Early explorers had no problems with this and early anthropologists erected many of their conclusions on such commonsensical translations. I would claim that this also goes for the English term ancestor , no matter how commonsensical it appears to be. It should be noted that after his dismissal of the problem as absurd, Brain supplies the Luguru word for 'ancestral spirit'. To be sure, behind my argument there lie some fundamental theoretical issues. To take an extra example, if one subscribes to the position that the reality is in the social structure and that culture, with its semantic categories, is but a symbolic reflection of that reality, then my concerns are indeed irrelevant.
Ancestors are real, and so are family, descent, slavery and so on.
Let us study 'them' and gloss them occasionally with the imperfect cultural nomenclature. On the other hand, if one thinks that the social structure is not determinant but is in some interactive and dialectical relationship with culture, then cultural semantics are worth more time than Calhoun is willing to give them. Igor Kopytoff University of Pennsylvania Alexandre, R.P. 1953. Boas, Franz 1889. On alternating sounds.