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Re: Book Review - Cultural Materialism
E.J. Ford CFS (ford@HAL.FMHI.USF.EDU)
Wed, 2 Mar 1994 10:36:16 -0500
Danny Yee has provided a typically insiteful review of the literature
once again, this time about Harris' Cultural Materialism.
However, although the emic/etic argument takes up alot of physical space
in the book, it is important to note that this is just a
clarification/rationalization of his stance on epistemology.
Cultural materialism, itself, it seems to me, is essentially about
adaptation, in a similar, though obviously more deterministic, manner to
Steward. This determinism owes a great deal to Marx's historical
materialism as well.
I wonder that many of the objections to Harris' theories come from the
fact that Harris is, himself, so personally forceful/obnoxious, rather
than any substantive theoretical arguments. Ideas similar to Harris' have
been adopted in many phases of anthropology and history. Is it Harris?
EJ Ford
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