The authority of ancestors - correspondence

Mampruli is a Mole-Dagbani language so closely akin to Talni that the two maybe regarded as mutually intelligible dialects of a single language. TheMampruli word most accurately translated into English as `elder' iskpeema (pl. kpam-ma). This is cognate with Talni kpeem.The Mampruli word for `grandparent' (yaaba; pl. yaab-di-ma) iscognate with Talni yaaba. There is no word in Mampruli which may bealternatively translated as `elder' or `ancestor'. As far as I know there isalso no word for `elder' in Mampruli cognate with a Talni word for`ancestor'.

Mampusi refer to yaab-di-ma (grandparents)', badima (members ofa mother's agnatic lineage), in contexts where these words should be translatedas `ancestors'. An English definition of `ancestor' which would correspond tothe Mamprusi usage is; `a deceased relative to whom the living directlysacrifice'. As in the English usage of `grandparents', `mother's side of thefamily' or `father's side of the family', Mamprusi kinship terms may refer toboth living and dead relatives. Mamprusi however clearly distinguish `thedead' (kpiim) from the living, and it is normally quite clear fromcontext whether the individual referred to is living or dead.

In Mamprusi lineage structure, as in the organisation of lineages elsewhere,living `elders' become `ancestors' after death. The distinction between livingelders and deceased ancestors is crucial to the processes of fission and fusionin

Goody (1962) has amply documented, among the neighbouring Lodagaa, the complexritual which attends death. He has also analysed the ideology which underliesthe ritual. Funeral ritual is the most elaborate and funerals the most visibleof social events throughout the Mole-Dagbani-speaking region of west Africa.Is is by no means obvious, as Kopytoff suggests, that people who systematicallycommunicate and sacrifice to certain of the dead consider the distinctionbetween the dead and the living less significant than others who believe in aresurrection of the dead for a last judgement. Differences in how the dead areconceptualised will certainly be correlated with other differences in beliefand these are worth exploring. However, many interesting questions areobscured by Kopytoff's insistence that we concern ourselves with theorisingabout a `Pan-african macro-semantic universe'. Conceptions of `ancestors' andthe role of `elders' appear to vary as the degree of centralisation varies fromone society to another. The Mamprusi polity is more centralised than theTallensi and attitudes towards authority contrast sharply (Drucker-Brown 1967).The role of elders and ancestors among the Mamprusi are different in subtleways which need further analysis. (See also Drucker-Brown 1977; 1981).

Does common language imply homogenous attitudes? One might as well assume (andfor some purposes, by some people, it is assumed) because the British and thecitizens of the U.S.A. share a common vocabulary in which the words `president'and `prime minister' are included, that they also share a common attitudetowards authority.

Susan Drucker-Brown,
University of Cambridge.

Drucker-Brown, Susan 1967. Ethnographic introduction. In Diccionarioanalitico del

Mampruli (by) E. Arana & M. Swadesh. Mesico: Museo delas Culturas.
- 1975. Ritual aspects of the Mamprusi kingship. Cambridge: AfricanStudies Centre.
- 1981. The Mamprusi cult of naam, In The study of the state (eds)H.J.M. Claessen & P. Skalnik. The Hague, Paris: Mouton.
Fortes, Meyer 1970. Pietes in ancestor worship. In Time and socialstructure. London: Athlone Press.
Goody, Jack 1962. Death, property and the ancestors. London: Tavistock.