Ritualistic The Nacirema would build shrine rooms in their homes so each family member could perform daily body rituals in private. "While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries."
Hygienic Oral mouth care is of the utmost importance to the Nacirema. They are obsessed with having a clean mouth! "The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them."
Avaricious The medicine men will not see you until you give them a significant gift and in order for you to be released another gift must be given to them. "No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift."
Devotional The Nacirema believe so much in their medicine men that even though they know once you see them the chances of you surviving are slim to none, they still continue to trust and have complete faith in them. "The fact that these temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men."
Modest The tribe mostly never shows their bodies and are very private people. Husbands and wives rarely see each others bodies and pregnant women hide their pregnancies and many do not even nurse their children! "Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants.
1. As an American, I feel I was pretty spot on with my choice of words used to describe the Nacirema tribe. Ritualistic, hygienic, avaricious (greedy), devotional, and modest, I do believe that describes us Americans.
2. Since there is no stopping it, my choices do show ethnocentrisim on my part. My own cultural basis is of that of the Nacirema so for the most part I am free of judgment based on my knowledge of my own American culture. I am not saying it is right but it is what it is.
Avaricious is my bias word I used to describe the Nacirema. Avaricious means greedy, I feel that the Medicine men took advantage of the people by making patients give them significant gift in order to be seen and released.
Hygienic is one word that I used that was unbiased. The Nacirema dedicated a lot of time and effort in to having good oral care.
3. I am having a little trouble with finding a word that describes being greedy without bias possibly necessity, If I look at it as it being a necessity to pay or give a gift rather than the Medicine are trying to rip me off then I have would have a better understanding of them.
4. Avoiding of ethnocentric judgements is very important when decribing other cultures because it will give us a false sense of that culture because we are basing our judgment/analysis on our own personal culture not on theirs. Ethnocentriciasm is hard to avoid because we do not even realize we are doing it most of the time. Describing cultures free from personal bias will ensure that we are getting accurate information on the culture without putting our own beliefs in the way of what their culture is all about.
Anything is possible but the chances of a Cultural Anthropologist being free from personal bias is a hard one because enhnocentricism can happen without us even knowing it.
