Scribd
Upload
14 views1 page

Nacirema

Uploaded by

byron.a.lathrop
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views1 page

Nacirema

Uploaded by

byron.a.lathrop
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

● What part of the article was most surprising? Be specific about which details you're referring to.

"It was surprising how different they are" doesn't cut it.
I was unmoved by the descriptions of the unachievable beauty standards that the
Nacirema have self-imposed. In modern American society there still exist cultural beauty
standards, although they are admittedly not as extreme as the fear, reverence,
obsession, and revulsion that the Nacirema feel about their bodies.

After Googling the Nacirema, I realized it’s just “American” spelled backwards. I would
have to say that the most surprising thing is that the article, which appeared be about an
indigenous tribe, actually is about modern-day Americans. To be fair, the author used
literary misdirection by describing Americans in relation to the indigenous people of
Canada and New Mexico. Indeed, much of the language in the article is commonly used
in literature when referencing native-american culture and lifestyle. I liked that the author,
when describing a place of healing, removed the letter H from “hospital” (which sounds
nearly the same without it) and flipped the word backwards. “Latipso”.

● What part of the article do you still have questions about? Again, be specific.
Most of the rituals described in the article make sense, because they’re just common,
every-day wacky American obsessions described in a weird way. The thing that
confuses me is what’s described at the bottom of page 506.

“A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hypermammary development are so


idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and
permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.”

I don’t know what that’s describing. Travelling circuses, such as the one P. T. Barnum
founded, exploited people who looked different, so that might be the phenomenon the
author is describing here. But travelling circuses were made obsolete by television
broadcast. I mean, it’s much easier to set up a permanent campus and broadcast the
performances to those who live too far away. Also, I would hardly describe the life of
someone who’s exhibiting their body in exchange for money as handsome, let alone
prosperous or glamorous.

● The author describes many various rituals--choose one of those rituals and put it in your own
words as you understand it.
I chose the ritual of the “holy-mouth-man”, or as the Nacirema call it, “Dentistry”. A dentist will
drill cavities and use fillings to fill up the area, to prevent future bacteria proliferation. We
Americans care a lot about dental hygene, don’t we? Any way, dentists also might perform
surgery if it’s needed. Dentists also use anisthetics to reduce pain, and the author didn’t
describe that, which contributed to the idea that this article was describing a native american
tribe, because of course a modern dentist wouldn’t operate on someone like that without
anisthetics, right?

You might also like