Describing the Nacirema

What are 5 words that can be used to describe the Nacirema and why was each word selected?

Unique

“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 Nacirema customs are unique, but arguably so are the customs of any group of people across the world. Their customs seem foreign or unusual from my outside perspective, which is to be expected and doesn’t cause me to judge them, rather it accentuates the differences between my life and theirs. 

Hierarchical 

“The medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every community of any size.”

Many of their customs seem to revolve around a specific person or group of people who hold some power above others or knowledge that others don’t. This is not that different from our society, since many government positions have inherently more power than the average citizen and jobs that require high-level degrees require special skills or knowledge that many don’t have.

Spiritual

“The use of [505 begins ->] these objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client. The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth and, using the above mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth. Magical materials are put into these holes.”

Their customs and practices are very reliant on a common set of beliefs, which are similar to how most cultures have a predominant religion. While some of their practices seem brutal, I think there are comparable practices seen globally, such as female genital mutilation or coal walking. 

Misogynistic 

“Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men.”

The practices of the Nacirema are imbalanced in their treatment between men and women. While there are some mutually shared rituals, some like the hot oven are unique to women. The Nacirema likely believe in a significant divide in the roles and rights of men vs. women, which could be compared to what we see nowadays (albeit less severe) in the US.

Discontent

“Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony.”

The Nacirema people seem unhappy with themselves, always seeking to improve or fix their body. Using their rituals, they can “better” themselves, which shows that they believe the human body is inherently flawed from birth. They are discontent with their body and believe that fixing it will improve their life.

Part B:

1. I described the Nacirema with the words unique, hierarchical, spiritual, misogynistic, and discontent. I think that to an extent, most of these words do apply to American culture. I do think that American culture is unique, but so is just about every other country’s culture. American culture is definitely hierarchical, we see that politicians, celebrities, and ultra wealthy people have more power and influence than the average person. I would say that a lot of America is spiritual/religious, but the word doesn’t apply to America in the way that I used to to describe the Nacirema. Dentistry/orthodontics were almost described as magical in the reading, however I don’t believe that dentistry is comparable to magic, so my use of the word spiritual doesn’t really apply. American culture certainly still is misogynistic so I believe that aspect of the reading was accurate. We still see the effects of women having unequal rights for thousands of years in every part of our culture today. I also believe that many Americans are discontent with themselves, whether about their looks, accomplishments, income, or life as a whole, so I think it fits well.
2. I think that my use of the word spiritual to describe the Nacirema could show some ethnocentrism and bias in my description. From an outside perspective, our medical practices, like dentistry, may be hard to understand. Many of these procedures (like getting braces) are not essential for our survival, but we choose to have them done to better our appearance. While we see them as a normal medical procedure that is safe, there are certainly some dangers to it and they can inflict pain on the patient. A large majority of Americans are religious, but religion largely does not affect our medical practices, so I still don’t think the reading was entirely unbiased with its description of American culture.
3. I’m not sure if there’s necessarily a better word instead of spiritual. Religious might work, but as I wrote about in my second answer, I wouldn’t describe American dental practices as religious. Being spiritual/religious is not a bad thing, so I’m not sure if the usage of the word was biased in that way, rather I think it was my interpretation of the reading that was biased. 
4. Just as I didn’t understand many of the descriptions and rituals of the Nacirema, it is logical that other cultures may not understand American culture. Without being part of a culture, it is hard to be unbiased in your view of it. I know American dental practices to be safe, but someone from another culture may see it as needlessly risky as much of the procedures are unnecessary. Their perspective isn’t wrong, it’s just different from what I see. I don’t think it’s possible to be unbiased as a Cultural Anthropologist or even just as a human. We all have biases ingrained in our minds that would be nearly impossible to get rid of. These aren’t necessarily bad biases, like racism, but could be food preferences, favorite colors, or how you dress. You can certainly try to reduce your bias as much as possible, but I don’t think having no bias is possible.