The Nacirema, nearly 60 years later.

[cssmall]

This culture prides itself on the materials that make life easier and more effective. Waking up every morning, the male removes himself from his pillowed mattress and sulks to the room of self-worship to bathe and lacerate his face with a mechnical contraption that makes a loud buzzing noise. After the male is finished with his daily ritual of purification, he dresses himself in reflection of his status: blue for low and white for high, though on hot days members of the white will roll up their sleeves to attribute solidarity in the communal hive.

He leaves his home in a large, four wheeled motorized vehicle and drives to the establishment that mirrors the culture so well: a shop that vends hot coffee drinks underneath a green and white sign (green and white being the colors of the most cultural importance). After bartering for the refreshment with green paper and silver coins, he conducts himself to work but not before placing the beverage container in a another container.

At the communal hive, the male stares into a thin panel that shines blue. The male appears to give sacrifice at this thin altar in the form of paper wrappers, wire, sharpened wood with a rubber tip and cylindrical metal "cans." After a whole day of praising this altar, the male returns to his haven and proceeds to sit quietly, again in front of a thin blue screen, and gives to it sacrifices as well.

The male's ritual does not change, except to stop at a well to feed his vehicle which he does at least once a week.

The female, on the other hand, is in a position of liberty, though that liberty to leave the household to the communal haven is beginning to fade again. However, for now, the female wakes and stands in front of the altar in the room of self-worship, where she paints on her cheeks, lips and eyes and then burns her hair to shape it in a way her status declares.

If a member of the communal hive, the female will leave and follow much the same course as the male; however, if not a member, the female appears to do the majority of the work: providing a clean shelter, taking her children to places of ritual and providing meals.

On the seventh day of every week, the family attends a place of communal worship where they partake of lessons from a large book and recieve instruction on political events.

**Note: this was just a test run, but I would like any one that would like to add anything to this, to please do so, I think we could easily get a nice little xenocentric view of . . .

[unrepuke]

1. "Nacirema" ? - That silly 'Dance' from a few years back?

:shrug:

[cssmall]

2. No....

The original was written in the 30s or 40s and is a wonderful excerise on how to view American culture from the outside, not the typical ethnocentric bullshit that is so common. No, my friend, this is NO the macerana. :P

[Kickin_Donkey]

3. I studied the Pagan Nacirema ...

in my Sociology I class in my first quarter of college back in '80. It was one of the first exercises we did.

Wasn't it originated by a University of Michigan professor?