Seeing the Nacirema in the Mirror: Unit Two Project
Background:
As Lisa Wade argues in "The Politics of Acculturation", we tend to view ourselves as "culture- less" (the dynamic view) while we see "others" as being totally dictated by their culture (the reified view). "Body Ritual of the Nacirema" is a great example of this; Horace Miner wrote about American culture through a reified lens.
We didn't recognize many of the practices that he named (tooth-brushing, using the bathroom, visiting the hospital) as our own when he wrote about them in this way. He describes these practices, so that they sound "barbaric" or "primitive" or "foreign". It is very important for sociologists to recognize that we also live in a society bound by culture, even though it seems just normal and regular to us.
In this assignment, you will be building this awareness by writing your own "Nacirema Story" as well as reflecting upon how it felt to discuss your own culture in this way.
Guiding Questions:
"What would it sound like to write about American culture using a reified lens?"
"What can we learn about American culture by viewing it in this way?"
Mission and Task:
For this assignment, I would like you to imitate Horace Miner by picking one practice of American culture and writing about it using the lens of reified culture. In other words, write a narration of an American practice or norm like you were an alien from outer-space and everything about American culture is foreign to you. Think about how we tend to talk about other cultures and apply that same rhetoric to your own.
For this assignment, you should write in third person, as if you were not a member of this culture. The purpose of this activity is to be a fun way to practice cultural relativism and understand American culture from this lens.
The second part of this assignment is to do a reflection on the above task, which will help deepen your analysis. For the reflection, please answer the following questions.
1. Please write a paragraph or so describing the norm or practice you chose in "normal" terms, or the way that you would describe it to a friend.
2. What was different between the "Nacirema" narrative and the normal paragraph (other than the difference in length)?
3. What did it feel like to describe your own culture in "Nacirema" language?
4. Please describe why your "Nacirema" paragraph was an example of a reified view of culture.
5. Like Lisa Wade argues, we tend to view other cultures through the reified lens even though this may lead to ethnocentrism. Please provide 3 strategies that you think people could use to avoid seeing other cultures in this way and be more culturally relevant.
Requirements:
• Your "Nacirema" paper detailing a norm or practice of people in our society should be 2-2½ pages.
• Your reflection should be 1-2 pages.
Attachment:- Body_ritual_among_the_nacirema.rar