Tuesday, February 7, 2012
A response to " Body ritual among Nacirema"
I liked this piece because it was thought provoking and humorous. The anthropologist tries to understand the rituals and culture by living with a tribe. The author adopts a serious tone in describing the rituals of the so-called nacirema. On one level, it is amusing as we all know the author is trying to parody the rituals of the tribe. However, the tone used is quite matter of fact. At times, I was confused by the intention of the author as his tone was neutral and unbiased. In order to understand the piece, I tried to find out more about this tribe and realized that the author had deliberately corrupted or subverted words to mock the rituals of the Americans. E.g ospital without the 'H'. Personally, I feel the author sees these urban rituals as part of the American identity that cannot be totally ignored. In other words, these "exotic" rituals define and complete a tribe member's perception of life.
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Honestly, after reading it for the first time, I had no idea that this piece is satirical. Was more intrigued than anything else that such rituals exist although it is not entirely surprising that similar tribes and rituals can still be found in some corners of this earth.
ReplyDeleteThe word play is ingenious. It is an interesting article to show how our culture or any culture for that matter & everyday practices can be perceived by others.
Had similar thoughts like Elizabeth - how far into reading then should readers decide that it is necessary to (re)construct a different meaning? So if one doesn't get it, then what? If it is a strategy by Miner to deliberately estrange or distance readers from the actual principal aspects of American culture, then it is successful.
What critical approaches (to literary criticism) does a text like this lend itself to? Postcolonial? Feminist? Marxist? New Historicist? New Criticism? Reader-Response? Psychoanalysis? Deconstructionist? Queer?
DeleteAnd with each approach, what ends would the teacher like to achieve for her/his/students?