Excerpt: Body Ritual of the Nacirema

Miner, Horace. [1956] 2005. "Body Ritual of the Nacirema". Pp. 28-32 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

This is a classic essay to be sure, first appearing in American Anthropologist in 1956 and being reprinted and taught to students of social science ever since.

Miner describes the mysterious Nacirema tribe as an objective social scientist should. He documents their daily rituals for oral cleanliness and visits to the tribal medicine men and herbalists. He notes their obsession with the human body and how they go about preserving and fretting over it, from body rituals undertaken at temples to the efforts taken to conceal bodily functions such as excretion and reproduction.