Alternative medicine includes such non-conventional therapies as herbal supplements, acupuncture, chiropractic therapy, homeopathy, osteopathy, and therapeutic touch. unproven Websites for alternative cancer treatment centers offer treatments to patients that cost tens of thousands of dollars and are not covered by insurance. One website claims that 80% of cancer therapies are blocked by the patient’s emotions and that these blocks can be removed by a technique called tapping. Another website claims sharks do not get cancer and that taking shark cartilage supplements can help treat cancer in humans.

What are your feelings on “alternative medicine?”

Is it a mistake?

Do you feel “alternative medicine” could be a viable option for personalized cancer treatment?

Horace Miner’s 1956 piece on the Nacirema has become a classic in anthropology for a number of reasons. Miner’s piece was at once intended to illustrate the pitfalls of ethnocentrism and cultural romanticism while emphasizing the need for cultural relativism and the role of the etic perspective as a descriptive tool. While illustrating the etic perspective, his piece also makes one wonder how the same rituals would be systematically described through an emic lens. As one might observe when reading Nacirema, interpretations of data presented through another’s viewpoint may result in rather an ethnocentric view, even when the Other is no stranger at all.

On the other had, etic perspectives are invaluable if they account for all three ‘Components of Culture.’ Observing patterns of behavior and material culture is not enough. A valuable and accurate etic perspective must account for the attitudes, values, and beliefs that inform and perpetuate those patterns and objects. Miner’s reporting on the Nacirema was not necessarily inaccurate, though it demonstrates that belief systems are rather harder to access than performances. The Nacirema today are not unlike the Nacirema as they were in 1956. Most if not all of the rituals he observed are still engaged in in much the same manner.

Every reader tends to pick up different lessons from Miner, sometimes remarkably so. Given what you have just read, address each of the following questions:

1. What do you think about the functions of the lifeways of the Nacirema – what practical matters are addressed in their symbolic manners?
2. Given that the piece was written in 1956, how do you think the Nacirema would be represented in today’s society? Provide a contemporary comparison to any one of the rituals Miner observed in 1956.
3. Using the information in the Voice Threads and outside sources, what are the respective roles and values of emic vs etic perspectives? Both are valuable, but which do you think is most illuminating or useful in ethnographic representations?
4. Select one of Miner’s rituals of focus. How would an ethnographer or local describe that same ritual through an emic perspective?

How can the concept of ’emergent authenticity” be used, or how is it used, to understand the significance of the production of local cultural forms for tourist consumption as discussed in the Cohodas and Medina readings? In your response, you should consider: 1) Cohodas’ discussion of the local significance of Elizabeth Hickox’s production of curio baskets; and 2) Medina’s discussion of the production of Maya cultural forms in Belize. You should consider, Where appropriate, how the concept of emergent authenticity could help us understand how meanings of ‘authenticity’ could be applied to these cultural forms by both producers (artisans) and consumers (tourists).

This week, we’ve learned about anthropological and historical perspectives on the cultural construction of gender and sexuality, as well as changing frameworks for understanding the complexities of sex itself. As described in the lecture, anthropologists talk about gender as a performance, rather than simply identity. We do gender according to norms, roles, and ideologies that we learn – and unlearn.

This assignment asks you to draft guidelines for a Martian visitor who is trying to learn more about gender.  Drawing on your own experiences as a member of the human community:

1. What does the Martian need to know about gender?
   • (Note: you do not need to share your own gender identity to answer this question; you can instruct them according to your understanding of any gender)
2. How do people in your community get enculturated into gender roles?
   • Where can the Martian find helpful advice and examples on doing gender? What kinds of sources/spaces/materials might provide further insight and detail?
3. Why might your instructions to the Martian differ from someone else’s guidelines about gender?