Marvin Harris

The rise of anthropological theory : a history of theories of culture

Enlightenment reaction and recovery - the early 19th century rise of racial determinism Spencerism evolutionism - methods the evolutionists - results dialectical materialism historical particularism - Boas the Boasian milieu the ethnographic basis of particularism Kroeber Lowie diffusionism culture and personality - pre-Freudian culture and personality - Freudian culture and personality - new directions French structuralism British social anthropology emics, etics and the new ethnography statistical survey and the nomothetic revival cultural materialism - general evolution cultural materialism - cultural ecology.

The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle

The relationship between human and bovine population in India has hitherto been widely regarded as an important example of resource mismanagement under the influence of religious doctrine. It is suggested that insufficient attention has been paid to such positive functioned features of the Hindu cattle complex as traction power and milk, dung, beef and hide production in relationship to the costs of ecologically viable alternatives. In general, the exploitation of cattle resources proceeds in such a way as not to impair the survival and economic well-being of the human population. The relationship between the human and bovine population is symbiotic rather than competitive; more traction animals than are presently available are needed for carrying out essential agricultural tasks. Under existing techno-environmental conditions, a relatively high ratio of cattle to humans is ecologically unavoidable. This does not mean, that with altered techno-environmental conditions, new and more efficient food energy systems cannot be evolved.

The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle [and Comments and Replies]

The relationship between human and bovine population in India has hitherto been widely regarded as an important example of resource mismanagement under the influence of religious doctrine. It is suggested that insufficient attention has been paid to such positive-functioned features of the Hindu cattle complex as traction power and milk, dung, beef and hide production in relationship to the costs of ecologically viable alternatives. In general, the exploitation of cattle resources proceeds in such a way as not to impair the survival and economic well-being of the human population. The relationship between the human and bovine population is symbiotic rather than competitive; more traction animals than are presently available are needed for carrying out essential agricultural tasks. Under existing techno-environmental conditions, a relatively high ratio of cattle to humans is ecologically unavoidable. This does not mean, that with altered techno-environmental conditions, new and more efficient food energy systems cannot be evolved.

The Evolutionary Theories of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer [and Comments and Replies]

In this paper certain crucial differences between the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer are explored. Particular attention is given to the Lamarckian basis of Spencers evolutionary doctrine.

Animal Capture and Yanomamo Warfare: Retrospect and New Evidence

Much new evidence has accumulated confirming the social and biological significance of meat distribution and consumption among the Yanomamo and other South American tropical forest groups. This evidence disconfirms the assertion that warfare among the Yanomamo and other low-density tropical forest societies has no plausible relation to ecological factors. The salience of the protein capture problem does not rule out the effect of other cultural-ecological factors on settlement patterns and warfare. Any evidence of additional infrastructural sources of intergroup tensions simply strengthens the historically central point that warfare among the Yanomamo and other low-density South American tropical forest bands and village peoples cannot be dismissed as a natural consequence of human agressivity.

Death, Sex, and Fertility: Population Regulation in Preindustrial, and Developing Societies

This book reassesses the balance between mutable cultural factors and more intractable biological processes in the establishment of modes of reproduction among preindustrial and developing societies. During the past 2 decades archeological historical and ethnological studies of population phenomena indicate that that preindustrial cultural means of regulating population growth exerted a more powerful effect on the balance of mortality and fertility rates than was previously credited. When sociocultural differences and similarities including demographic variables are examined synchronically causal relationships rapidly dissolve into an incoherent corpus of middle-range eclectic correlations linking infrastructural components in infinite ways. Modes of reproduction consist of practices that directly or indirectly affect reproductive processes. These practices can be grouped into 4 categories: 1) care and treatment of fetuses infants and children; 2) the care and treatment of girls and women; 3) lactation frequency and scheduling; 4) coital frequency and scheduling. Among most preindustrial societies the main child-rearing costs are incurred over a period of 5 or 6 years. The problem of describing and predicting the quantitative and qualitative features of population-regulating systems would be less formidable if the benefits and costs of rearing children accrued equally to each member of the adult generation. Overall this book surveys the changing patterns of human reproductive control through the long course of cultural evolution from early foraging populations to the appearance of the state and the rise of the capitalist world system.

Sacred Cows and Water Buffalo in India: The Uses of Ethnography [and Comments and Reply]

In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. With regard to cattle, the principal change was a shift from bullock power to machinery. This provided the basis for a test of the two principal positions that have been taken in the sacred-cow controversy: (1) technoenvironmental determinism, which denies that religious belief is an independent determinant of Indian cattle demography, and (2) the position that religious belief is one of a number of factors that affect the demography of Indian cattle. Our data demonstrate that belief in the sanctity of the cow significantly influences the demography of cattle in this village. In an attempt to evaluate the sacred-cow controversy, we note two characteristics of its history: First, it appears to reflect a tendency to dismiss obvious explanations in favor of unexpected ones. Second, the lack of relevant field data for deciding the issue suggests a general decline in holistic ethnographic studies. We argue that our article illustrates the usefulness of analytical holistic ethnography.

Caste, Class, and Minority

tionial membership, which involve relationships of a more generalized or impersonal variety and which emphasize to a somewhat greater degree the actual display of status. It will be remembered that it was these particular pairs of variables which were positively interrelated. An emphasis on proper behavior may involve both interpersonal relations and more secondary relationships, thus accounting for the fact that this dimension was highly related to three of these other dimensions and weakly related to the fourth. If subsequent research shows the same patterns as those found in this study, this third type of explanation would seem to be the most valid. The present exploratory study has obviously raised many more questions than have been answered. It is hoped, however, that results will be suggestive for further research. Once the various dimensions of status consciousness have been refined anid data collected on other populations, we will be in a much better position to develop specific theories accounting for the interrelationships among the different kinds of attitudes concerning social status.

Bovine Sex and Species Ratios in India [and Comments and Reply]

Despite religious sanctions against the slaughter of cattle, bovine age, sex, and species ratios in all India and Kerala are systematically adjusted to demographic, technological, economic, and environmental conditions. While it is not denied that the apotheosis of cattle has influenced the management of Indias bovine stocks, religious beliefs cannot account for the most important regional and local variations in the utilization of these animals.

On Harris' Rise of Anthropological Theory

The Institute of Physical Anthropology at the University of Budapest was one of the first of its kind, and its director, Aurel Torok, enjoyed world repute. Concurrently with the establishment of the Institute, Janos Jank6 created an anthropological laboratory in the Ethnographic Museum, with a program that was emulated in other European countries. Studies were published in its Antropologiai Fuzetek (Anthropological Letters) and Neprajzi Mzizeum igrtesitoje (Bulletin of the Ethnographic Museum). Physical anthropology in Hungary today has chairs at three universities: at Budapest, where the chair has been vacant for some time due to the death of Lajos Bartucz; at Szeged, where it is held by Pal Liptak; and at Debrecen, where it was held until recently by Mihaly Malan. The largost and most important institution isthe physical anthropological section of the Museum of Natural Sciences, which publishes Anthropologia Hungarica. Research of a physical anthropological character is also conducted at the Central Statistical Bureau and the Biological Institute at the University of Szeged. The Committee of Physical Anthropology, Biological Section, Hungarian Academy of Science is in charge of all activities. Its chairman isJanos Nemeskeri. Members total ten and include the heads of relevant institutions and other outstanding persons in the field. The Committee has organized two international meetings on physical anthropology, one in 1959 and the other in 1967. Reports and lectures on research activities are arranged by the Department of Physical Anthropology of the Hungarian Biological Association. It publishes Antropologiai Kozlemenyek (Notes on Physical Anthropology), a journal now in its 13th year. Articles of physical anthropological content also appear in Acta Archaeologia Hungarica and in the yearbooks of universities. Areas of concentration are as follows: a) Human evolution. Research activities and results in this area are well exemplified by the highly successful work at Vertesszollos (CA 6:74-87), and by the voluminous monograph on the evolution of Homo sapiens published in Anthropologia Hungarica. b) Historical physical anthropological studies in close cooperation with archaeologists. Outstanding examples of such studies include research on the genesis of Neolithic and Aeoneolithic populations of Hungary; on the ethnic problems of the Roman period; on the anthropology of man during the Great Migration period; and of the Arpad era. Principal participants in the projects are J. Nemeskeri, P. Liptak, T. Toth, and K. K. Jtry. c) Paleodemography. In conjunction with studies in historical anthropology, research is conducted on the life span and infant mortality rate of past generations, as well as on biological reconstructions based on the estimated size and distance of populations. Participants are J. Nemeskeri, Gy. Csanady, and A. Kralovanszky. d) Paleopathology. Studies are conducted on human diseases, bodily deformations, and injuries in terms of space and time. Participants are J. Nemeskeri, L. Harsanyi, and G. Gaspardy. e) Ethng-physical nthropological studies. These studies are concerned with the evolution of human races and with the contemporary populations of Hungary and their ethnic characteristics. Research focuses on biodemographic and humangenetic aspects of the population. Studies conducted during the past 25 years among population isolates in northern Hungary have reached as far back as 350 years. Participants are M. Malan, R. Rackhausz, J. Nemeskeri, A. Thoma, and P. Liptak. f ) Others. Notable results have been produced by recent studies in physiological anthropology, sport anthropology, and gerontology. Longitudinal and menarche studies also deserve mentioning. In the framework of the International Biological Program, studies have been conducted in such areas as human adaptation and social demography. Participants in these studies include M. Malan, A. Thoma, Gy. Dezso, 0. Eiben, Gy. Farkas, andJ. Nemeskeri.