Recent work on conventional metaphor together with reinterpretations of classic studies of "soul substance" and mana are examined to assess the dangers of overinterpretation--the attribution of nonexistent theologies and metaphysics--by ethnographers. In our project of cultural translation, are we prone to attribute deeper salience to other peoples' way of talk than they in fact imply?
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Roger M. Keesing (1985) studied this question.