The entire point of Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacierma” is to critique Western and more specifically American ethnography (Nacierma is, of course, American spelled backwards). Namely, ethnographers enter a culture and meticulously detail the practices of this culture in an almost objective manner. This renders the cultural practices of the group seem almost foreign and alien, as we are not familiar with the history, tradition and social norms that inform these cultural practices.
Accordingly, Miner describes American culture in similar ethnographic language so as to show that American culture would seem just as bizarre and strange if portrayed in a similar light. For example, Miner hysterically describes the American infatuation with using all sorts of self-grooming products before one goes out into public. This, as Miner notes, seems to imply that the human body in its “natural state” is repulsive and disgusting. What emerges from this picture is an American culture that has a distorted and particular view of the human being, one that borders on misanthropy.
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"Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual among the Nacierma”".
There are many other examples from American culture which show its strange rituals. For example, the Super Bowl. If the Super Bowl pre-game ceremonies were said to come from North Korea, the American population would talk about how militaristic, aggressive, conformist and brainwashed the American population is. Fighter jets fly over the stadium to cheers. The national anthem is hysterically performed by celebrities, while American flags are covered all over the stadium, individuals dressed in team colors that all resemble each other.
Miner’s article thus superbly shows how American culture must become more self-reflective and mature and understand the strangeness of its own cultural practices. American culture is notoriously insulated and ignorant of the outer world.
As Miner shows, a good reason for this is the failure to see American cultural practices as themselves idiosyncratic and contextually influenced.
