Observe Your Life
Part I: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Read the Body Ritual Among the Nacirema article
After reading the article above, answer the following questions in your journal.
- What can we learn about our own culture/society from this article?
- What are some of the biases or prejudgments the writer expresses in his descriptions of the Nacirema body rituals?
- What happens when we observe people in our lives using our own filters?
- How can we use an anthropological approach to observing the world around us?
- What is the article really inviting us to consider?
Part II: Observe the World
Write your own anthropological article about people around you.
You can choose to write about everything in general or select a specific group/event/activity to focus on.
Go into as much detail as you like.
Alternative assignment
If you don’t love writing or communicating through written word, you can record a video or audio description or create an alternative artistic medium. Share the video on social with #superpowersarereal
Part III: Observe Your Life
Now turn that observation on yourself.
Write your own anthropological article about you and your life.
You can choose to write about everything in general or select a specific event/activity to focus on.
Go into as much detail as you like.
Alternative assignment
If you don’t love writing or communicating through written word, you can record a video or audio description or create an alternative artistic medium. However, make sure it’s in observation. This is you as a third party, looking in upon your life. Try to be as detached as possible.