Body ritual among Nacirema.
When I first read it in class,
to be honest, I could not understand it at all. So I wrote honestly in my in-class
essay that I could not understand what he is talking about. All I could know
was that the author is talking about the tribe named ‘Nacirema’ and their body
rituals. Also, because he describes the rituals with strange words (maybe it is
just because my vocabulary is horrible), it was even difficult for me to
understand to those rituals that he talked about.
In chaos, I seriously thought to
change my affiliation to domestic during whole week. And after one week in
total chaos, I knew that ‘Nacirema’ was ‘American’ and could understand what
author is talking about.
After knowing the secret of the
essay, I read it again and enjoyed the way how the author criticized the
actions of Americans, maybe us. The rituals that Horace Minor describes,
actually the behaviors of the Americans, were not very different from the
behavior of me. As Miner described, I also do rituals such as ablution or mouth-rite,
which are washing up and brushing teeth, like Americans. By comparing with my
own behaviors, I could understand the essay easier.
As I said, I read his
expressions with big interest. For example, ‘Nacirema men appear to cause hurt
to their face daily’ or ‘women bake their head in small ovens for about an hour’.
Without knowing that ‘Nacirema’ is ‘American’, I thought that this tribe was
somewhat crazy. Put their head in their ovens? WOW!!!! But after I know the fact,
I could realize that it was the description of getting a perm. These kinds of terms
he used create a sense of humor and I thought it was similar to the Korean
traditional art, Talchum.
Talchum
is a Korean
traditional mask dance. It usually plays about the corrupted society in Chosun Dynasty. In this performance,
they use the literary technique such as humor and satire. Actors wear the mask
of Yang-ban and act like a fool. They make Yang-ban into people with no deep thoughts
and even more, basic knowledge. They are depicted as incompetent people who do
not have reason to be the administrator. Although ‘Talchum’ and ‘Nacirema’ uses
different expressions, I thought that they both use the technique of humor and
satire. In ‘Nacirema’, the author satirizes the Americans by fooling their
behaviors. The terms he used such as private mouth-rite, charm-box and shrines in
the houses, effectively satirizes the Americans. Also, these terms give a sense
of humor too.
What I thought strange after I
understand the essay was that my thought toward this kind of ‘tribe’ has
totally changed. When I first read this essay, although I could not understand,
I thought that this tribe has such a weird and strange culture, which is very
different from us. However, after knowing that it is the story about the Americans,
it was so familiar and seemed normal. Just by knowing the meaning inside the
terms and the subject of the essay, it turned into the story of us, the normal
people.
At last, this essay, “Body
ritual among Nacirema”, affected me to criticize and think deeper about the
essay that I’m reading. Although it is professional and specialized, maybe it
has another meaning hidden in it.
The true understanding of the
essay is the true understanding of that meaning inside it.
Body ritual among Nacirema.
When I first read it in class,
to be honest, I could not understand it at all. So I wrote honestly in my in-class
essay that I could not understand what he is talking about. All I could know
was that the author is talking about the tribe named ‘Nacirema’ and their body
rituals. Also, because he describes the rituals with strange words (maybe it is
just because my vocabulary is horrible), it was even difficult for me to
understand to those rituals that he talked about.
As I said, I read his
expressions with big interest. For example, ‘Nacirema men appear to cause hurt
to their face daily’ or ‘women bake their head in small ovens for about an hour’.
Without knowing that ‘Nacirema’ is ‘American’, I thought that this tribe was
somewhat crazy. Put their head in their ovens? WOW!!!! But after I know the fact,
I could realize that it was the description of getting a perm. These kinds of terms
he used create a sense of humor and I thought it was similar to the Korean
traditional art, Talchum.