Article 3: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema [1]

Horace Miner begins the article by speaking about the anthropologist’s ability to be familiar with the diversity of people in different customs across different cultures. He believes that there is enough variation in description of rituals across the globe, that if something has not yet been documented, it is only because the ritual has not been found yet. From medicine men and charm boxes to rituals designed to maintain one’s teeth in magical practitioner fashion, the Nacirema exhibit some of the bizarre rituals to be highlighted and discussed. The ritual which involves the gouging of the mouth to place hay straw in the orifice is one that would disgust, bother, and outright alienate most of modernized, industrial society. Another ritual involves scarring the face by providing lacerations using sharp objects — a ritual performed by men only. While the women partake in baking their heads in small ovens. The masochistic nature of these rituals is interesting to study and question. The medicine men in their huts perform ritualistic torture on the bodies of the clients that come to see them. In no way would any of modern medicine’s practices include what the medicine men use as their practice, in the Nacirema. Yet the interesting point to note is that clients continue to see the medicine men, despite having a chance of dying (more so than they might otherwise) because they are seeing the medicine men. I find it peculiar that these rituals are taking place currently, but I am not surprised. Culture tends to last and transcend all boundaries. Itself, culture also creates boundaries with which tribes, people, societies operate in. In the Nacirema, they want to establish their own rites of passage. I also find it interesting that there are similarities in desire between the Nacirema and more classical civilized society. If we sampled a company of 10,000 employees, we might find that there are those who want to be thin because they are fat. We might find that there are those who are thin wanting to put on more weight. And, finally, we might find that there are women who want breast augmentation because their breasts are too small. These are sentiments shared by both the Nacirema and the workforce of JP Morgan Chase employees. In the inclusive leadership context, it shows not only how it is important to be mindful of the gaps that are forgotten but also the parallels to be drawn.