Horace Miner (1912-1993) was an American anthropologist, studied language and agricultural
practice, i.e Africa.
Main Ideas: The Nacimera are depicted as strange and alien → especially through:
1. Its rituals
2. The word “natives”
a. They are portrayed as superstitious, backwards, and primitive.
“Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden
people” (507).
The Idea of the Foreign/Alien/The other who are strange/different
Ex; egyptians eating with hands
Ex; drinking tea (uk)
Reactions:
● Fear of/anxiety towards the unknown, of the foreign, of the other, e.g. looking down upon
the other:
Ex. british were outraged by american advice to prepare tea with salt and microwave
● Opposition
Ex; mask protesters
● Prejudice, label, stereotype, etc.
Diversity: that people have different beliefs, norms, values, symbols, ways of seeing the world,
ways of life → something that we call culture.
The question for anthropology is:
1) Everybody/every group has culture!
2) Culture is learned and taught, not inherited biologically → through a process of
enculturation; Americans are taught to use spoons and forms, Chinese and Japanese
are taught to use chopsticks.
3) Culture is shared → its social and collective
a) [Mainstream] culture, e.g. American culture, Korean culture
b) Subculture → smaller in scale, oftenly under/against the mainstream culture, e.g.
punk, fraternity culture, sports culture
4) Culture is both symbolic and material, both abstract and concrete, e.g, burger (photo
right) and the idea of fast food → American culture
5) Culture is contested and can/always change. People evolve, so do culture
a) Internal processes e.g. conflict, mixture
b) External process, e.g. globalization
Culture and its characteristics
A) Norms: ideas or rules about how people should behave
