There is not even unanimity among them. The objective is to show how the Mambila make sense of their own doings, and how they attend to what they mean to one another. The method highlights their reflexive attitude and the indexicality of their words. In turn, the anthropologist's interpretation is grounded in the record of Mambila action. Zeitlyn thinks there is some conceptual unity behind the plurality of usage.
Transcripts are thus useful to the work of interpretation.
The reader may even gain insights into Mambila practice and social strategies. Ethnomethodological context is determined in reference to the emerging structure that results from the sequential organization of talk and interaction. This is probably too narrow a definition of context for the requisite of thick description. But as Zeitlyn himself points out, this would require studying Mambila rhetorics. But to describe forms of religious life and the use of key concepts does not complete Zeitlyn's agenda.