My Relationship With the Text

I first encountered this as reading in a 6th grade Social Studies class, and it has stuck with me ever since. I bought the story about “a tribe of people drilling holes in their teeth” hook, line, and sinker, right up till the moment the teacher asked us what Nacirema backwards was. I think this “outsider” perspective on American culture was really important for me to have read growing up, as it altered the way I’d read reports on things I hadn’t seen myself, and I would like to ensure it’s preserved for future generations of schoolchildren to experience (and hopefully learn from). However, life even a few decades in the future will most likely be much different than it is now, and people may lack the necessary social context to understand the satire behind the paper. That’s why I wanted to update the text to better suit the 21st century, so that it can be a more relevant criticism of American culture, specifically focusing on the growing prevalence of technology in our everyday lives. I hope that whoever reads it in the future will be able to appreciate the importance of “looking in from the outside,” as it not only teaches you how to view yourself, but how to approach viewing others.

Now, I feel like I have a bit of a confession to make. At the beginning of this this project, I couldn't remember exactly where I had first learned about this text. I knew it was at school, but it took several hours of concentrated thought to remember which grade, and even afterwards I still couldn't put a name to the teacher who introduced me to it. I feel like there’s some sort of situational irony here: I’ve kept this lesson ingrained in my memory for years, yet I no longer recall who taught it to me.

Attempting to embrace this irony, I embarked on a bit of a quest to find this teacher. First I asked my mom if she remembered who my 6th grade social studies teacher was. Obviously, she did not. At this point in my journey, I nearly gave up all hope. Then, I turned to the internet, and searched for my middle school’s website.