Introduction and Miner's Body Ritual among the Nacirema

Hello class, my name is Matthew Phillipes and I am a transfer sophomore studying Secondary Education (Business, Computers, and IT). Another high academic interest area of mine is economics and international business. I am very intrigued by non-fiction readings especially including business and sports literature. The last college I attended was Wesley College in Dover, Delaware; it was a small private college that consisted of only about two thousand students. The much different landscape of Temple has been a joy so far and I only hope it gets better. My career goal is to become a teacher at a prep school or a professor at a university, while also coaching a high level of ice hockey. During this course, I hope to achieve a better comprehension level and be able to go in depth with the readings that we do, as I have just skimmed the surface of books I usually read. This class will let me explore not only the story, but all aspects of the writing. Along with going in depth with the readings, I am looking forward to exploring certain aspects of religious writing and places of worship in the city for the Literary Philadelphia project. Coming from a split religious household, with religion being distant from my life, I would like to connect the different religions in Philly with the literature written about each one. I was born in Irvine, California, but my hometown for 10 years has been Emmaus, Pennsylvania, which is located in the Lehigh Valley (an hour north of Philadelphia).



Body Ritual among the Nacirema, written by Horace Miner can be perceived as a terrible city at first. To be honest, I did not catch on to what he was referencing until a classmate hinted at it before we discussed the writing in class. After reading it the second time, Miner is accurate in portraying American society, even if it is much different than the normal view. The cleverness of spelling Washington backwards and discretely describing the location of Nacirema adds to the confusion of what group he is talking about at first. Between the medicine men, holy-mouth-men, lalipso ceremonies, etc. Miner successfully creates the illusion of a society that represents that of the United States'. One who is not carefully reading this literature could easily become judgmental of how terrible the society is run, eventually learning that is their own. I believe the purpose of writing Body Ritual among the Nacirema is to show that one has their own beliefs of how a society should be run, however they cannot be judgmental of another group, because their own society and rituals are just as different to someone else. I know that I was taken by surprise when I found out Miner was writing about the American society, and it showed me that I shouldn't come to such quick conclusions about others and their beliefs. Also, to understand the reading, one also has to understand the situation it was written in. This includes when, where,  and how. Therefore, being accepting of all cultures and societies is crucial to be able to go in depth with any literature. The author might not be of your origins, but one can still understand the whole experience by taking a step back and accepting the society of the author. One modern topic that would work with Miner's style is Mixed Martial Arts fighting. A writer could consider this "a fight to the death" or "a cage brawl" because of the brutality of the sport. If I read that a society had a weekly gathering where thousands of people came to watch two people battle to knock the other out, I would be thinking that it was crazy. However, in 2012 UFC is a huge money-making company that puts on events around the world. Many people attend these fights, and even more buy it on pay-per-view TV. Now, I have realized that I need to emerge myself in a society before I can make judgments and statements about them. As Miner shows in Body Ritual among the Nacirema, anyone's rituals can seem pretty ridiculous when put in a certain content. Without going in depth with a reading, one cannot grasp the true meaning of it. Understanding the times of the literature and the society it was written in is a huge component of obtaining the significance of each piece of writing. I enjoyed this reading and look forward to becoming part of the society of each author/writing when reading in Mosaics I.