Cultural Descriptions Part A

    Part A

    In Miners discussion he talks about a North American group called the Nacirema. He describes this group as being Self-Centered. Engrossed with ones appearance not for spiritual reason but for health and  that "The human body is ugly" Spending most of their day focusing on preventing and/or slowing down the natural affects of ageing while trying to add on some extra years. They would do these almost obsessive activities alone, not with ones family. For something that takes up such a great part of ones day, it is only discussed with the kin when they reach a certain age.
    The Nacirema are in a way materialistic and show conspicuous consumption with the idea that the more shrines you have set up in a home shows the wealthier they are. Miner talks about having an abundance of shrines means an abundance of power in that society.
    They keep all of their most treasured possessions in chests hidden in the walls. Expensive elixirs of sorts and charms that the Nacirema can't live without. They are a hypochondriacal society that provide substantial gifts to acquire these things. These boxes overflow with these elaborate potions from medicine men and herbalists. The Nacirema are so concerned with health and appearance that they obtain to many charms and elixirs to even keep track of.
    Nacirema are obsessed with the upkeep of their mouth and teeth. Fearing that if one were to neglect their mouth, they would be shunned by their peers and lovers. Miner describes the fear they have of gums bleeding, loosing teeth, and even their jaws shrinking if one does not visit the "holy-mouth-men" along with their daily ritual to maintain their mouth. These are medicine men who specialize in helping with the up keep of ones mouth. These "holy-mouth-men" preform unthinkable, painful, and even mangle ones teeth to arrange them so that society will except them.
    Miner talks about the Nacirema as being superstitious. They believe the when a person is raised, their mother invokes a demon inside their head. cursing them and troubling them into their adult years. They go to these "witch doctors" or "listeners" to just simply tell them their life story. The listeners can give the Nacirema an almost outer body experience and take them back to their childhood and even as far back as their birth. Allowing the individual to remember and see what may have contributed to these curses so they can be corrected.
 

Part B

    I was so shocked when I found out that Miner is describing Americans. Looking back I cant believe I couldn't see the similarities. I feel that I was harsh for choosing the words that I used. Hypochondriacs, Self-Centered, and Obsessed are not words that describe positive things. I only felt this way after I was informed that I was describing my own Culture, Not when I thought it was another. That's not something i am proud to admit. The descriptive words that I used, very much, exhibited ethnocentrism on my part. It was hypocritical for me to pass judgement. I brush my teeth everyday twice! Not only do I brush, but I floss and use mouthwash. It comes so natural that I don't even realize that it takes up a total of 20 min of my day. Its something I was taught as a child and know that not engaging in such ritual is nasty and lazy. But when I was unaware of it being as simple as brushing teeth, it sounded obsessive and horrible. A painful experience and almost self mutilating. Looking back I feel so judgemental just because I didn't know what they were doing, I assumed that it was pointless and barbaric.
   Instead of using Hypochondriacs as a negative word for the amount of medicine they had, I should use Health conscious. Instead of obsessed when it came to the rituals of the mouth, I should have used routinely.  Also instead of Self-centered I think self conscious would be a more appropriate word. These words mean the same thing but are less bias and more understanding.
    It is very important to try and avoid ethnocentric judgements because sometimes the cultures are not that much different from one another. We just go about looking at it and doing it in a different way. It doesn't make one culture better than another. Being ignorant, closed- minded and judgemental are not good qualities to posses. I don't think its completely possible to avoid altogether cultural bias. But one can sure try and it will make a huge difference on how you see thing and help understand others and avoid such negative assumptions.