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MARVIN HARRIS
16
Transcript
LIFE AND EDUCATION
EXAMPLE
- In Hindu belief, cows are sacred and cannot be eaten
- Cows are used for important agricultural work
- Function contributes to belief and use
- They would starve if they DID eat their cows
- Status of deity due to economic need/survival
OTHER EXAMPLES
- Muslim and Jewish ban on eating pork
- Aztec cannibalism was due to protein deprivation
- Neckties are worn to show that someone is above physical labour
CULTURAL MATERIALISM
- Societies develop on a trial-and-error basis
- If something is not of value, it will disappear
- Environment affects ideology of a culture
- Cultures develop according to a necessity for survival
EDUCATION
- Graduated from Eramus HIgh School
- 1948: Earned B.A in Anthropology
- 1953: Earned Ph.D at Columbia University
- 1952 - 1982: Chairman of Anthropology dept.
- 1959 - 1963: Associate professor
- 1963 - 1980: Professor
LIFE
Born: August 18, 1927
Death: October 25, 2001
- Born and raised in Brooklyn New York
- Poor family of Russian-Jewish origin
- Father was a salesman, tried to interest him in business
- Joined the army in 1994 but war ended before he got the chance to fight
MARVIN HARRIS
IMAGE
- Aggressive when defending ideas
- Used provocative methods to explain ideas
- "One of the most controversial anthropologists alive"
- Courses as a teacher were very popular
- Famous for pioneering "Cultural Materialism"
By: Nadia Qureishi
INFLUENCED BY
- Karl Marx
- Thomas Malthus
- Lewis Henry Morgan
- Julian Steward
INFLUENCED
OTHER WORK
- R. Brian Ferguson
- Martin F. Murphy
- Maxine L. Margolis
HARRIS' MODEL
- 3 levels of society: infrastructure, structure, structure
- Infrastructure: production and reproduction
- Structure: domestic and political economy
- Superstructure: aesthetic components of society
- Covered issues of race, evolution and culture in Latin America and Brazil
- 1956 - 1957: Fieldwork in Mozambique studying conditions of Africans under Portuguese rule
- 1968: Involved in Anti-Vietnam War student riots
- Wrote a total of 17 books, two of which made him world famous
- Emic and Etic research techniques
- Emic: behaviour observes from within a social group
- Etic: Description of behaviour from outside perspective
CRITICISM AND LEGACY
- "Vulgar materialist"
- Critics thought his theory was oversimplified
- Some say each culture should be viewed separately but Harris believes universals are seen in every culture
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