In the ethnography “Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamö” by Napoleon Chagnon, it is apparent that these anthropological tools are apparent in his case study of this primitive society. The tool of emic perspective is seen when Chagnon discusses the custom of aggression for the Yanomamö, a key behavior in their interpersonal politics and social interactions. The Yanomamö use aggression constructively, a behavior that we view as being somewhat taboo. Their cultural lens is shaped to encourage aggression, and without it, a person interacting with their culture is viewed as a distinct outsider. The etic perspective behind this aggression is to ensure that male members of their society have the self-confidence and strength to embody this aggressive…
The Chumash Tribe settled AD 700 along the Santa Barbara Bay. After Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explores California in 1542 and made the first contact to the tribe as a European, he claimed the land for Spain. Two hundred years later, in the year of 1770, the first Spanish people came to the Chumash territory and about twenty years later the Spaniards took the first Chumash people as slaves. In addition to that, many Chumash people were forced to move to missions in San Luis Obispo, Mission La Purisima, Mission Santa Ynez, Mission Santa Barbara and San Buenaventura. After Mexico won the independence from Spain in 1821, The Chumash Revolt held on for many years and in 1824 the last survival rebels were indentured to Mexicans.…
The Anasazi Tribe started their civilization in 100 B.C., but it ended in 1300 A.D. They started developing in the drylands of southwest America. The Anasazi Tribe lived near Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico or where they all meet up (The Four Corners of the United States). They lived more out west, so it was dryer and not as humid as the midwest. There is not a lot of green where they lived, so they couldn’t plant a lot of crops that we can here in the midwest.…
The Skykomish tribe originated as a subgroup of the Snoqualmies and lived in the current American state, Washington (Pritzker, 201). They form part of the Native Americans in the US. The tribe’s main villages were located on the Skykomish River. Primarily, the tribe composed of the Indians of Twana, a community comprising of the Salishan people living in Washington’s Hood Canal drainage basin. The Twana comprised of nine communities, where the Skykomish, also called “people of the big river,” formed the largest group (Pritzker, 201).…
This literature review will explain how “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” relates to ethnocentrism. Nacirema Culture A Review of the Literature “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by (Miner, June 1956) describes Nacirema as a little-known tribe living in North America between Mexico and Canada. Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy which has evolved in a rich natural habitat. When first reading the paper it was a slight culture shock but after further reading I realized the paper was actually describing modern-day Americans.…
Native Americans, which include the Navajo Tribe, have a very long standing in the history of the United States. They have also been removed from their homelands thought out the ages. Many of these tribes have been forced to reside on reservations. According to the Journal of Health Education, Native Americans out of the total population are the unhealthiest population. This is proven by a shorter life expectancy and higher mortality rates for communicable diseases.…
In this paper, I will be analyzing the unique culture that lies within Anatevka. The purpose of this in-depth analysis is to observe the specific cultural elements that are present in their distinct society. In order to ensure organization and proper structure within this analytical essay, I am going to attempt to help create you a proper road map of where I will be heading, and where I should end up. To begin, I will be defining a proper conceptual framework by trying to interpret important terms and philosophical meanings that relate to culture itself, not Anatevka. I will try to explain what culture is and how it may be used properly throughout the framework of my essay.…
The Northwest Native American Culture Region adapted the best to their unique climate and environment by using their resources such as their food sources, housing and tools. These where extremely important to the people because they where items that let them live day to day in premature settlement. This is show easily as it was the longest Region stretching across the entire coastline. Each of these they made/used for different purposes. All of this was vary good to expand as a region/culture.…
My first reaction to the “Nacirema” lifestyle had me in disbelief. Obsessing with comeliness, health, and acceptance engendered susceptibility to delusion. Poor or affluent, the Nacirema optically identified the body worthless along with devoting their lives to the shrine and the hierarchy. Adults and children participated in pain inflicting private rituals that held no ample evidence to work. Regardless of what transmutes the Nacirema made, they weren't satisfied.…
After Miner’s etic observations, the Nacirema’s culture seems bizarre, however upon further evaluation the culture becomes oddly familiar. The Nacirema’s core belief is that all aspects of the human body are weak and ugly and therefore they seek help of cultural symbols to fix their predicament. Miner’s observations are completely objective, so objective that anyone reading may not notice that Miner is describing Americans. He’s not observing a mysterious tribe in North America, he’s observing…
The etic perspective will help interpret my own culture from an outsider’s point of view. An article that helps as a guide to understanding culture from different perspectives is the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Miner (1956). In this article, he describes the culture and practices of the Nacirema, which is American spelled backwards. While reading this article some might notice that the practices sound familiar but may not be able to put a finger on why. Looking at culture from an etic perspective provides understanding and shows how caught up one can be with thinking that their culture is the norm.…
The article Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner is about culture and rituals. Culture is defined as “a system of ideas, values, beliefs, knowledge, norms, customs, and technology shared by almost everyone in a particular society” (Basirico, Cashion, and Eshleman 99). In other words, it’s a way of life in society or a specific geographical area. According to the author, Nacirema is between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui, and Tarahumare of Mexico, which offer the readers some insight of the true meaning of the text.…
Oral storytelling is not as popular as it was when Native Americans first populated North America; however, one tribe is known for its legendary Windigo. A Windigo, a man-eating ice giant, who was once a human but his human form is trapped where his heart should be and the people of this tribe who committed sin were sent to him ("Legendary Native”). These northeastern Indians were known for their myths, maple sugar, wild rice, corn, Spearfishing, and squash. The second-largest tribe of Indians to populate Canada and the third-largest to populate the United States is the Ojibwa tribe (Lund 5). This tribe was located in the Great Lakes Area of Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and in the Canadian area of Ontario and Manitoba (Roy).…
Some of these rituals include a daily mouth-rite, visits to the holy mouth men, and visits to the latipso if they are sick. Through this essay, the author uses repetition to help get his point across. He uses the word Nacirema to help readers distinguish the culture that these people are from. He also uses this word a large amount of times to help familiarize the readers with it and also help them figure out that Nacirema is actually American spelled backwards.…
There are over 3000 tribes in Africa who all have unique lifecycle traditions (Reference, 2016). This paper is going to focus on two unique tribes: the Zulu tribe from Southern Africa, and the Masaai tribe from Eastern Africa. Although these two tribes are both from the same continent, their practices of tradition are very different. Their cultures were created long ago so they have very specific traditions that are vital to the culture, and make it what it is. They are sacred traditions.…