The Nacerima

When reading Horace Miner's article, "Body Ritual of the Nacerima," it occurred to me how different and similar these people are to my own culture and background. There are five words that can be used to describe this population:
Mystical: These people are mystical in the sense of the degree they hold magic, magical men, and rituals in high cultural esteem. Every person has their own set of rituals they must partake in daily, monthly, or even yearly. The devotion and belief shown to the mystical is similar to any modern religious devotion, but different in regard to the types of rituals. The people are almost obsessed with purifying their bodies, usually through painful means. From men's daily cutting of the face to the yearly visit to the holy-mouth-man to prefer rudimentary dental work in order to purify and prevent decay, although a futile effort. The devotion to their mysticism is so strong that people willingly go to latipso, or temple, in order to seek a cure when very sick (even with death being the likely result, a more painful one at that if accompanied with a temple visit).
Masochist/Sadist: The Nacerima people can be deemed as both masochistic and sadistic. The rituals of these people seem to revolve around the inflicting of pain on oneself or others. The holy-mouth-men seem to enjoy the excruciating pain they inflict in order to purify their patient's mouth. There are rituals for both fat people and thin people, for women with small breasts and large breasts, and the only thing that seems consistent is the want to change people for the sake of changing them or just causing pain and discomfort.
Specialization: The specialization apparent in this society, especially based around their mysticism, is astounding. There are medicine men who serve much like doctors, giving their client a unique recipe for their illness, but written in a language only the herbalists and medicine men themselves can understand, preventing the client from making the curative potion them self. The holy-mouth-men serve as pseudo-dentists, the maidens of the latipso serve as rudimentary nurses, and the witch-doctors serve like hospital doctors within the temple. Everyone seems to have their own trade and way of surviving in this mystical economy. Every person is also expecting compensation for their services, making these people much like our own. Service, such as the temple care, is even refused without pay, much like our current healthcare service in the United States.
Advanced: The Nacerima are definitely an advanced, complex society. The amount of specialization within this society and economic roles is astounding, especially when all of these complexities are merely those associated with the mystical culture of the people. The mystical healthcare developed by these people is not something to be undermined or under appreciated. What these people have accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. The diversity of care and the amount of people involved at all levels is a testament to the people's resourcefulness and culture.
Human: In Anthropology, especially Cultural Anthropology, it is imperative to never forget the human element when studying a people. The portion of the article that really brought this to the forefront of my mind was the comment of the child in regard to the temple: "That is where you go to die." Nothing resonates as familiar as the innocence of a child and an improper comment. I can guarantee that the comment by the child would be seen as irreverent and inappropriate given the importance given to mystical healthcare by the Nacerima, but when it comes to children, the truth is the truth. In regard to these people, the truth is that the first thing to come to mind when studying them is that they are people, even with the stark differences compared to ourselves and our culture.


1) As an American, and with the knowledge that the Nacirema are actually my own people, I find my choice of words mostly true. The emphasis on mysticism showed my own bias against what I deemed to be an ultimately simple society. Rather than explain their beliefs and culture, I passed my own judgement on a people I knew hardly anything about. Given the ability to be an outsider in regard to my own culture, I think the rest of my word choices were true. My civilization has a trend for masochism and sadism, is quite specialized and advanced, and are still human.
2) I believe my biased choices were mystical and masochist/sadist. The mysticism of the Nacirema was my own ethnocentric viewpoint of what I deemed as simple beliefs. In my mind, their mysticism was placed in lower esteem than organized religion, rationalizing that the people were simple and backwards. The idea of the people being masochistic or sadistic also shows judgement on my end. What makes them interested in inflicting pain on themselves and others? What evidence is there that they enjoy doing this? Plastic surgery, dental hygiene, and hospital care are all seen as normal endeavors for beauty and/or health. Nothing masochistic or sadistic is applied to them in American society in my mind, but the Nacirema are not as lucky. The remaining three keywords are free of biases; they are similar to what an Anthropologist should be doing, rather than passing judgement on a people. These are unbiased because the terms are merely observations of the society, free of judgement, or the holistic view of the people compared to the whole of humankind.
3) For the two biased terms: mysticism and sadistic/masochistic tendencies, no unbiased word that communicates the same idea and intent comes to mind. This is because ethnocentrism is embedded in both of them, with my intent at the time to compare them to my own standards and show these people as being of a lower caliber to my own culture. In reality, both terms can be replaced with commitment, specifically to self-image and physical appearance. This is the closest thing I can come to that is free of my own ethnocentric bias and communicates the information about the Nacerima that I wanted to say.
4) It is imperative to any objective study, especially that of people, to limit the biases of the researcher. You cannot consider something true or factual unless you can prove that it is the truth. In regard to cultural anthropology, this means that the truth can only come from those who know it. Only the people of a culture can truly understand their culture or teach others about it. To understand a culture or a people, ultimately, it is absolutely necessary to become a part of it. By limiting one's own biases, you allow yourself to become more immersed in a culture and people, therefore gaining the most knowledge possible about it and not your own comparisons between the culture and your own. It is impossible to completely avoid personal cultural bias as a Cultural Anthropologist, but it is possible and recommended that a Cultural Anthropologist control their own bias to the best of their ability. The more you limit your own bias from impacting your work, the closer you come to truly understanding a people that is not your own.