“Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them” (p. 505).Miner, H. (1956).
Annotation Comment: This passage caught my attention because of how dramatically Miner emphasizes something that to most, seems completely normal, such as brushing our teeth and dentist visits. By presenting these everyday Western hygienic habits in terms of anthropology, Miner forces readers to see their own culture as if it were strange or out of the ordinary. It’s a clever way to highlight how ethnocentrism affects how we describe and evaluate differing cultures. Main Takeaway: Rituals are not restricted to ‘primitive’ or preindustrial societies. In modern societies like the United States, normalized routines such as brushing teeth function as cultural rituals that express shared values, in this case, being hygiene, beauty, and societal acceptance. Rituals exist in every society and reveal the values that a culture holds as most valuable.