978-0133548198 Section I Part 2

3. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

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BODY RITUAL AMONG THE NACIREMA

Horace Miner

Instructor’s Notes

M. June Allard

Assumption College

Worcester State University, Professor Emerita

Goals

• To better understand the role that culture plays in the development of

stereotypes and prejudices

• To see one’s culture from a different perspective

Key Points

An anthropologist presents observations of a culture less developed than his/her own and

describes features of that civilization in the same manner as we describe cultures we view

as primitive. The “less developed” culture is, of course, American.

• To understand other cultures, we must be able to stand back and view our own

culture as others might.

• In describing some aspects of American culture (“Nacirema” is “American” spelled

backwards), Miner shows that to more advanced cultures (and by extension, to future

generations), our culture today may well be considered primitive.

• It is important to get away from the parochial view that one’s own culture is “right”

or “normal” or “superior” and that other cultures are more inconsistent or strange or

inferior to our own.

• We think of “primitive” cultures as practicing magic and having strange rituals, but

rarely see these elements in our own culture.

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Teaching Tips

1. In the class immediately prior to the one in which the Nacirema will be discussed, I

ask how many students have read this article. Sometimes, one or two students are

familiar with this reading from a Sociology course. I ask them not to discuss this

article with the other students in the class who are not familiar with it.

2. I begin the Nacirema discussion with the question: “Would those of you who just read

this essay for the first time give us some one-word reactions, descriptions, evaluation,

etc., of the Nacirema?” Then I write the students’ responses on the board. Most

answers have negative attributions like “weird,” “barbaric,” “sadistic,” etc. As the

class discussion of Miner’s essay proceeds, it becomes obvious that the author is

writing about Americans.

3. Then, referencing the list on the board, I ask, “How do you feel about these negative

terms now that you know that these people are really Americans?” This opens up a

rich discussion that leads to the major themes of this article.

4. Students sometimes ask for explanations of some of the terms such as “the–holy–

mouth-men” (i.e., dentists). This is the perfect opportunity to point out that Miner’s

analogies are not dated, as some may attempt to argue. Today, people pay “holy–

mouth-men” dearly for optional cosmetic services such as teeth whitening.

5. Even if you do not use the Diversity on the Web assignment (“Nacirema Extended”),

its premise that all cultures still have practices that seem ordinary to their members

but strange to outsiders, can still be useful in the class discussion.

Discussion Questions and Answers

1. What general message do you think the author was trying to convey in his

description of this culture?

2. What stereotypes could you have about the Nacireman culture and its people if

this reading were your only source of information?

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3. The many strange and interesting rituals observed by Miner lead him to

conclude that the Nacirema have a strong underlying belief about the human

body. What is this belief?

4. Assume that you are carrying on the work of Miner and study the Nacireman

culture as it exists now in the 21st century.

a) What additional body-related activities could you observe in their culture

today?

b) Is Miner’s observation about the preoccupation with body and health still

valid today? Explain.

today, as the answers to Question 4a indicate.

c) Is Miner’s observation about the underlying belief about the human body

still valid today? Explain.

5. Describe, as Miner might have, two or more of the body-related activities you

listed for Question 4a.

3. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

6. How does Miner’s article relate to modern business in terms of:

a) outsourcing

b) international business negotiations

c) marketing to growing ethnic populations?

7. On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being very important) how would you rate the

appearance and body rituals observed by Miner and, in your own opinion, in

terms of their importance to:

a) personal life? Explain your rating.

b) the business world? Explain your rating.

8. Other facets of this culture also yield many rituals today. There is, for example,

WIKI, a ritual that appears to involve belief in magic. Student Naciremans

trade information with each other in this ritual. They believe that when they

read a WIKI, whatever it says is indeed fact. Somehow, WIKIs magically hold

all-knowing truths. How might this ritual relate to prejudice and stereotypes?

9. Vast numbers of individual Naciremans also conduct a Ritual of Networking

using magic boxes to weave a social “web.” They exchange pictures of

themselves and much personal information with strangers on their webs.

“Participants” of the networking ritual seem to constantly check their webs and

respond to them. They walk around webbing; they eat with their boxes and

check their webs during meals. The magic boxes are always nearby even when

they are in their shrines devoted to health and appearance ceremonies. It is said

that some even sleep with their boxes. This appears to be very ego-centered

activity. What does this say about how people in this culture relate to each

other?

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This is open to interpretation. In the absence of information on family and other

10. Nacireman market economy also has rituals. Among these is the Business-Hiring

ritual. In this ritual, business chiefs check the social webs of those desiring to

join their tribes before hiring (sometimes even before interviewing) a position-

seeker. Business chiefs do not appear to favor position-seekers who have social

webs that indicate values and beliefs different from their own. This is not a

secret. It is actually a very curious thing: large numbers of Naciremans insist

upon conducting the social web ritual even though they know that business

chiefs may very well disapprove. Business chiefs appear to belong to a different

group within this society.

a) When a “participant” is both employment seeking and social networking

at the same time, hiring rituals assume great importance. How might the

Ritual of Networking help or hurt a position-seeker?

this may be a consideration for some positions.

b) How do these clashing rituals reflect the values of the position-seekers

and the business chiefs?

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place far more value on face-to-face meetings, both for personal and business

11. Participants in the modern Nacireman market economy sometimes create

relationships that only exist electronically. They create groups called “Virtual

Teams” whose members never meet each other in person. Considering the

Rituals of Networking, WIKI, and Virtual Teams, what stereotypes might

strangers have about Nacireman culture if these three rituals were their only

source of information?

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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 in the text.

2. Using the websites 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. A sample description, “Observation of the Cultural Event Called

Halloween”, appears on the next page.

▪ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi_times/An_underwater_degree_

ceremony/articleshow/22050.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.

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SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

Observation of Cultural Event Called Halloween

Halloween is a very strange custom. It doesn’t appear to be a holiday; it is more

like an event—an event characterized by at least two rituals and many symbols.

There seem to be no special roles for males, females, or elders. The chief rituals

appear to be the 1) Ritual of the Pumpkins and 2) Ritual of the Begging.

Ritual of the Pumpkins

The pumpkin vegetable, which apparently is eaten at other times of the year, is

not eaten at this event. Instead, the people paint strange faces on pumpkins or

carve faces on empty pumpkin shells. Lighted candles are placed inside the

carved pumpkins. Decorated pumpkins appear in windows facing outdoors or on

display outside of homes.

Ritual of the Begging

This is a special ritual for children. On Halloween night, children dress up in

costumes that frequently represent mythical characters such as ghosts, witches,

monsters, ghouls, cartoon characters, etc. They wear masks to hide their

identities. After dark, the children go begging from house to house, calling out

“Trick or treat!” People then open their doors and give candy to the children.

Sometimes the children play pranks on the people.

Symbols

Among the prominent symbols of Halloween are ghosts, skeletons, spiders,

witches, black cats, grave yards and monsters, all of which seem to be very

frightening, gory, ugly, or sinister in character. Not only are these symbols

displayed in the costumes the children wear, but many houses are adorned on the

outside with displays of them, particularly witches and ghosts.

Sometimes people visit “haunted houses” (eerie houses where frightening

creatures lurk in dark corners to scare people). Sometimes, too, people attend

social events called Halloween parties, where they play strange games such as

dunking their heads in buckets of water while trying to catch an apple in their

teeth.

These events are sometimes for adults and sometimes for children.

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INCREASING MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING:

UNCOVERING STEREOTYPES*

John R. Bowman

Instructor’s Notes

M. June Allard

Assumption College

Worcester State University, Professor Emerita

Goals

• To help individuals become aware of their own values

• To show students how culture programs them to react to and judge others in

automatic and stereotypic ways

• To discover the types and sources of stereotypes about others

• To provide an opportunity for participants to see how their stereotypes create barriers

to appreciating individual differences

Time Required

Approximately 30 minutes

Materials

Uncovering Stereotypes Student Instructions, Student Worksheet, Group Summary Sheet

(included in the text as well as in this manual), and pencils or pens.

Pre-Class Instructions

1. Instruct students to turn to the Uncovering Stereotypes worksheet in the text. (This

form can be copied.) Note that the blank category boxes should be completed by

either the instructor assigning categories that reflect different special populations

(e.g., hillbilly, migrant worker, Jews, etc.) or by allowing the students to choose the

categories that may be significant to them.

________________________

*Adapted from Dr. John Bowman, Pembroke State University of the University of North Carolina

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2. Instruct participants (working alone) to look at the First Thought/Judgment Column

and immediately write their first thought or judgment. For example, are their first

thoughts/judgments about the category immoral, greedy, hard working, etc?

3. Instruct students to rate each thought/judgment as positive (+), negative (-), or

neutral (0) in the Rating column.

4. In the Sources column, ask students to identify the source(s) of their thoughts and

judgments. For example, parents, television, friends, school, etc. (Total time for steps

1, 2, 3, and 4 is 15-20 minutes).

Classroom Instructions

5. Form groups with no more than 4-6 students per group. Group size should be small

enough to encourage active participation and maximum discussion. Chairs should be

in a circular configuration where participants can face one another.

6. Instruct each group to complete the Group Summary Sheet (form may be copied) by

entering a quick count of positive, negative and neutral thoughts/judgments for each

Source Category. Students often have more negative than positive

thoughts/judgments, even for categories that they have no real experience with such

as a gay female U.S. President.

7. Make a transparency of the Uncovering Group Stereotypes Summary sheet (next

page) and project it on the board. Enter group totals with chalk or a marker.

8. Analyze the combined data from class. What trends do you see? (Often media

becomes the number one source of stereotypes, particularly negative stereotypes, that

can lead to a discussion of media influences.)

9. Discuss the implications of having negative or positive stereotypes/judgments. For

example, having a negative stereotype about working mothers taking too much time

off for childcare can negatively influence a manager’s hiring/promotion decisions for

mothers of young children.

Individuals often make stereotypic judgments about groups primarily because:

• They reduce the ambiguity about dealing with representatives of

these groups.

• Negative judgments can make individuals feel superior to members

of other groups.

10. Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of stereotyping, reminding

students that stereotypes are neither good nor bad, but it is what we do with those

thoughts and judgments that count.

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WORKSHEET A: UNCOVERING STEREOTYPES

Category

First Thought/Judgment

Rating*

Sources

Working Mother

Neglects children, busy, tired

—. 0, 0,

Own experience, movies

Transgender Male

Muslim Female

wearing Burqa

Bipolar Co-worker

Illegal Asian Immigrant

Job Applicant with

Facial Piercing

Gay Female President

of the U.S.

*Ratings: (+) = Positive (—) = Negative (0) = Neutral

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WORKSHEET B: UNCOVERING STEREOTYPES GROUP SUMMARY SHEET

Source Categories

Positive (+)

Thoughts/Judgments

Negative (–)

Thoughts/Judgments

Neutral (0)

Thoughts/Judgments

Family

Media

Experience

Work Experience

Friends

Other

Total

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Diversity on the Web

1. Take and score the multicultural quiz found on the website listed at the

bottom of this box.

2. Think about your score on this quiz and your responses to Bowman’s

Uncovering Stereotypes exercise.

a) What are your primary sources of information about social identity

groups to which you do not belong?

b) How accurate is your knowledge about these groups?

c) How could a lack of correct information contribute to the formation of

stereotypes?

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quizzes.html

5. I AM . . .

I AM …

M. June Allard

Assumption College

Worcester State University, Professor Emerita

Goals

• To help students learn about themselves by examining the roles and group

memberships by which they define themselves

• To further examine student self-descriptors for indications of roles and

memberships they perceive as most important

Time Required

30 minutes

Note: This exercise can be done in class, online, or as a writing assignment.

Materials for In-class Use

Student Instruction sheets from the text, pens or pencils, chart pad or board, and markers

Instructions

1. Ask the students to think about how they would describe themselves to someone they

have never met and then write a single word descriptor on each line of their

instruction sheets.

2. Stop description-writing after five minutes. Tell students to draw an “X” through all

remaining blank lines. (This will discourage later additions to their lists when they

listen to those given by other students.)

3. Ask students to place a star by the three most important descriptors.

4. Ask students to read aloud (or write on the board) the descriptors they starred.

Discuss similarities in dimensions and why these were felt to be the most important.

Note whether most descriptors are visible dimensions, such as gender, race, and

personality characteristics, or are roles such as student and breadwinner most often

given. Do some class members consistently differ from those in the minority? Are

descriptors such as age, social class, or geographic location listed? Why or why not?

5. I AM . . .

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5. Ask students to read aloud (or write on the board) the first three or four descriptors

they wrote. Discuss similarities and differences in the dimensions of these descriptors

and why these were the first descriptors named.

6. Discuss whether the dimensions differed for males and females and for any

other groups represented in the class. Do men write more descriptors than women?

Do the descriptions of majority class members differ from those in the minority? Are

descriptors such as age, social class, and geographic location listed? Why or why

not?

Discussion Notes

Homogeneous groups

Homogeneous classes such as those in which everyone is American or young or male

rarely mention that common characteristic probably because it doesn’t distinguish

them from other members of the group. They are simply not conscious of it in a

situation where everyone is the same.

Heterogeneous groups

In heterogeneous groups with mixed age, ethnicity, race and/or gender, these

characteristics are more likely to surface in the descriptions – especially for those in

the minority on that characteristic. Minority status on a characteristic tends to raise

consciousness of it.

Other Observations

Characteristics of secondary diversity, such as social class, religion, or geographic

location (e.g., Southerner, Easterner), are rarely mentioned. Ask the class why this

might be. The most likely reason is that these are less visible diversity characteristics.

Teaching Tips

Males and females can write their descriptors on separate boards.

To highlight gender differences, circle the themes running through the descriptions.

Generally, males tend to list physical and personal characteristics such as tall, strong,

brave, etc. Females rarely list personal traits, however; they tend to list relationships such

as daughter, sister, and girlfriend, etc. Discuss differences in starred descriptors as well.

6. Are You Privileged?

ARE YOU PRIVILEGED?

Mark Julien

Brock University

Micheal T. Stratton

University of North Carolina Asheville

Background on Privilege

The notion of privilege emerged from Critical Race Theory (CRT). According to

Bergerson, CRT evolved out of legal studies and the recognition that the legal system can

perpetuate racism. The crux of CRT is to engage persons of color in efforts to combat and

eliminate racism (Bergerson, 2003). CRT is a theory “developed by people of color to

better understand their experiences and to revolutionize the current system in ways that

could ultimately be viewed as…beneficial to people of color” (Bergerson, 2003, p. 56).

One of the main tenets of CRT is the centrality of race and racism in our society and by

examining both the micro (individual acts of racism) and macro (how society and its

institutions perpetuate racism). CRT proponents promote the use of counter stories that

challenge dominant cultural perspectives and views (Bergerson, 2003).

Recent research (Case, 2007; Combs and Luthans, 2007) suggests that participant

awareness of privilege is an important variable when increasing training effectiveness

vis-à-vis participant learning. In particular, Case and Stewart (2010) recently found that

students enrolled in a diversity course exposed to heterosexual privilege were also more

likely to alter their social policy attitudes than their peers not enrolled in diversity

courses.

The Privilege Checklist has been used in a variety of contexts by the Brock University

Office of Human Rights and Equity Services to educate students and staff and in

Introduction to Human Resource Management courses at Brock University and

University of North Carolina Asheville. Instructors teaching affirmative action,

employment equity and human rights may find introducing the topic of privilege to be

helpful in contextualizing the need for organizations to create a level playing field of

opportunity for groups who have historically been disadvantaged in matters of

employment.

6. Are You Privileged?

Teaching Notes

We have found introducing the concept of privilege and presenting the Checklist to be

very helpful when teaching topics such as affirmative action, equity, harassment,

diversity, and discrimination are introduced.

We suggest asking students to suggest additional privileges not identified on the

Checklist.

DIRECTIONS

Instructors include options with respect to how the Privilege Checklist is used.

Option I Ask students to complete and score the Checklist in class, followed by a

discussion of how privilege is defined and how privilege has impacted

various social identity groups.

Option 2 Give the students the Checklist to complete and score before class and ask

them to write a short reflection paper before attending a classroom

discussion. We have found that more discussion is elicited using this second

approach. This option works well for more introverted students and others

who may benefit from having the additional time for reflection.

Option 3 (Online Courses)

Assign students to complete the Checklist. Then instruct them to select two

of the life experiences from the list that they indicated applied to them

personally and ask them to post an explanation of how these privileges

impact their life experiences. After all students have posted their answers,

ask them to react to the answers of others.

Regardless of which option is chosen, when instructors are leading the discussion, they

can ask students which questions resonated with them based on their privileged or

disadvantaged experiences. Students are encouraged to share with the class their

experiences with privilege or disadvantage.

Most of our students come from privileged backgrounds with respect to socio-economic

status, race, and/or sexual orientation, but we recognize that the social identity

characteristics of students at other schools may differ.

Overall, student feedback has been very positive. For example, many students say that

they tended to think of discrimination as isolated incidents involving two people. They

admit to rarely thinking about systemic (indirect) discrimination and how privilege has

had an impact on their lives and the lives of others. We have encountered very little

resistance or “push back” from our students. We would strongly recommend that how the

instructor positions privilege matters. We make it clear that we are not here to make those