- Religious
- Obsessive
- Mutilating
- Conservative
- Economically Motivated
2. Obsessive- While the Nacerima are religious they are also obsessive in their practices and beliefs. They have secretive religious practices that they perform daily. They also are obsessive about pregnancy prevention, bathing and excretory routines. Something that is natural for us as Americans is sacred to the Nacerima and is planned, not according to nature but to a schedule.
3. Mutilating- The healers of the Nacerima perform some of the most horrific procedures on their people. The Latipso ceremonies are one such mutilating afair. It is known to the childern as the place where one goes to die, but it is where the sick go to be "healed". The healers perform torturous acts as Miner describes them, he even stated it's amazing anyone comes out healed.
4. Conservative- It appears that the Nacerima are very conservative people. The only time they expose their bodies is when they go to to perform the latipso ceremonies where they are stripped of their clothing. Their excretory movements and bathing are private rituals and they do everything possible to keep their body clothed. One can only assume that it is because they believe their bodies ugly which is why they perform their rituals
5. Economically Motivated- Miner described the Nacerima as people that spend time in the economical pursuits, Miner also mentioned that the poor emulate the rich. It appears that economics plays a large role in their society, they need money in order to obtain healing, and they also need money to reenter society. Their religious is very economically based in that the rich have it easier and that the poor strive to be richer though the practices of the religion.
Part B:
1. As an American I would have to agree with my word choices, for the most part we are very driven economically base people. We also "mutilate" out image though make-up, surgeries, dentists, the way we dress, we change our selves. I agree with my words as descriptions of Americans but it may also be a slightly biased view of parts of our culture.
2. I think my words that are unbiased would have to be economically motivated, conservative, and religious. Those words are more straight forward descriptions, that don't necessarily imply meaning. My more biased words would be mutilating and obsessive, they have a connotation of negativity mutilating is a degrading term that is harsh. Obsessive can be viewed in a negative manner as well, it could imply that they have a problem of doing something over and over.
3. For my biased words I could switch out obsessive with committed, committed is more dignified way of saying someone does something regularly. As for mutilating I could have put changing implying we change the way we look, we "remove" our old selves in order to be some thing else so we changed.
4. It's interesting how simple word choices being implied on ones self makes me see a little more clearly at how it would be best to avoid ethnocentric judgements. Judging a culture is not the objective, it is to learn from them to better understand, like the essay said "you can't understand what you don't understand". It is hard to avoid personal cultural bias when looking at a culture but it should be a goal to try and do so, so that you can better understand why certain groups do certain things. You can't learn if you don't ask questions.
I really enjoyed reading the comments you made regarding the Nacirema culture. I agree with you that they are very economically based and conservative. I actually had those two words be a part of my blog as well. What I also really liked was your responses to part B of this blog. Your words of "conservative" and "economically motivated" are definitely not biased because it is rather very true. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI saw a lot of my own observations in your word choices and agree with you, especially on the conservative part. I hadn't recognized that until you pointed it out though! I think it is interesting though- while I do think it is applicable to the people described in the essay I do not think that it really applies to many Americans. Maybe it's because I live in LA, but if you take a walk down any beach I think "conservative" is not extacly the word that comes to mind when observing how people present their bodies. People here are very much "look at me! listen to me! this is what I think/feel/want/do/look like!" and hold back very little.
ReplyDeleteI also don't think your word choice of "mutilate" is really all that unbiased either. Mutilate means to take something and degrade it from its natural state to one that is more damaged and disfigured compared to the orignal. It is a harsh word, but honestly accurate when used to describe things like the magic-mouth-men and women baking their heads (still don't really know how that one is supposed to apply to American women's cosmetic practices...)
I actually chuckled over your use of the word "dignified" in section 3 of Part B. That in itself is a little biased, although in a positive way! It really isn't an issue of dignity or lack there of, it is an issue of whether or not a descriptive work gives a negative connotation, and whether that negativity would be recognized within the culture or if it solely the product of the outsider's perspective?
ReplyDeleteGood post.
I really agree with the word Religious, even though it doesn't necessarily implies a religion, but I think it's the least biased one in my opinion. Because there is no ethnocentric way of implying the word, it more comes from fact based on the reading, or in what we observe.
ReplyDeleteI love how you would change the word mutilating to changing. Mutilating is such a harsh word but really all someone is doing is changing something. Mutilating is really what we do to ourselves from dental work to face lifts and breast implants. But it almost sounds peaceful and justified when your call it changing.
ReplyDeleteOverall a good discussion! However, I would have to agree with you on the word "obsessive" being biased. It does have negative connotations that suggest a lack of control and also conjures up ideas of being irrational and neurotic. "Committed" sounds better, and perhaps another neutral word that could serve as a replacement could be "routinized" since you mention it in the context of them performing these activities on a daily basis.
ReplyDelete