REPLY: tribal/ethnic/language groups

Mel Page (PAGEM@ETSUARTS.EAST-TENN-ST.EDU)
Fri, 2 Jun 1995 08:46:25 GMT-5

Date sent: Thu, 1 Jun 1995
From: Guy-Maurille Massamba, Howard University
<GuyRille@aol.com>

Eric Washington's reaction to my post referring to the term "Bantu" makes
me realize that I may have confused the linguistic group and the ethnic
group. Thank you for the remark.

However, there is a fundamental question that remains unanswered: Can
we not speak of a Bantu people ? According to James Newman, in his
earlier post, there is no such a thing as Bantu people. I personally
believe that the linguistic relatedness of many ethnic groups,
members of the Bantu linguistic group, constitutes a basis for the
definition of some identity. The same way we speak of Latin, Anglo-
Saxon, or Semitic people... Note that a language is an essential
cultural element that characterizes the identity of people.