ERRAZIB essays

ERRAZIB essays After reading Horace Miners article, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, I wasnt just appalled by the Nacirema's ignorant and unnatural acts, but also shocked to discover that Miner was describing our own culture. Miner simply disguised and fabricated our culture by switching letters around and making our everyday practices seem bizarre. I had to read Miners writing several times before I fully understood his purpose. I am assuming that most of us didnt recognize Miners approach right away because our acts and practices come so natural to us that we dont even notice them ourselves. Speaking for myself, I seriously thought I was learning about a new or perhaps made-up culture. They are three practices that stood out to me in this article, in which, Miner uses our practices of American culture through the practices of the Nacirema. On the first page of the article, I found the first resemblance between American and Nacirema. Miner used Notgnishaw and the fact that he threw a piece of wampum across the river Pa - to - Mac and chopped down a cherry tree to describe our first president, Washington. Miner spelled Washingtons name backwards and disguised the Potomac (Pa - to Mac) River, along with other clues to confuse us. Miner also goes as far as our bathroom to show us how strange and unnatural we are. He uses the word shrine to describe bathroom, in which, everything in that room is kept private and secret. Meaning everything done in that room is mostly done by ourselves and that children will be potty trained and will later uncover these mysterious processes. My favorite comparison between American and Nacirema is the way Miner brings out our dental check-ups. It was interesting on how he describes our toothbrush as the hog hair placed into our mouth, and toothpaste ...