In the fifth chapter of Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris, Harris puts across the viewpoint of the Kaoka’s culture, as well as those of other similar tribes. Additionally, them and their obsession to becoming the big man also known as potlatch. Culture is merely based off of different traditions and legends that have been passed down through centuries of times, some of which might not make sense to others. Unlike the last chapters, The Kaoka do not simply worship animals, they have this self desire to be very humble people, all through a process of competitive feasting. This serves the practical function of preventing the labor force from falling back to levels of productivity that offer no margin of safety. “The object was to…show more content… He antagonizes her work, notably her aversion, or reluctance, to adopt theory in the study of culture. Then stating that he thinks that Benedict was mistaken in her work. “The economic system of the Kwakiutl wasn’t bent to the service of status rivalry; rather, status, status rivalry was bent to the service of this obsession”. (p.116) This obsession has been seen throughout many different tribes. Another example is that of the Semai people, a semi sedentary ethnic group living in the center of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. In their culture, saying thank you is considered crude because it suggested either that you were amazed by the success and generosity of the hunter or you were observing the size of the piece of meat you had been given. These are tribes built from different kinsmen, located in different parts of the world but still manage to have some cultural similarities. Many examples were giving from “Bushmen around the Kalahari Desert” (p.124) to “the Kwakiutl, the aboriginal inhabitants of Vancouver Island.” (p.113) Going back to the beginning of the book, we are taught that culture is shared. We learn our culture by seeing things around us, interacting and listening to others. These tribes interacted with people and the area around them yet still have similar
