Misrepresented Cultures

Misrepresented Cultures

Horace Mitchell Miner spent much of his life educating himself on anthropology before writing his confusing but brilliant article on American culture. He was born in Minnesota and then moved to Kentucky, where he became a museum curator before becoming an associate professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Michigan at one point in his career. Although he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Sociology Department he was not very active due to the fact that his work was mostly field based. For this reason many of his peers did not utilize his expertise. (website) It is also evident that he was an expert in his field by his history in the anthropology field. It is quite possible Miner was offended at the fact no one cared to consult him on issues or discuss things with him, and he wanted to show them that his opinions were worth hearing.

This is probably the reason he proceeded to write the article “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema.” He was quite brilliant in his writing of this article. In it, Miner writes about the people who take human behavior to an extreme, The Nacirema, who present many unusual aspects but yet they are poorly understood. Though their origin is unknown they are a North American group who is devoted to economic pursuits whose days are spent mostly in ritual activity.

According to Miner, these activities are towards the human body. “They believe it is ugly and its natural tendency is to debility and disease.”(Miner) Each home contains at least one or more shrine. The shrines are accompanied in particular rites. The focus of the shrine is a charm box in the wall which contains all the medical potions. Each day every member in the family at different times must bow and perform a rite to this shrine.

Since, they believe the mouth has a supernatural influence and a daily mouth-rite must be performed. Once or twice a year the people seek out the holy-mouth-man. When people get sick the visit a medicine man at their temples called latispos. Many temples will not accept people if they do not give a rich enough gift. Most will not even allow a person to leave if they do not give another gift. The ceremonies involve much discomfort and torture. Another type of person in the culture is called a “listener,” who exorcises devils from children.