In Horace Miner’s essay,
‘Body Ritual Among the Nacirema’, he talks about the strange, or even inhumane
practices held by the people of Nacirema - which I thought he was doing, at my
first glance of the essay. Even, I enthusiastically wrote a reflection of this
essay on how people become submissive to certain authoritative powers, even if
they are forced to do something that is out of logic. I thought I was very fortunate
to not have been born among the Nacirema. However, at finding out that Nacirema
was actually American spelled backwards, I was thoroughly ashamed of myself for
not noticing this very obvious fact, this acute sarcasm that the author put
right under our nose. It was not too long before I found out that I actually
was born among the Nacirema.
Horace Miner describes the
American society, especially the lookism that was present in 1956. If he had
just written about this American society, as any writer would, there would be
nothing significant about his essay. However, just flipping through the page is
enough to notice his use of diction; one thing that makes Horace Miner a
significant writer. In the essay, three words come up continuously; religious,
ritual, and magical. These ‘ancient-ish’ words contribute in creating the
atmosphere of mystery throughout the entire essay. It makes the essay sound
like it is talking about a group of people, totally opposite from that of
Americans - Holy shrines, charm boxes would never have anyone think about
Americans. Holy-mouth-man, medicine-man? These are words that come out when
studying anthropology 101 in college, especially the first few chapters that
talk about the start of civilization. However, one should never overlook the significance
of the word Nacirema, reversed spelling of American. Once one notices this
small fact, everything, from words to sentences change itself and links
together to form a giant hammer of sarcasm that strikes the readers’ head so
hard it nearly blows their minds. It is then do the readers finally realize
that Horace Miner was sarcastically, but critically playing with the lookism of
the American society.
I was one of these readers,
and I believe myself to have been hit with that sarcasm-hammer with full
impact. The idea of American culture being the world’s most developed and prominent
one, was just a pretty wrapping. Nobody can ever conclude or decide on what is
inside the wrapping, but only have a vague idea on what it is, which in this
case, so-called American culture. My reflection of this essay is that with a
different wrapping, this whole idea can look entirely different, and ‘Body
Ritual Among the Nacirema’ is just one of the many wrappings available. No one
culture can be superior to the other - with just a two-page essay, one can
degrade the world’s best culture to an uncivilized, barbarous culture!
Below is an example, rather
an incomplete one, written by Professor Chowh, about the Almk tribe, living in
the territory between the China and the island of Dokdo.
Misery of the isolated, ancient Almk
tribe
The Almk tribe is known to reside in
mountains, avoiding any contact with the outside world. However, they have been
discovered by a Korean man, who invested all his life earnings in finding the
tribe. The Almk tribe is best known for their refusal to accept the developed
culture and technology. Until this point, Almk tribe may not sound too special.
However, they carry out astonishingly cruel and painful practices and here are
some of them.
1.
Young adults, usually
from the age group 17 to 19 is forced to participate in a fighting practice
that requires them to run, jump, shout, and fight ferociously. They believe
these practices enhance their hunting skills and defense skills that will be
required in mortal combats that take place very often. These practices take place
very early in the morning, and many young adults meet their physical limits
while participating. Two grown-ups train these young adults everyday and the
young adults are usually under the tyranny of these grown-ups who may treat
them in any way they want according to their daily emotions.
2.
After the fighting
practice, these young adults are forced to come out of their houses, and are
required to learn methods and skills for magical charms. This teaching of
knowledge is carried out by one of the grown-ups in the Almk tribe. These
grown-ups, usually called ‘charm-masters’ are highly respected, and young adults are required to bow
respectively whenever the meet one of them. In circumstances one of the young
adults do not listen attentively to the charm-masters’
teachings, they are ‘cursed’ by
that charm-master, which puts the young adult under severe stress. When the
cursing takes place often to the same young adult, a ritual is held to banish
that young adult from the tribe.
