Body Ritual among the Nacirema
Lindsay Nietfeld
To begin, Nacirema is American spelled backwards so the text is referring to the weird
things we as people do every day. Miner writes about us from the perspective of a “savage tribe”
to have you look from an outside point of view and not just think of these daily rituals as normal.
How he phrases them makes is seem unnatural to brush your teeth or blow dry your hair at a
salon. The insight we gain about ourselves is that were abnormal. We do things like not discuss
intercourse, get breast reductions or enhancements, we take pills made up of chemicals to help us
feel better, and so many other things. Why is this seen as normal in our society? Why is it
acceptable for us to value ourselves based on our exterior appearance? We as people are
imperfect and that is what we can see from this reading.
