Nacerima

1. (5 pts) As an American, how do you feel about your choice of descriptive words in Part A? (If you are from another country, you can still comment on your choices based upon your first hand experience with American culture but include the fact that you are from another culture.)

I feel that the words that I chose are all relatively accurate. I have traveled to a few different countries and seen some other cultures and returning back to America is a shocking experience. I think that we are a dramatic group of people in which too much emphasis is placed on appearance and the things and money that we all have. And I think prude is an accurate word to use also. Whereas in other countries the average amount of time a woman will spend breatfeeding her baby is 1-2 years, in America it is only a couple of months. It is taboo and shocking to see somebody doing something like that in public here in America.

2. (5 pts) Do any of your choices exhibit ethnocentrism on your part? In other words, do any of your descriptive words reveal a judgment of the Nacerima rooted in your own cultural bias? Are any of your words free of bias? Identify the words you feel are biased and unbiased and explain your reasoning.

Perhaps the words Pessimistic, Prude, and Exaggerated are a bit more judgemental and biased than Holistic and Devout. The first three would then be biased based on my own opinions and what I've experienced myself. Which is not the most scientific way to go about describing another culture, but is difficult to change because the words are coming from my own experience and the worldview that I have set up as a guide.

3. (5 pts) For any of the words that are biased, can you provide alternate words that are free of bias but communicate the same explanatory information and intent of your original word?

It would be difficult to come up with a synonym for pessimistic. The opposite of it is optimistic and the rituals are based on the pessimistic attitude towards aging. Pushing it back as far as possible, and hoping that we can keep our bodies from the decay of age. Prude could probably be changed, since it is used to classify behavior as being excessive, that would be more a judgemental word. Maybe modest or discriminating would be less biased when describing the behavior regarding nudity and sex. Exaggerated is also difficult to replace. When looking up synonyms the closest one I could find was eccentric, but that is even more biased than the one originally chosen. It is very difficult to find neutral words to explain something without comparing it to your own frame of reference.

4. (5 pts) From this experience, reflect on the importance of avoiding ethnocentric judgments when describing other cultures. Why is it important to describe another culture in a manner as free from personal cultural bias as possible? Do you think it is possible to completely avoid personal cultural bias as a Cultural Anthropologist?

I don't believe it is possible to completely avoid personal cultural bias. Humans do not know everything and when we learn new things we compare them to the things that we already know in order to make comparisons and connections. I think that it would take a lot of experience and awareness in order to be able to recognize when you are applying your own personal cultural bias to a situation or choice (such as choosing words). It's easier to see now though how important it is to try to describe without bias or judgement. People are already biased by their own experiences, so when educating others about cultures that they will most likely never see, it is important to be neutral in order to relay information but not sway people's judgements.

Easier said than done!

Pessimistic- I would use this word to describe this culture in reference to the creation of their rituals and when they use them. The philosophy behind the rituals is to prevent the inevitable horror that is the decay of the human body. Instead of working towards something positive, like good health, they are moving away from something negative, like debility and disease. “the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony.” It is negative reinforcement that continues these rituals and the pessimistic view on the body and aging that brought about these rituals.

Exaggerated- Though the rituals that these people perform may be extreme, it is only an exaggeration of things that people in our culture do in one way or another. “the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures” could be viewed as just brushing your teeth in a different way. A witch doctor involved in the act where “The patient simply tells the "listener" all his troubles and fears, beginning with the earliest difficulties he can remember.” sounds a lot like a psychologist to me.

Devout- As the rituals that are carried out in this culture seem to be labor-intensive and painful to some extent, the people involved in this culture would have to be devout and faithful in the supposed outcomes in order to carry out these rituals. “One has but to watch the gleam in the eye of a holy-mouth-man, as he jabs an awl into an exposed nerve, to suspect that a certain amount of sadism is involved.”

Holistic- I was trying to find the right word to describe the thing about the culture that interested me the most, the connection that they make between the rituals and effects, which are mainly physical, to the spiritual and social aspects of people’s lives. The word that I would choose to describe this is holistic in the sense that they make different connections of cause and effect between the health of their mouth and other seemingly unrelated aspects of their lives. ” Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for children which is supposed to improve their moral fiber.”

Prude- Much of the cultural rituals are about the body and care, which seems to involve hiding the body and avoiding nudity and the body’s natural functions at all costs.” Natural reproductive functions are similarly distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant, women dress so as to hide their condition.”