Body Ritual among the Nacirema Horace Miner American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 58, No. 3. (Jun., 1956), pp. 503-507. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7294%28195606%292%3A58%3A3%3C503%3ABRATN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y American Anthropologist is currently published by American Anthropological Association. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/anthro.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. http://www.jstor.org Tue Jan 16 02:00:09 2007 Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Diversity on the Web - Nacirema Extended You are a member of a team of anthropologists studying a large and rather diverse group of people. These people have a primitive information and communication system called \"Internet\" that will provide you with a first glimpse of their culture. To begin examining this culture, the team decides to scan \"Internet\" for information on their rituals. 1. Read the \"Body Ritual Among the Nacirema\" article 2. Using the Web sites listed at the bottom of this box as a starting point, investigate (scan) Internet for descriptions of one ritual. Be complete in your investigation, searching for symbolism and note how the ritual relates to a holiday or event. What does the ritual celebrate? Are there special roles in the event? Who participates? 3. Using a style similar to Miner's, record your perceptions of one of the events from the list that follows. 4. Based solely on the information in your report, what kinds of stereotypes of American culture could result from these observations? College Graduation Ceremonies http://brownielocks.com/graduation_ceremony.html http://www.wrightwood.com/college.htm http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi_times/An_underwater_degree_ceremony/articleshow/2 2050.cms National Political Conventions http://people.howstuffworks.com/political-convention.htm http://wikipedia.org/wiki/united_states_presidential_nominating_convention http://en.wikiedia.org/wiki/political_convention Saint Patrick's Day Parade http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com Mardi Gras Parade http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/parades.htm Thanksgiving Parade http://www.nyctourist.com/macys_menu.htm Easter Parade http://www.ny.com/holiday/easter Rose Parade http://www.tournamentofroses.com/aboutus/officialPhotos.asp Adapted from \"Nacirema Extended\" by M. J. Allard from C. P. Harvey & M. J. Allard: Understanding and Managing Diversity 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 2005. Diversity on the Web Assignment Information (sent via email) For the written assignment I'm looking for 2 - 4 pages. Make sure you also document the sources you use for the paper. See the rubric in the syllabus for how I will grade these weekly assignments. I've included the article required for Lesson 2 (Body ritual of the Nacirema) and the instructions (from the text) in the lesson 2 activities folder. This will allow you to complete lesson 2 activities if you still don't have the text. Many students will figure this out but I thought I'd give you some insight for the Nacirema assignment. Nacirema is American spelled backwords. In describing some aspects of American culture the author (Miner, 1956) shows that to more advanced cultures (and by extension to future generations), our culture today may well be considered primitive. The article describes American culture from the perspective of an outsider or alien. What I want you to do for the assignment is to pick some celebration in our culture and write about it from an alien perspective (pretend you have never been exposed to this custom/culture). I thought about this at graduation this year. An alien might think, \"I wonder why so many people are dressed with the same head adornment and robe? They all march in a straight line and then sit for two hours as various people speak. Then each person walks to a stage for a period of five seconds to receive a baton-shaped item. One person threw up his hat upon receiving the piece of paper. Only a few of the audience members cheer for each person receiving the paper. Toward the end of the ceremony the people with the robes move something that is dangling on their head adornments from the right to the left and cheer in unison.\" You can either choose those celebrations listed in the text or choose one of your own. Either way, document your sources. I would like 2 - 4 pages (double spaced) of your write-up for submission in the drop box. Don't forget to answer the 4th question of the assignment (from the text). Check the rubric in the syllabus before submitting Let me know if you have questions