anthropology

1. Watch the videos https://youtu.be/HEsBd_Rgzfs https://youtu.be/nX-xshA_0m8

2. Take notes on the article I have provided using the Cornel Note-taking system. This article will help with the content for the class. Test questions may be based on this article. Miner-1956-BodyRitualAmongTheNacirema.pdf

3. The notes need to be done well enough that I can tell you read the article. 4. Upload your notes for points. You can write them on paper and upload photos

of them or write them in a document.

The cornel note is the first part. (I can send you the article in PDF)

Second part is the discussion :

The Nacirema - Discussion Board #1 2

First do the note taking assignment base on the Nacirema- Please do the note taking assignment first.

Overview

Rather than simply reiterating the book in 'lecture format' in understanding how anthropologists use the term 'culture', 'ritual', 'religion', etc, I prefer to 'throw you in the deep end' and have you read an actual ethnography of a real people. In the previous article, you should have read the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. It is now time to demonstrate your understanding of the text. The purpose of this Discussion Board is laid out below:

Purpose

● To demonstrate your understanding of the text. ● To get students accustomed to reading Anthropological texts. ● To get students to take a deeper look at the text, in order to get an even

deeper understanding of the text. ● Students continue to become acquainted with posting discussion messages

and responding to other students’ messages.

Below are instruction for the Introduction and Interests Discussion Board:

Instructions (250-500 words)

● Read Horace Miner's classic text Body Ritual Among the Nacirema then answer one or more of the following questions (you do not need to answer

all of these questions. Take these questions as a 'jumping off' on what seemed most interesting to you about these people):

1. According to Miner, what functional beliefs underlie Nacirema body rituals? (What are the purposes for them?)

2. Miner treats Nacirema behavior in caring for the body as “ritual.” Is it? What makes something “ritual” as opposed to “habit” or “custom”?

3. How do the Nacirema view the human body and health? How is this similar or dissimilar to how our culture views these things?

4. Some would say that Miner’s analysis exoticizes the Nacirema and makes them seem mysterious and irrational. What in his writing dose this? Does presenting customs as “religion” rather than as “science” or “medicine” inevitably make them seem irrational to people in our own culture?

5. Are our own customs with respect to the care of the body irrational? In what ways is scientific medicine different from others (“religious”) belief systems? How much of what human beings do in everyday life is “rational” or “irrational”? Do you think that there are cultural differences in the very concept of the term 'rational'?

Response (250-500 words)

What do your peers think. Did any of them realize something you didn't?

Assessment

Up to 10 points possible. The assignment should between 250-500 words.