SOCI 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3.5: Ritual Purification, Nacirema
Body Ritual among the Nacirema
• Nacirema culture is characterized by a highly developed market economy
which has evolved in a rich natural habitat
• Economic pursuits
• Ritual activity
o The human body, appearance and health of which loom as a dominant
concern in the ethos of the people
• The fundamental belief = human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is
to debility and disease
o To avert these = ritual and ceremony
• Shrines
o The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in
their house
o The opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of
such ritual centers it possesses
• Charms = medicine
• Mouth
o Mouth-rite = brushing your teeth
o Holy mouth man = dentist
▪ Torture o the client
▪ Fills cavities
• Latipso = hospital
o That is where you o to die
o Sick adults are eaer to undero the protracted ritual puriication
o Body secrecy is lost in the latipso
▪ In every-day life the nacirema avoids exposure of the his body
and its natural functions
o Natural reproductive functions are distorted
▪ Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act
o Avoid pregnancy
▪ Conception is very infrequent
▪ When pregnant, women try to hide their condition
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