In Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture, anthropologist Marvin Harris provides a framework for understanding the ôriddlesö of culture that is known as cultural materialism. Whether it is the sacred status of the cow to Hindus or the ban on eating pork by Muslims and Jews or even the advent of witches, Harris maintains in his theory of cultural materialism that all of these aspects of human culture are a response to practical problems of existence. For example, witches were a convenient culprit against the rising protest against Church and State. Cows are more valuable for plowing and providing milk than as a one time meal for Hindus. This analysis will discuss cultural materialism as a way of existence for people and societies based on HarrisÆ views.
In Western culture, many individuals cannot understand why Hindus would starve rather than eat beef from their cows. Though the cow has attained a ôsacredö status in Hindu society, this status is directly related to the cowÆs significance for long-term survival. What many westerners do not understand is that if the Hindus ate their cows in time they would die. As Harris (21) explains it, ôDuring droughts and famines, farmers are severely tempted to kill or sell their livestock. Those who succumb to this temptation seal their doom, even if they survive the drought, for when the rains come, they will be unable to plow their fields.ö
In a similar manner, cultural materialism highlights any mystery associated with the Jewish and Muslim ban on eating pork. Pigs require the same foods humans eat, theorizes Harris, but other animals like sheep, goats and cattle survive on grass and provide humans with many necessities from wool and milk to a labor supply. The pig, in contrast, represents a challenge to human survival when food supplies are scarce, because, as Harris (42) notes, it eats ôgrains, making it a direct competitor
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