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Essay on native american religion vs christianity
Nacirema cultural rituals or beliefs
Native American Church Religion
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Would you want to live among the Naciremas? Why or why not?
After reading Horace Miner’s Body Ritual Among the Nacirema I cannot say that I would want to be part of the tribe. A huge reason would be that I could never go from my own Christian faith to the religious practices of the Nacirema. My second reason for not wanting to be part of the tribe is that I could never be subjected to the horrific medical practices and “magical potions” used on every citizen in the tribe.
One of the fundamental beliefs of the Nacirema is that “the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease.” According to the Christian tradition, the human body is fallen and is therefore prone to disease and weakness; so in that respect, I do not completely disagree with the Nacirema. However, they seem to take the ugliness of the body to a whole new extreme. Their fascination with the mouth is extremely interesting. In today’s society we don’t necessarily see the mouth as an evil device, but more as a tool for communication and sexuality. The relationship between oral and moral characteristics is an interesting way to see the world. I had a lot of cavities before the age of 16, and I can honestly say that I wasn’t an overly evil child; it’s just a byproduct of not brushing and too much sugar. The Nacirema seem to read a lot into things that are just repercussions of a life lived.
The medicine men seem to be taking extreme advantage of the people he is supposed to be taking care of. They seem to be out for more selfish pursuits as opposed to really sincerely helping the people. I could not believe that the sick had to give gifts before they could be “helped” and after they were “helped.” The fact that they experienced immense...
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...ianity in America is one of the “easiest” religions to pursue and to live. But people, in and out of the faith, still do not see any need for it. So I can honestly respect the Nacirema for their devotion and accountability to their faith even if I don’t really agree with what they are doing it for.
There is absolutely no way I would ever want to be part of a culture like the Nacirema. I think we can learn a lot about devotion from this culture. They devote their lives to learning and living for what they believe which is very respectful in a lot of ways. However, the practices that require mutilation and torture are not things that I could ever be part of. No society should ever require their people to suffer in order to hold to their beliefs. It is interesting to study cultures so different from ours because it puts a lot of the freedoms we enjoy into perspective.
People trust doctors to save lives. Everyday millions of Americans swallow pills prescribed by doctors to alleviate painful symptoms of conditions they may have. Others entrust their lives to doctors, with full trust that the doctors have the patient’s best interests in mind. In cases such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the Crownsville Hospital of the Negro Insane, and Joseph Mengele’s Research, doctors did not take care of the patients but instead focused on their self-interest. Rebecca Skloot, in her contemporary nonfiction novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, uses logos to reveal corruption in the medical field in order to protect individuals in the future.
“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner was a very interesting read. It took me a while to actually, fully understand the meaning of the article. The first time that I read through the article I was dumbfounded on how strange the rituals described in the article were. I genuinely thought that the author was describing a very primitive culture found in a remote area of the Americas and did not have the slightest clue that the author was talking about the American culture found in the United States. Originally, the article made me wonder how, in such an advanced world, there could still be such a primitive culture as the one described in the article. The article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner opened my eyes to how another person may look at the American culture and how strange it may seem to them.
Almost doctors and physicians in the world have worked at a hospital, so they must know many patients’ circumstances. They have to do many medical treatments when the patients come to the emergency room. It looks like horror films with many torture scenes, and the patients have to pay for their pains. The doctors have to give the decisions for every circumstance, so they are very stressful. They just want to die instead of suffering those medical treatments. In that time, the patients’ family just believes in the doctors and tells them to do whatever they can, but the doctors just do something that 's possible. Almost patients have died after that expensive medical treatments, but the doctors still do those medical procedures. That doctors did not have enough confidence to tell the truth to the patients’ families. Other doctors have more confidence, so they explain the health condition to the patients’ families. One time, the author could not save his patient, and the patient had found another doctor to help her. That doctor decided to cut her legs, but the patient still died in fourteen days
Human needs are similar- health, physical appearance, human body and economic resources to meet these needs. Nacirema culture bears some semblance to more civilized culture. While reading this article it seems most of the practices are similar with modern culture. A major difference is the magic, ritual and the crude method of doing things. One of the cultural practices that stood out for me is the “holy-mouth-men” ritual, which seems like what a dentist will do. I also find interesting the diagnostic ability of the diviner.
In the article “Body Ritual Among the Nacerima” by Horace Miner wee see the framework for social construction of the Nacerima culture. The Nacerima fundamental belief is to avert their bodies debilitating characteristics with powerful
Citizenry. His own principled idealism exacerbates the conflict. The well-meaning doctor is publicly labeled an enemy of the people, and he and his family are all but driven out of the town he was trying to save.
In reading one, Body Rituals Among the Nacirema, since this is my second time reading this article this year I have a clear understanding of what the Nacirema tribe believes to be deviant and how they seek to get the deviance out of their daily lives. This community believes that their bodies are deviant, hence men and women would visit a godly like medicine man to perform what we would consider as deviant medical
The article equips the reader with the tools needed to better understand other cultures, in terms of their own beliefs and rituals. Miner’s original approach does create a certain level of confusion that forces the reader to critically evaluate his purpose. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner ultimately brings people together, by illuminating the eccentricities present in all
Although medicine has come along way especially in recent years, there were medicine men and wom...
I had the opportunity to read “Doctors” by Anne Sexton. My initial reaction to this text was that the poem is endearing, Sexton truly grasps the nature of not only doctors but also everyone who is involved with the care of a patient, from the doctors and RN’s all the way down to the CNA’s and Dietary Aids. All work with “herbs” whether it be a Doctor giving out painkillers or a Dietary Aid bringing a warm meal with a smile, all factors go into the “gentleness” and “do no harm” so that the patient will get better.
Medicine men utilize the use of herbs, ceremony, song, stories and prayer to treat each person individually. Medicine men’s healing beliefs advocates a personalized treatment plan for each individual’s unique health problems. Consequently The medicine man is unswervingly devoted to his calling for his entire life, both publicly and privately. Frequently he fasted and his thoughts would reflect upon the supernatural. Publicly his duties were numerous and onerous; dedicated children to the Great Spirit, carried out the setting up of the chief, conferred military honors on the warrior, held leadership positions for war, enforced orders, appointed officers for the buffalo hunts, and when planting the maize he decided on the time to plant.
In the medical community there appears to be a divide between disease-centered care and patient-centered care. Both Charon and Garden, readily acknowledge this. Charon explains how although doctors can boast in their “impressive technical progress,” and “their ability to eradicate once fatal infections,” doctors often lack the abilities to recognize the pain of their patients and to extend empathy (3). Charon further adds that “medicine practiced without a genuine and obligating awareness of what patients go through [empathy] may fulfill its technical goals, but it is an empty medicine, or, at best, half a medicine” (5). Often, doctors fail to remember that their patients are more than just a person with cancer or a congenital heart defect — they are human, a whole person with dreams, aspirations, and fears. According to Charon, “scientifically competent medicine alone cannot help a patient grapple w...
In Horace Miner’s article, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, he talks about a tribe and describes their odd behavior. He tells about how the tribe performs these strange daily rituals and how their peculiarity is extreme, but in fact he is actually speaking of Americans as a whole (Miner). Miner uses this style of writing to more effectively prove his point: that Americans are ethnocentric.
It seemed to be extremely difficult for these patients to be seen by the doctor, let alone get proper long-term treatment. The documentary revealed many instances of short- treatments like pain killers or other medications which resulted in the need for patients to come back for more. One of the patients said that a doctor was supposed to follow up with him regarding treatment for his condition, but one of the workers informed him that it could take over a month for them to get back to him. That was a part of the film that I did not like because many of these patients do not receive the sense of urgency that they would receive at a private doctor. Although the emergency room treats hundreds of people a day, they are still real people who suffer with real pain and obstacles, and it is hard for them to feel like they are being pushed under the rug after being in the waiting room for hours on
There are traditions and or rituals that we participate in year after year, even though we have forgotten what the meaning is or where it has come from. Every one of us has experienced some type of ritual or tradition in some form or fashion. Wedding and marriage rituals and traditions also fall true to this. There are different cultures that celebrate in different ways all over the world. There is a tradition for Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and South America, North America and even Caribbean traditions and Oceania traditions. I suppose there is a tradition or ritual for every corner of our world and for every tribe. I have even seen weddings for animals. Everyone seems to be getting into a ceremony! Within all of these different ceremonies, traditions and rituals have changed over the years. To go back hundreds of years ago, some couples did not even know each other when they were to be married, or paired up by the tribes or royal parents to choose the couple that would best suite the family. Just imagine not even meeting the one that you are supposed to marry and spend the rest of your life with until the day of the ceremony. These traditions were kept sacred and carried out just because that is the way that it has always been done. Most wedding ceremonies would consist of the same rituals and traditions that would be carried on down from generations. Most people doesn’t even know what most of the traditions mean. Unfortunately with time, and more modern ways, these rituals are being changed.