The Slums of Nattahnam

Horace Miner's "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema."

The Nacirema culture has been the subject of attention of many researchers in the last several decades. Horace Miner’s famous ethnography, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,”¹ is the seminal work on this strange group. It examines the population’s obsessive and often masochistic adherence to their healing and hygienic rites, and the fear with which they regard natural bodily functions. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” has become an integral title in the anthropological canon. However, despite his legendary achievement in demystifying the magical rites of this group, Miner fails to convey the sheer size of their territory. He describes the space that they inhabit as “the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.”² What is unclear from this statement, however, is that the territory Miner is referring to spans 3.8 million square miles.

“Nacirema” is actually a conglomerate of dozens of much smaller tribes, all of which share certain characteristics, such as their body rituals and the compulsive exchange of an economic token known as the “rallod.” Despite their shared Nacirema identity, each of these tribes have their own distinct culture, and often exhibit prejudice against people belonging to other tribes. The most apparent of these feuds seems to be between the large, densely populated urban tribes and the more spread-out rural tribes, but there is also a great deal of in-fighting amongst groups about their choice of tribal leaders, a divide which is most perplexing because these leaders seem concern themselves very little with the well-being of the lower members of their tribe. A great percentage of the Nacirema population seem blind to this lack of concern, and use their chosen allegiance (symbolized by the colors “red” and “blue”) as a signal to other tribesmen of their morality and intelligence. These differences aside, there is a great deal of pride associated with the tribe that one belongs to.

This essay examines the island of Nattahnam, one of the densest population centers within Nacirema. Nattahnam has achieved worldwide recognition due to its high volume of merchants and its prevalence in the medium of “noisivelet,” a type of theater which people can view in their own homes for countless hours a day. Noisivelet is highly influential to the Nacirema people, and seems to color their conception of the world around them. It is perhaps for this reason that Nattahnam and the surrounding regions of Sneeq, Nylkoorb, Xnorb, and Dnalsi Netats see a high volume of migrants from other regions of Nacirema. Interestingly, many of these migrants come from the sparsely-populated rural areas that most Nattahnam-ites detest. Contrary to expectation, however, these noisivelet dramas portray a sterilized, utopian version of Nattahnam that is distant from the island’s reality, and migrants are often shocked when they find out that the vast majority of Nattahnam tribesmen never achieve the opportunity and wealth that the dramas promise.

Miner describes the body rituals of the Nacirema as “an example of the extremes to which human behavior can go,”³ and describes the population as having “masochistic tendencies.”⁴ These statements are not only applicable to their body rituals, though, and are in fact emblematic of Nattahnam culture as a whole. The high cost of living on the island, and the long work hours that its inhabitants must endure to afford such a cost, are part of the tribe’s cultural identity. Variants of the slogan “If you can make it here you can make it anywhere”⁵⁶ often appear in the tribe’s music, as a source of pride for the island’s inhabitants. The majority of residents that were interviewed stated that they would never want to live anywhere else. When questioned as to their reasoning, they cited the island’s high concentration of social clubs and twenty-four hour food merchants as conveniences that they could not live without. They refer to even the surrounding territories (which are also densely populated when compared with the rest of Nacirema and often have similar conveniences) as “the middle of nowhere,” and regard the lives of their inhabitants as bland and uninteresting.

Nattahnam people also exhibit certain phobia of the natural world. Another reason residents give for their unwillingness to move to the Nacirema countryside is that they could not deal with all of the animals and bugs that exist in these regions. This belief appears to be rooted in delusion, however. The cramped, stacked tenements (called “stnemtrapa”) in which most residents live are fertile ground for animals such as rats and cockroaches, and residents report taking great pains to prevent these pests from entering their homes. Their underground rail system, which they call the “Yawbus,” boasts a high concentration of rats, and is in fact a prime example of the Nattahnam population’s masochistic delusion

The yawbus system prides itself on being the largest and most efficient underground rail system in the world, and while it may be the largest, its efficiency is doubtful. It is plagued by constant, often needless delays, which some residents suspect are done purposefully to frustrate riders. However, Nattahnam-ites seem to still subject themselves to complete reliance on this system, and many of them do not even learn how to operate an automobile, a significant rite of passage elsewhere in Nacirema. There are a few logical explanations that can be ascertained as to why this might be. For one, the high volume of automobile traffic on the island makes the yawbus the most efficient means of transport within Nattahnam. Additionally, the residents’ high cost of living might prevent them from being able to afford an automobile. This is further evidenced by the fact that owning a vehicle in Nattahnam is more expensive than in most places in Nacirema. There is a shortage of automobile parking on the island, so most vehicle owners are forced to keep their machines in parking garages. These services can exceed four hundred rallods a month, an impractical expense for residents living in poverty.

Nonetheless, the Nattahnam residents do not seem to mind their lack of automobiles. In fact, the more environmentally-conscious among them view these vehicles as wasteful pollutants, and have a strong moral preferene towards public transportation. This seems to be yet another delusion, as one need only look at the sewage-scented smoke fumes eminating from the island’s sidewalk grates and the high volume of trash accumulating on the streets to ascertain that high-density population centers are infinitely more polluting to the environment than even the largest swarm of fuel-inefficient SUVs. However, in spite of this, the island eschews plastic shopping bags and even frowns upon the use of plastic straws, an example of yet another pervasive hypocrisy.

What is most interesting about the island, however, is that it exhibits the two extremes of wealth inequality in Nacirema. The island has a high concentration of homeless and impoverished residents, but its “financial district” is one of the largest and most esteemed in the world, and draws a high volume of distinguished professionals whose main concern in life seems to be the exchange of rallods. These professionals’ function is enigmatic. They amass vast quantities of these rallods simply by being experts in their exchange, but the way that they manage to accumulate so much wealth without producing anything of value remains a mystery to outsiders. While the majority of these workers enjoy a standard of living only marginally higher than that of the average resident, the highest-paid among them live in luxurious stnemtrapa in the nicest areas of Nattahnam, and can be found frequenting restaurants, lounges and theaters which employ many of the island’s peasants. The island is in fact home to some of the wealthiest people in all of Nacirema, and thus boasts a high concentration of prestigious educational institutions and business hubs.

Despite its unescapable crowds, Nattahnam appears to be a lonely place. People tend to avoid their neighbors and rarely engage in social interactions with those around them, and the island has the reputation of being home to some of the least friendly people in the world. Despite this, its gilded charm has appealed to many, and the island continues to attract new residents. There also appears to be some turnover among residents, and many people move out of Nattahnam and its surrounding territories, especially after retirement. However, many migrants who have not reached retirement age still work in Nattahnam, and many outside residents endure long commutes to get to jobs there, because these jobs pay higher rallod amounts than those in many other Nacirema territories.

The inhabitants of Nattahnam are certainly a peculiar people. The island itself can be viewed as a microcosm of some of the most absurd and extreme aspects of Nacirema culture. In the conclusion to “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema,” Miner writes: “It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves.” This statement seems to apply doubly to the residents of Nattahnam. It is unclear to researchers why the people on this island and its surrounding territories continue to endure substandard living conditions, particularly when the cost to obtain these living conditions is so high. Perhaps the masochism that Miner reported is more pervasive than even he could have imagined. What is clear, however, is that life can endure in even the most extreme conditions. This analysis can perhaps best be concluded with Miner’s opening statement:

“The anthropologist has become so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different peoples behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic of customs. In fact, if all of the logically possible combinations of behavior have not been found somewhere in the world, he is apt to suspect that they must be present in some yet undescribed tribe.”⁷

1. Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, 58(3), 503-507. https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Miner-1956-BodyRitualAmongTheNacirema.pdf

2. Miner, (1956), p. 503.

3. id.

4. Miner, (1956), p. 505.

5. Kander, J. And Fred Ebb (1977). New York, New York [Recorded by F.A. Sinatra]. On New York, New York [Album]. United Artists.

6. Shuckburgh, A.W., et. al. (2009). Empire State of Mind [Recorded by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys]. On The Blueprint 3 [Album]. Roc Nation.

7. Miner, H. (1956). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, 58(3), 503. https://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Miner-1956-BodyRitualAmongTheNacirema.pdf