Have We Met Our Counterparts?

In reading about the rituals of the Nacirema, many words describing my impression of the group came to mind. The first of these thoughts was that they are extremely devoted as a majority of their day is spent performing rituals that will combat debility and disease from overcoming their body. Their devotion is seen each day through the same rituals they perform as well as to the extent that they will go to in order to perform such activities, including subjecting themselves to pain and humiliating ceremonies as they are prodded, poked and stripped of their clothing.

The second word I would use to describe the Nacirema is spiritual. This to me describes the group perfectly as they believe in and identify with a “higher being” that they trust to heal all wounds and protect them from future bodily harm. These higher beings are considered to have special powers to alleviate things that will plague them, either in their mouth, minds or overall body, and these higher powers come in the form of the medicine men, listener, and holy mouth men.

Another word to describe the Nacirema would be perverse. Much of the pain endured and the time that is spent on performing their rituals would be considered irrational to outsiders that are looking in. Whether it is the fact that they willingly sign up for the harsh latipso ceremonies, which many are lucky to live through, or that they go to the “listener” who they believe will free their minds from any previous bewitching, most opinions of those observing such things would be that they are extremely unreasonable.

The fourth word that comes to mind when I think of the Nacirema is body conscious. They are so focused on their body’s appearance and health that they devote much of their time to practices that they feel can help them avoid any ailments. Rather than doing minor things to maintain their overall wellbeing, they go to extremes for prevention. These extremes include having holes drilled in their teeth to treat and prevent decay (even though their teeth continue to decay regardless of their visits to the holy mouth men), and seeking help at the latipso which require gifts when admitted and released.

The last word that I think of when I read about the Nacirema is relatable. This is a group with whom I believe any one of us in some way can relate to. Whether it is because they are body conscious, perform rituals to maintain their health, or go to extremes to rid their bodies of any plagues, each one of us could in some way identify with this culture. If we look at the overall message of the Nacirema, it appears that they believe the human body to be ugly, and one that needs constant maintenance in order to survive. Who cannot relate to that? Whether we go to the gym, take vitamins or medicine, eat vegetables, or get plastic surgery, we in some way can connect with this train of thought, and what we will do to maintain ourselves.

Ethnocentrism Revealed

As an American I feel that the choice of words I used to describe our culture were kind and considerate. With that said however there was one word that was not so compassionate and that word was perverse. The connotation of the word itself is unkind and quite judgmental. My description talked about certain acts being considered irrational and harsh, where as when I apply it to the American culture and the acts as I understand them to be, those words do not seem to be an accurate description at all. In terms of the “listener” freeing the mind from any bewitching, this in the American culture would be translated as going to a therapist and unloading our inner most thoughts and feelings; not quite the same as what was imagined when reading about the Nacirema.

The words that I chose when describing the Nacirema reveal ethnocentrism within me. This can be seen with pretty much all of the words that I used to describe their cultural acts, from the word devoted to body conscious. I interpret these words to reveal ethnocentrism in me as those are my opinions and assumptions about the behavior of the group, and not necessarily an accurate understanding. For example, I interpreted the Nacirema spending much of their day dedicated to rituals to mean that they are devoted, though that is because the amount of time they spent performing their rituals seemed excessive to me. However if we were looking at the Nacirema as a separate culture than our own, we would most likely find that within their culture, spending much of their day performing these acts is considered normal and of commonplace routine. My own cultural bias reveals itself in these words as to what I find acceptable and unacceptable, normal vs. strange, (a vs. b) etc. In unveiling the true culture of the Nacirema as American spelled backwards, it helped me to understand that the words I used to describe their acts were false. Therefore by being able to relate to the culture at hand, I was able to get an accurate view of what those rituals really mean.

Now that I have a more accurate understanding of the Nacirema (aka American) I can see that my words were maybe not the most fitting words to use. Instead, I would replace my biased descriptive words with more fair and impartial words. Instead of using the words devoted, spiritual, perverse and body conscious, I could instead use the words unremitting, divinely, willing, and attentive to translate my original intent. I have to say though that I found it to be a very hard task to find alternate unbiased words to describe the cultural acts written about in my first post as I felt that any words that I chose would still contain some judgment because the words are coming from my point of view. Even though the culture at hand is the American culture, some of the routines described are not necessarily ones that I may partake in and therefore I would be looking at that act as an outsider looking in, and applying my own opinion and assumption.

It is very important to be aware of the ethnocentrism that lays within all of us when observing another culture as the consequences of such bias can prevent us from truly reaching an understanding of those that we may not readily relate to; and therefore it in some ways prohibits us from learning about others. By applying everything to our own terms and not within another’s context removes the possibility of expanding our knowledge and perspective. When describing a culture besides our own, it is very important to do our best to use words that are free of our own cultural bias as our words can be belittling, demeaning, inappropriate and presumptuous. The end result of using inaccurate words when describing another’s culture could be that we unknowingly erase our good intentions, and instead imply something to the opposite effect. However as a cultural anthropologist, as much as one may try to remove their own cultural bias, our culture is in the end all that we know and any observations made outside of this context would be of opinion and judgment.