Ancestor Non-worship in Mampruli

Abstract

This paper first draws attention to the necessity of careful choice of terminology in ethnological discussions of the areas of culture often termed 'traditional religion', especially in the use of terms like 'worship'. There follows a discussion of some of the methodological difficulties in this area, with the suggestion that a lexicological approach to the vocabulary used by members of the society studied may make a useful contribution to understanding here. The second part presents tabulated lexical data from the Western Oti / Volta languages which illustrates the problems and possibilities discussed.