Harvey Case

When I initially started reading again about the Nacirema, I thought it was about an interesting but odd people. As I continued to read on I found that some things sounded all too familiar. I thought the reading was worded oddly but I can see the intention behind it. Actually the Nacirema culture is the most unique culture ever documented. Professor Horace Minor documented these unique culture behaviors in his 1956 essay.

The big thing that I thought was interesting was that the Nacirema was written by an anthropologist during the 50's and many of the topics he discussed are still very relevant to American society today. The Nacirema appear to be strange but when put into words of today it describes American society very accurately. This article made me wonder how other cultures view my own and how I view other cultures. I realized that many probably see my culture as very strange. Maybe some people going to say that the culture was strange and needed to be stopped but they didn't realize that it is the very culture that they are living in today.

Also I think the one important thing is author was trying to convey to the Americans how they can be perceived from the outside world. Some of the behaviors are described as magic because we believe that doctors and dentists have the knowledge to take care of everyone else and perform treatments that can’t be done by just anyone else. It shows how dependent Americans are towards medicine and the treatments. If anything happens, most people turn to a quick remedy and believe they can find it from the “medicine-man” or the “holy mouth men.”

I do think that many of the practices Americans partake in can be viewed as strange but just like any culture that is looking through the glass at another, what they see might be completely different then what they are used to.

By wording things differently, such as saying "medicine man" to mean doctor, I felt the reading was able to point out how we often place an...