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“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner

The quotation I choose to focus on is “In this light, the magical beliefs and practices of

the Nacirema present such unusual aspects that it seems desirable to describe them as an example

of the extremes to which human behavior can go.” The social group I choose to write about and

how it relates to the quotation above are teens. I choose to write about teens because of the

supposedly unusual behaviors they exhibit during their teenage years. Teens always push for

independence from their families, turn to their mates for acceptance, security, and guidance.

They become more focused on friendship. In their pursuit of independence, teens often end up

disagreeing with their family members, especially their parents. Teens with shaky self-

confidence and self-esteem feel safe when they fit in and belong to a peer group. In fact, teens

thrive when they contribute meaningfully to their social groups. However, society finds these

rebellious, anxious, or irritable behaviors confusing and challenging.

From a personal experience, different teenagers behave differently during adolescence.

Some get through the teenage years with ease, establishing their identities, and getting ready for

adulthood. Nevertheless, others experience problems, which result in antisocial behaviors such as

drug use, school dropouts, or crime. Just as the quote describes the Nacirema as people with a

strange way of life, teens equally exhibit behaviors that are totally normal part of their life yet the
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society view them as strange. The society particularly parents are always worried about these

supposedly unusual behaviors and sometimes think they may be signs of a psychological issue.

Any person can find the Nacirema’s magical beliefs and practices to be weird. They do

painful and horrifying things to themselves. In fact from the quote, the Nacirema seem to enjoy

their strange way of life. Similarly, teenage life comes with a combination of social and

emotional challenges that can feel strange and overwhelming for many. Teens can be distant,

moody even rebellious at times. Teens easily get frustrated with themselves and situations if

things don’t go their way. Just like the Nacirema, teens’ impulsive and risk-taking behaviors

reveal how far human behavior can go.

Hence, just like the magical beliefs and practices of the Nacirema, teens’ allegedly

unusual behaviors should be described as an example of how far human behavior can go. The

society should not be surprised by these behaviors. Instead they should look at them as normal

behaviors since they are shown by millions of teens across the world. These are healthy and

normal part of the teenage life. Parents who are yet to encounter rebellious, anxious, or irritable

behaviors from their kids should, therefore, accept them as normal and help their kids through

them.

Source

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/readinganthology/chapter/body-ritual-among-the-nacirema-

by-horace-miner/
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