Problem
"Body Rituals among the Nacirema" Horace Miner
1. We picture the Nacirema as a primitive tribe living somewhere on the continent of North America, separate and distant from Americans. If you were repelled by the obsessive bodily torments essential to the Nacirema's rigorous way of life as depicted by the ethnographer, what was the impact of realizing that they are us?
2. We see ourselves as civilized in contradistinction to their elaborately detailed yet barbaric practices. What kind of a reflection of Americans are the Nacirema in terms of hygienic and cosmetic culture?
3. Miner's manipulation of language violates our unquestioning obedience to the dictates of the everyday, throwing minute details of routine activities into question. What is it that Miner seeks to teach us about ourselves and our culture?
4. When the true nature of the Nacirema lifestyle dawns on the reader, attitudes which have already been formed and judgments which have been made must be re-evaluated. In light of new findings which change the whole experience of reading the text, what adjustments is found necessary to make in how you view seemingly mundane aspects of our own way of life?