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INQUIRY/ CRITICAL THINKING

QUESTIONS
How does our cul tural worl dvi ew i nfl uence
and i nform our percepti on of peopl e from
other cul tures?
How can we be aware of and change our
assumpti ons?
How can we benefi t from understandi ng our
own cul tural worl dvi ew and how i t affects
our rel ati onshi ps wi th other cul tures?
OBJECTIVES
Students wi l l :
Identify and discuss a speci fi c cul tural
group descri bed i n an anthropol ogi cal study.
Writethei r own anthropol ogi cal study on
the same cul tural group.
Discuss cul tural worl dvi ew and how i t
i nforms di fferent cul tural percepti on and
understandi ng of each other.
NATIONAL
STANDARDS
CONSISTENCY
NCSS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
NSES: F
NGS: 6
TIME REQUIRED: 1 hour
MATERIALS
Handout Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, by
Horace Mi ner, 1 copy per student
PREPARATION
Read the short story Body Ritual Among the
Nacirema.
ACTIVITY
1. Have students brai nstorm a l i st of what we
know about a speci fi c cul tural group, focus-
i ng on cul tural practi ces. (Choose a cul tural
group that i s i n the news today or one that
the students wi l l have some knowl edge of.)
2. Have the cl ass read al oud the short story
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. (Do not
tel l them that i t i s a fi cti onal account.) After
readi ng the fi rst few paragraphs, stop and
ask students i f they are fami l i ar wi th the cul -
tural group descri bed i n the arti cl e. Ask
those who are fami l i ar to not reveal what
they know about the Naci rema unti l the cl ass
has fi ni shed readi ng.
3. After readi ng, ask how many students now
know who the Naci rema are. What made i t
hard to i denti fy who they are? How does
Mi nors descri pti on of the Naci rema affect
our abi l i ty to i denti fy them? What are the
techni ques Mi nor uses to descri be the
Naci rema? (He uses a di sti ncti vel y anthropo-
l ogi cal form of observati on and wri ti ng cal l ed
ethnography. I t i s as i f he i s from another
OVERVIEW
Students read a short story about the body-
rel ated ri tual s of a cul tural group cal l ed the
Naci rema (Ameri can spel l ed backward).
Students wri te thei r own short stori es about
ri tual s of the Naci rema usi ng the same l i ter-
ary devi ce as the ori gi nal story, and they di s-
cuss cul tural awareness, assumpti ons, and
worl dvi ew.
KEY ISSUES/ CONCEPTS
Cul tural awareness and assumpti ons
Worl dvi ew
SUBJECT AREAS
Soci al studi es
Geography
Language arts
Envi ronmental studi es
GRADE LEVEL: 912
WHOARETHENACIREMA?
86 2002 www.facingthefuture.org The Curriculum Guide
pl anet and i s merel y reporti ng what he
observes wi thout the benefi t of any under-
standi ng of the cul ture he descri bes.)
4. Brai nstorm other ri tual s of the Naci rema
that mi ght seem odd to someone from anoth-
er cul ture or even from another pl anet. (For
exampl e, pl ayi ng a parti cul ar sport, prepar-
i ng and eati ng food, watchi ng TV, shoppi ng,
goi ng to a party, si tti ng i n a cl assroom, et
cetera.)
5. Have the students wri te a paragraph or two
descri bi ng another ri tual of the Naci rema,
ei ther from the brai nstorm l i st or one they
thi nk of on thei r own, usi ng the same tech-
ni ques Mi nor uses i n hi s story.
6. Have students read thei r paragraphs to the
cl ass and have the cl ass i denti fy the ri tual
descri bed.
REFLECTION
Use the fol l owi ng ques-
ti ons and prompts to
l ead a cl ass di scussi on
about the acti vi ty:
1. Were you surpri sed
when you fi gured
out who the
Naci rema were?
Expl ai n why or why
not.
2. How does Body
Ritual Among the
Nacirema hel p us understand our own
vi ew of other cul tures and how we are
vi ewed by other cul tures?
3. Why do some of the practi ces and ri tual s
of other cul tures seem odd or forei gn to
us? How do our own cul tural norms affect
our understandi ng and percepti on of other
cul tures?
4. What assumpti ons do we make about other
cul tures? What are some exampl es of prac-
ti ces i n other cul tures that we fi nd odd and
hard to understand? (For exampl e, arranged
marri ages, eati ng and prepari ng unusual
foods, ri tual body pi erci ng, ri tes of passage.)
5. Go back to the brai nstorm l i st created earl i -
er about a speci fi c cul tural group. What are
the l i sted assumpti ons based on? How does
our own cul tural worl dvi ew affect how we
percei ve thi s speci fi c group?
6. What techni ques can we use to noti ce when
we are maki ng assumpti ons about others,
and how can we avoi d thi s?
CLASSPROJECTS/ ACTION IDEAS
Have students research and wri te about a
parti cul ar practi ce or ri tual from thei r own
cul tural background and present i t to the
cl ass.
Have the cl ass wri te a pl ay based on thei r
paragraphs about the Naci rema and perform
i t to other cl asses.
Students can research a parti cul ar cul ture
focusi ng on the practi ces that mi ght seem
odd to someone from
another cul ture and
expl ori ng how assump-
ti ons dri ve our vi ews
and bel i efs about that
cul ture.
The Curriculum Guide 2002 www.facingthefuture.org 87
BODY RITUALAMONGTHENACIREMA
Revised from Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner,
American Anthropologist Magazine 58(3), 1956, pp. 5037
T
he ri tual of the Naci rema was fi rst brought to the
attenti on of anthropol ogi sts twenty years ago, but
the cul ture of thi s peopl e i s sti l l very poorl y under-
stood. They are a North Ameri can group l i vi ng i n the ter-
ri tory between the Canadi an Cree, the Yaqui and
Tarahumara of Mexi co, and the Cari b and Arawak of the
Anti l l es. Li ttl e i s known of thei r ori gi n, al though tradi ti on
states that they came from the east.
Naci rema cul ture i s characteri zed by a hi ghl y devel -
oped market economy, whi ch has evol ved i n a ri ch natural
habi tat. Whi l e much of the peopl es ti me i s devoted to eco-
nomi c pursui ts, a consi derabl e porti on of thei r day i s
spent i n ri tual acti vi ty. The focus of thi s acti vi ty i s the
human body, the appearance and heal th of whi ch appear
as a major concern i n the peopl es bel i ef. Whi l e such a con-
cern i s certai nl y not unusual , i ts ceremoni al aspects and
associ ated phi l osophy are uni que.
The mai n bel i ef underl yi ng thi s ri tual acti vi ty appears
to be that the human body i s ugl y and that i ts natural
tendency i s to weakness and di sease. Capti ve i n such a
body, mans onl y hope to avert these characteri sti cs i s
through the use of ri tual and ceremony. Every househol d
has one or more shri nes devoted to thi s purpose. The more
powerful i ndi vi dual s i n the soci ety have several shri nes i n
thei r houses and, i n fact, the grandeur of a house i s often
referred to i n terms of the number of such ri tual centers i t
possesses.
The focal poi nt of the shri ne i s a box or chest, whi ch i s
bui l t i nto the wal l . I n thi s chest are kept the many
charms and magi cal poti ons wi thout whi ch no nati ve
bel i eves he or she coul d l i ve. These preparati ons are
obtai ned from a vari ety of speci al i zed practi ti oners. The
most powerful of these are the medi ci ne men, whose hel p
must be rewarded wi th l arge gi fts. However, the medi ci ne
men do not provi de the poti ons for thei r cl i ents, but deci de
what the i ngredi ents shoul d be and then wri te them down
i n an anci ent and secret l anguage. Thi s wri ti ng i s under-
stood onl y by the medi ci ne men and by the herbal i sts who,
for another gi ft, provi de the requi red charm.
Beneath the charm-box i s a smal l font. Each day every
member of the fami l y enters the shri ne room, bows hi s or
her head before the charm-box, mi ngl es di fferent sorts of
hol y water i n the font, and proceeds wi th a bri ef ri te of
cl eansi ng. The hol y waters are secured from the Water
Templ e of the communi ty, where the pri ests conduct el ab-
orate ceremoni es to make the l i qui d ri tual l y pure.
The medi ci ne men have an i mposi ng templ e, or
latipso, i n every communi ty of any si ze. The more el abo-
rate ceremoni es requi red to treat very si ck pati ents can
onl y be performed at thi s templ e. These ceremoni es
i nvol ve not onl y the mi racl e-worker, but al so a group of
assi stants who move qui etl y about the templ e chambers i n
di sti ncti ve costume and headdress. The latipso ceremoni es
are so harsh that a fai r proporti on of the real l y si ck
nati ves who enter the templ e never recover. Despi te thi s
fact, si ck adul ts are not onl y wi l l i ng, but eager to undergo
the l ong and drawn-out ri tual puri fi cati on, i f they can
afford to do so. No matter how i l l or how grave the emer-
gency, the guardi ans of many templ es wi l l not admi t a
cl i ent i f he or she cannot offer a ri ch gi ft.
The Naci rema have an unreal i sti c horror of and fasci -
nati on wi th the mouth, the condi ti on of whi ch i s bel i eved
to have a supernatural i nfl uence on al l soci al rel ati on-
shi ps. Were i t not for the ri tual s of the mouth, they
bel i eve that thei r teeth woul d fal l out, thei r gums bl eed,
thei r jaws shri nk, and thei r fri ends desert them. They
al so bel i eve that there i s a strong rel ati onshi p between
oral and moral characteri sti cs. For exampl e, there i s a ri t-
ual cl eansi ng of the mouth for chi l dren, whi ch i s supposed
to i mprove thei r moral character.
The dai l y body ri tual i ncl udes a mouth-ri te. Thi s ri te
i nvol ves a practi ce whi ch stri kes the unfami l i ar stranger
as revol ti ng. I t was reported to me that the ri tual consi sts
of i nserti ng a smal l bundl e of hog hai rs i nto the mouth,
al ong wi th certai n magi cal pastes, and then movi ng the
bundl e i n a hi ghl y formal i zed seri es of gestures.
I n addi ti on to the pri vate mouth-ri te, the peopl e seek
out a holy-mouth-man once or twi ce a year. These practi -
ti oners have an i mpressi ve set of tool s, consi sti ng of a
vari ety of augers, awl s, probes, and prods. The use of
these i tems i n removi ng the evi l s of the mouth i nvol ves
al most unbel i evabl e ri tual torture of the cl i ent. The hol y-
mouth-man opens the cl i ents mouth and, usi ng the above-
menti oned tool s, enl arges any hol es whi ch decay may
have created i n the teeth. Magi cal materi al s are put i nto
these hol es. I f there are no natural l y occurri ng hol es i n
the teeth, l arge secti ons of one or more teeth are gouged
out so that the supernatural substance can be appl i ed. I n
the Naci remas vi ew, the purpose of these rel i gi ous func-
ti ons i s to arrest decay and to draw fri ends.
Our revi ew of the ri tual l i fe of the Naci rema has cer-
tai nl y shown them to be a magi c-ri dden peopl e. I t i s hard
to understand how they have managed to exi st so l ong
under the burdens whi ch they have i mposed upon them-
sel ves.
WHO ARE THE NACIREMA?
2002 www.facingthefuture.org

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