Upon reading the anthropologist Horace Miner’s satirical article “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, one cannot help but be struck with the tone of derision affected by the author. It is impossible to contend with the work without addressing this, for this tone is very much the point. In deciding to impart the necessity of viewing other cultures from a prism devoid of ethnocentrism, Miner reveals much about the ways in which we, as a society, view ourselves. This should be viewed as the primary impetus for Miner’s article, because the danger in ethnocentrism is the tendency to engage in myopic viewpoints that serve to divide society (Schaefer, 2011). In his emphasis upon the fact that westerners often put themselves through much trial in order to stave off disease and death, his writing style declaims the need to analyze ourselves, lest we fail to understand the world at large.
The context of Miner’s article can be best understood by considering the retrograde attitudes of the time. “Body Ritual” was published in 1956, just two years after Brown v. Board of Education, at a time when there was much debate over what certain attitudes regarding …show more content…
Upon realization that the piece describes us (or at least the “us” of our forebears) it becomes a simple matter to marvel at the recognition, perhaps consider the ways in which our society acts unthinkingly while engaging in learned behaviors. If one is so inclined, it becomes evidence that our society is sick, sexist, racist, perverted, and narcissistic. There are certainly those elements to “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, but to analyze the article solely through the lens of the critic is to miss the point. From the sociological perspective, there is a point when criticism becomes necessary, but first we must strive to understand. In this respect, the aim of Minor’s article is much clearer than the methods used to serve the
The context of Miner’s article can be best understood by considering the retrograde attitudes of the time. “Body Ritual” was published in 1956, just two years after Brown v. Board of Education, at a time when there was much debate over what certain attitudes regarding …show more content…
Upon realization that the piece describes us (or at least the “us” of our forebears) it becomes a simple matter to marvel at the recognition, perhaps consider the ways in which our society acts unthinkingly while engaging in learned behaviors. If one is so inclined, it becomes evidence that our society is sick, sexist, racist, perverted, and narcissistic. There are certainly those elements to “Body Ritual among the Nacirema”, but to analyze the article solely through the lens of the critic is to miss the point. From the sociological perspective, there is a point when criticism becomes necessary, but first we must strive to understand. In this respect, the aim of Minor’s article is much clearer than the methods used to serve the