Nacirema and Cultural Perspective

The first time I read about the Nacirema was when I was 14 years old. I will write about my initial reaction to the article, because after you are let in on the secret your perspective on the Nacirema obviously changes. 

After finding out that Nacirema is just American spelled backwards, I was shocked to go back and re-read the article. I saw that it was clearly talking about Americans, and described things we did as rituals, instead of giving them the proper names we know the activities by. 

I thought it was interesting that after reading the word ritual I automatically put the Nacirema into a stereotype that the tribe had derived from Africa. Really, we all do rituals, but just don't call them by that name instead calling them habits or necessities. The next question my teacher, at the time, brought to attention is; if an outside culture came to America, is what the article described what they would see and think of our culture? - Probably. 

Each culture is unique and amazingly intricate and intertwined, so for any one culture to look into another there has to be an understanding that the norm is going to be different. The article highlights that just because a culture has odd rituals does not mean that the society is archaic, but it is simply one to its own. Also, we can never look at another culture and expect to see our own or hold it to our culture's expectations, because no one culture has the same morals or behaviors. The Nacirema can teach everyone that you should never judge a culture by just looking at what they do, but that you should always try to delve into the actions and understand what you are observing.