NACIREMA

Body Ritual among the Nacirema

Body Ritual among the Nacirema

Introduction

Horace Miner's “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” is a humorous satire of Americans in the 50's written from an anthropological perspective. Miner demonstrates how the manipulation of language can be used to easily “make the familiar strange” (Spradley & Rynkiewich, 2010).” He does this by using words like “ceremonial,” “ritual,” and “magic"; he portrays standard American behaviors as strange and somewhat barbaric. If the reader does not immediately pick up on his satire, he will most likely feel somewhat appalled at the horrific acts that the “Nacirema” commit to fulfill the ...