Discussion 1 Karen I chose for my discussion a typical day in the life of Nacirema. After reading the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by H. Miner, I have concluded that their day is not much different than ours. It is all about rituals for this tribe. Both the men and women perform the daily mouth rite, which involves inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures (Miner, H 1956). We perform this same ritual every morning when we get up using a toothbrush and toothpaste. Nacirema’s also seek out a holy-mouth man twice a year to correct any decay. This practice is aligned with our current society recommended seeing a dentist every six months for a regular cleaning and correction of decay. The difference here is that if we do not have any decay we are told to return in 6 months, their ritual calls for a hole drilling in a non-decayed tooth and magical powders are inserted to attract friends and healthy teeth.   As with our current society they also have a highly developed market economy (Miner, H 1956) as well. My modern tribe would be my coworkers and immediate family members. If an outsider looked in, they might find it unusual that myself and coworkers are sitting with headsets on behind desks staring at a computer screen as we have our morning meetings every day. Can you imagine how strange I would look if someone from the Nacirema community saw this practice? I found the reading very interesting, after reading several times, I could see so many similarities between our daily practices and theirs. Richard I have chosen to go with discussion one. The Nacirema are the typical American. They bathe and take care of their bodies just as anyone would. When you have mouth problems, you see a dentist. When you're sick you see a doctor. They fight signs of aging and try to augment their bodies in a positive way in their minds. It's crazy when you take such an outside perspective, how the description of the things we do to ourselves or others can be interpreted. Being deployed, my modern tribe is military and very system based. We have times to report to places and duties to perform. We all wear the same clothing, and practice customs and courtesies we were trained to perform. We have regulations to abide to, as far as grooming standards. Length and style of hair, as well as shaving everyday must be done. The routine we keep is definitely not for everyone. People see it as very controlling and can't cope with the lifestyle we live. But they stay away for selfish reasons because they don't understand the bigger picture of what the military stands for. Even other countries military, don't seem to understand our level of discipline, or compliance of the US military lifestyle Discussion 2 Kearra This week has truly been informative and an eye opener. I didn’t think that within the first week of anthropology that I would ...

1. Discussion 1
Karen
I chose for my discussion a typical day in the life of Nacirema.
After reading the article, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, by
H. Miner, I have concluded that their day is not much different
than ours. It is all about rituals for this tribe.
Both the men and women perform the daily mouth rite, which
involves inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth,
along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle
in a highly formalized series of gestures (Miner, H 1956). We
perform this same ritual every morning when we get up using a
toothbrush and toothpaste. Nacirema’s also seek out a holy-
mouth man twice a year to correct any decay. This practice is
aligned with our current society recommended seeing a dentist
every six months for a regular cleaning and correction of decay.
The difference here is that if we do not have any decay we are
told to return in 6 months, their ritual calls for a hole drilling in
a non-decayed tooth and magical powders are inserted to attract
friends and healthy teeth.
As with our current society they also have a highly developed
market economy (Miner, H 1956) as well.
My modern tribe would be my coworkers and immediate family
members. If an outsider looked in, they might find it unusual
that myself and coworkers are sitting with headsets on behind
desks staring at a computer screen as we have our morning
meetings every day. Can you imagine how strange I would look
if someone from the Nacirema community saw this practice?

2. I found the reading very interesting, after reading several times,
I could see so many similarities between our daily practices and
theirs.
Richard
I have chosen to go with discussion one. The Nacirema are the
typical American. They bathe and take care of their bodies just
as anyone would. When you have mouth problems, you see a
dentist. When you're sick you see a doctor. They fight signs of
aging and try to augment their bodies in a positive way in their
minds. It's crazy when you take such an outside perspective,
how the description of the things we do to ourselves or others
can be interpreted. Being deployed, my modern tribe is military
and very system based. We have times to report to places and
duties to perform. We all wear the same clothing, and practice
customs and courtesies we were trained to perform. We have
regulations to abide to, as far as grooming standards. Length
and style of hair, as well as shaving everyday must be done. The
routine we keep is definitely not for everyone. People see it as
very controlling and can't cope with the lifestyle we live. But
they stay away for selfish reasons because they don't understand
the bigger picture of what the military stands for. Even other
countries military, don't seem to understand our level of
discipline, or compliance of the US military lifestyle
Discussion 2
Kearra
This week has truly been informative and an eye opener. I
didn’t think that within the first week of anthropology that I
would like it and learn a lot. But my opinions have changed

3. since then because I am starting to enjoy this class and the of
this course I will gain a lot of knowledge I didn’t have before.
One thing that made me examine a topic from a different
prospective is how culture shock is something big and how it
could make a person sick. With human beings going into a
different culture that they are not use to it is often said if they
for a certain time they may get depress and home sick due to the
fact they aren’t used to where they are at. I think what struck
me was all the materials I have learned this week because it
really broadens my eyes. I would say that You’re Not Going to
Believe What I Tell you didn’t really cause any frictions for
because I do believe that people have their own versions of
stories that can be twisted, so what you hear may not be the
truth.
William
So far the class is enjoyable it is highly different from other
classes I have previously completed. It is way different for me
though and i see myself struggling in the future with trying to
compare and draw good information out about different
cultures. I do enjoy reading about the cultures and things about
them and how they lived but putting that into a paper I feel will
be difficult.
What struck you in particular as you explored the course
materials this week?
While i have compared my life to others i've never had to apply
it in a classroom setting. It would be and understatement to say
if i ever actually thought about it. While know we are blessed in
this time and many people have more then others it hasn't really
been something i have ever thought about.
Do you have questions that your classmates might be able to
help you with? (If you have a question for the instructor, be

4. sure to contact your instructor via email or in the Ask Your
Instructor forum).
Does anyone else feel they will have trouble writing papers in
this class versus a typical history paper or research paper? By
that I mean a worth while paper that would be enjoyable to read.
Sometimes I write papers and when I reread them I catch myself
yawning out of the lack of interest in how I put my paper
together.
Each response to a peer should be a minimum of 75 words.