mine. 

             What I found strange while reading was how the tribe was based on a market economy. Most of the tribes that I have seen on the National Geographic were all characterized by a culture in which people preserve their original way of living from their ancestors and every part of their life honors the bond of their community. Unlike other typical tribes, Naciremas focused on economic pursuits and health, and they valued them the most through their unique rituals. For instance, the daily mouth rite of brushing teeth with hog-hair. In addition, they seek out various practitioners such as the holy-mouth-men, medicine men, and listeners. The holy-mouth-men often use sharp tools and jabs through decayed teeth. The medicine men run temples called latipso, where sick people come on their own and practices daily body ritual that also accompanies torture and serious pain. The cure is kept secret through an ancient language that only their vestal maidens can read. (Once, I cracked the code of my medicine man who wrote, “coug” and “fevr.”) They are forced to eat substances, and the medicine men jab needles to their flesh. Lastly, the listeners’ role is to exorcise patients’ mental bewitching from troubled childhood through the listeners’ magical seeming ability (This magic taking as long as seven years of graduate school).

             Just like Nacirema, I certainly perform the rite of brushing my teeth using formal gestures in the same order everyday. (Wikipedia assures that they’re made from synthetic fibers nowadays.) Recently, I went to hospital a lot after hurting my leg to get surgery, and my dad is a “listener.” Certainly, the number of shrines, or bathrooms can tell how wealthy a family is. Everything can seem completely different according to different perspectives. The author Horace Miner uses writing and voice that is very intellectual and distant, which makes the reader also take a distant position. For anthropologists, this reading warns to rethink their approaches to studying other cultures, which may be misunderstandings. From this reading, I have learnt the importance of being cautious of understanding people from different cultural backgrounds. I must not try to understand them within my own standards, but actually move closer to them to understand their own standards. It is also important never to judge people based on their outer looks. Otherwise, it is very likely to misunderstand each other, just as I did even while reading about my own way of living as a Nacirema which I am fully aware of.

             I don't believe Miner is criticizing all modern life like being clean, but he is criticizing modern perspective of aesthetics that often go against what is natural state. I reflected upon myself in what I consider beautiful, which include women who went through plastic surgery or are skinny after doing the unhealthy diets. Lastly, what was also surprising was how this essay was written in 1956. We, the Nacirema, has not changed much since then.