Name: _______________________________

Date: _______________
Period: _____

Discussion Questions: Body Rituals among the Nacirema, Horace Miner

1. What assumptions do we make about other cultures? What practices from other
cultures do we find difficult to understand?

2. On what do we base our cultural assumptions? How do our beliefs about the world
affect the way we perceive specific cultural groups?

3. Where are the Nacirema from? Describe their families and society. In what do they
believe?

4. What are some of the oddest Nacirema body rituals? Why do the Nacirema people
perform these rituals?

5. What do you think of the Nacirema? Would you feel comfortable if you ever stumbled
into their territories?

6. Why do you think Miner wrote this piece about the Nacirema? What did he want his
audience to know or believe?
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7. At the end of the piece, Miner quotes Malinowski as saying: Looking from far and
above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all
the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man
could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have
advanced to higher stages of civilization.
What does Malinowski mean by this?

8. Who do you think the Nacirema represent? Can you recognize any elements of satire
in the text? If so, identify passages that reveal satire.

9. What message should a reader take away from this text?

10. What does Body Rituals among the Nacirema reveal about our cultural assumptions
and stereotypes?