Body Ritual among the Nacirema

The concepts of culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, and qualitative research methodology are essential components in the study of sociology. Culture is generally the way of life of any social group. This sociological perspective touches on the ways social groups think, ways they act and parameters that shapes their ways of life. According to Edward B. Tylor, culture entails morals, customs, beliefs, knowledge, symbols, and other habits that one is able to acquire as a member of a given society.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Body Ritual among the Nacirema specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Cultural relativism as a concept believes that the cultural practices of a person are relative to his/her own social affiliation. Anthropologists believe that no cultural practice is superior to the other as per its own circumstance. For that matter, no moral belief is considered wrong or right and does not supersede an y other belief of a different social group. On the other hand, ethnocentrism is a sociological concept where a person views the entire world with reference to his/her social group. Here, one believes that his/her ethnic group is more important than other cultural groups in the world and measurement of one’s culture is done relative to his/her own ethnic group. Lastly, qualitative research methodology is a field research method that aims at bringing out the understanding of concepts of social life. The whole concept tries to answer questions of ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘what’ of any aspect. For instance, the research by Professor Linton is qualitative in the aspect that it tries to unearth the cultural practices and belief system of the Nacirema people. This essay analyzes the concepts of culture, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, and qualitative research methodology from a sociological point of view in light to the body rituals among the Nacir ema. In addition, the essay will focus on the qualitative research methodology as used by Professor Linton in acquiring the beliefs and practices of the Nacirema people. Horace Miner’s article, â€Å"Body Ritual among the Nacirema†, reveals the rituals, habits and beliefs of the people of Nacirema. It discloses the whole life experience of man in that society. They believed that Notgnihsaw founded the nation. Notably, they practiced the culture of economic pursuits and mostly used the produces in ritual activities. The ritual activities centered on the human body that they believed was ugly hence individuals were to prevent the features through the influence of rituals and ceremony. Nacirema devoted shrines to assist in this process. So significant was the shrines that all families had to own one or two in their houses. On the shrine’s wall, Nacirema built a box where they kept charms that protected their lives. Nacirema had medicine men that were extremely powe rful hence highly respected. The medicine men were given extensive gifts for prescribing curative potions to sick people. Notably, even the poor had to give gifts to the wealthy medicine men since the community believed and respected their culture. Sociologically, they argued that such actions were right and all members of the society had to adhere to them irrespective of their economic status.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nacirema believed that used charms were not to be disposed, but had to be placed in the charm box. These magical potions could spill over to the floor. Each family member had to enter the shrine room, bow his/her head before the charm box and proceed to mingle different forms of holy water to perform rites of ablution. The priests had the role of purifying the water. Clearly, members of the Nacirema community practiced these rites since they believed that t heir culture was the best in the whole world. Then there was the â€Å"holy-mouth men† who were second in command to the medicine men. These people were conducting mouth pathology in a horrified way. For instance, they used prods and awls to gouge out a client’s teeth in order to create a hole for inserting magical materials. The purpose of this activity was to arrest teeth decay, build strong relationship with friends and lovers, and improve moral fiber among children. A holy-mouth man jabs an awl into the nerves of the jawbone. Even though this practice was extremely crude, cruel and did not meet its objective of preventing teeth decay, individuals continued to seek out the activities of a holy-mouth man at least once in a year. There is also the private mouth rite where magical powders and bundles of smog hairs are inserted into the mouth. In the context of cultural relativism, there is no judgment that the culture of the Nacirema was bad since they continued to pra ctice it amid the horrific encounters in the process. The whole process inflicts pain into the jawbones and cannot be condoned in the present society. For example, some African communities that practices female circumcision have come under pressure from the international community and local governments to stop the process. Additionally, there is the temple where medicine men perform ceremonies like treating the sick. According to Professor Linton, the ceremony is always harsh such that rarely do extremely sick patients come out alive. However, sick adults continue to undergo the protracted ritual purification. Sadly, temple guardians cannot admit a client before giving a rich gift no matter the level of illness. Out rightly, these acts show lack of moral values for the sick people. They compare properties to life of human beings. This cultural practice is quite unethical. Markedly, the sick were stripped off all their clothes and forced to perform natural functions into a sacred ves sel. The medicine men could manipulate, scrutinize, and prod naked bodies of sick females. Nevertheless, they continued to practice it in order to enhance societal unity and even believed that it was superior to other cultures in the world. The societal members were ethnocentric, as they did not reject attempts by maidens to strip them naked and allow medicine men to manipulate their bodies. Nacirema also believed that mothers could put curses on their children and only ‘listeners’ could conduct rituals to exorcise the devils.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Body Ritual among the Nacirema specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, women with large breasts could move from village to village to make money by allowing natives to view them. The culture of the Nacirema reveals the ethnocentric nature of the community. They had persevered the harsh, painful, and crude practices with the aim of fulfilling their societal demands. In their context, these practices were not termed evil since truth is never objective. The research methodology that Professor Linton used to collect the cultural practices of the Nacirema is qualitative given that it tried to answer questions on why and how the community behaved the way they did. It disclosed the Nacirema’s belief systems, experiences, and perspectives from the historical point of view. The whole concept helped anthropologists to understand how and why the Nacirema were behaving the way, they did. For instance, the research exposed why the Nacirema paid due attention to ritual activities albeit the fruits of their economic engagements. In essence, communities hold their cultures irrespective of the consequences that they undergo due to the ethnocentric nature and cultural relativism in the entire world. This essay on Body Ritual among the Nacirema was written and submitted by user Adriana Suarez to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Titration is a method to find out how much acid would neutralize an alkali Essays

Titration is a method to find out how much acid would neutralize an alkali   Essays Titration is a method to find out how much acid would neutralize an alkali   Essay Titration is a method to find out how much acid would neutralize an alkali   Essay The following equation shows the neutralisation reaction between iron and potassium manganate i will be carrying out this reaction in my experiment 5Fe2+(aq) + MnO4- (aq) + 8H+ 5Fe+3(aq)+Mn+2(aq) + 4H2O(l) We made the ammonium sulphate solution with the concentration of 0.05moldm3 with the volume 250cm3 To calculate the molecular mass i added up all the elements, (Fe(NH4)2 (SO4)2 6H2O), the molecular mass is 391.90 We can calculate the number of moles by using the following formula Number of moles = concentration x volume So 0.05 X 0.025(this has to be converted dm3) = 0.0125 APPARATUS: * Volumetric flask * 10 cm pipette * 100 cm conical flask * burette * distilled water * clamp stand * standard solution * Lab coats should be worn during the practical * Eye protection should also be worn Titration Rough 1 2 3 4 Initial burette reading 28.00 26.60 26.90 26.80 26.60 Titre 28.00 26.60 26.90 26.80 26.60 METHOD 1) set up apparatus 2) fill burette with potassium manganate solution 3) get 250ml of the standard solution transfer it to a flask using a pipette 4) while swirling add potassium manganate to the solution 5) use a white tile to see a colour change (pink) 6) record the end point the first will be rough repeat method to get concordant results Results Table Titration 1 2 3 4 5 Final reading 28.00 26.60 26.90 26.80 26.60 26.60 Average = 26.60cm3 5Fe2+(aq) + MnO4- (aq) + 8H+ 5Fe+3(aq)+Mn+2(aq) + 4H2O(l) The reaction shows that 5 moles of iron II neutralises 1 mole of potassium mangnate 0.00125/5 = 0.00025 From this we can work out the no of moles of potassium mangnate 0.000251000/26.60 = 0.0093 To find the percentage of iron i used this equation Moles of iron in 25cm3/moles in 25cm3XMr = 0.069/0.466=0.14263X100 = 14.8% i checked this value and compared my result to the original value of 14.3 and noticed i wasnt far off

THe Irish Famine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

THe Irish Famine - Essay Example nineteenth century were severely underdeveloped† which â€Å"had crucial implications for the working of the economy.†1 However, it cannot be denied that the effects of the potato failure had long-reaching and detrimental effects upon the population at large. There were many reasons why potatoes emerged as the primary crop for Irish farmers to subsist upon. Potatoes are nutritious, easily grown and stored which made it the perfect food for the times and circumstances. The production of potatoes as a means of feeding the family, while all other crops and manufactured goods were used for outside trade or to further enrich the land for planting, enabled society to flourish in the first part of the century. However, when potatoes became suddenly unavailable, the hardships and deaths that followed were of catastrophic proportion. There have been a wide variety of theories as to why this happened, including the contention that the decline would have occurred regardless of what might have happened with the potato crops, but careful analysis has continued to demonstrate that the failure of the potatoes created a significant shift in the direction of Ireland that continues into the present day. This sad event in history has led people to question why it happened, the effectiveness of governmental remedies and how a similar event can be prevented in the future. The human suffering that resulted from the ‘Irish Potato Famine’ of 1846 to 1850 occurred predominantly due to the peasant class of Irish being reliant solely on one crop, the potato, for sustenance. Prior to the 1800’s, the Irish grew several different types of crops, many of which would have been able to meet the humanitarian need that would arise in the failure of potatoes. These included barley, rye, oats and vegetables.2 However, British law, concerned with protecting British interests, introduced the protectionist legislation referred to as the Corn Law. This law, and subsequent laws