Examined are the form and function of the ethnographic text and the place and function of the metaphor within it. Characteristics of ethnographic writing are identified, e.g., the use of indirect discourse and narrative form. The relevance and legitimacy of using metaphorical models for constructing interpretations of other cultures is argued, and the consequences of doing so are discussed. The process by which ethnologists use metaphors to represent meaning from one culture to another is theorized. The common anthropological notions of lineage, state, place, and segmentation are treated in this discussion as metaphorical models. The concepts of exotic and theoretical metaphors are also explored. (Copyright 1994, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (C. Brennan in LLBA 1994, vol. 28, n. 4)