Edgar V. Winans

Juma Monica Kathina and Suhrke Astri, eds. Eroding Local Capacity: International Humanitarian Action in Africa . Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 2003. 203 pp. Bibliography. Index. 220 SEK/

tion among chiefly subjects is axiomatic, and this makes it a legitimate force to be used in promoting local development. However, the case studies show that this reality has yet to be fully appreciated since no proper, legal accommodations have been worked out. In at least three countries (Ghana, Botswana, and South Africa), Houses of Chiefs exist which can advise governments on any issue, but they do not constitute part of the legislature. For the most part, the chiefs continue to fill in for the government at the grassroots where it is thin on the ground. In Jamaica, where the Maroons have maintained a social organization based on what was remembered of their cultural roots in precolonial Ghana, modern governments have been reluctant to grant them recognition. In South Africa, the constitution recognizes the Zulu king as king over the people of Kwa-Zulu Natal, but nothing else is clear. The message of this book is unmistakable. Traditional authorities are culturally so deeply rooted that they still remain influential with their peoples. Consequently, they are a legitimate agency for development at the local level. It is therefore imperative to design policies that integrate them into democratic government at tins level. These roles are not necessarily incompatible and need not be seen as contradictory. We are reminded that in the U. K., for instance, the Queen is a traditional authority and yet is part of modern democratic governance. I would say the same for the Netherlands. Grassroots Governance? makes a bold and laudable attempt to push the agenda for chiefly agency in modern local governance and development, a position fully justified by the logic of the situation. Important studies have been done in Cameroon and Sierra Leone, and one hopes to see these included in the future. Although the book is obviously of interest to Africanists and political scientists, it is imperative reading for every African government, public officials, and all aid donors and agencies involved in development work in Africa. Above all, developed democratic countries with lingering minority problems of the original inhabitants such as Australia, Canada, and the U. S. should start thinking seriously about the lessons proffered. Arthur Abraham Virginia State University Petersburg, Virginia

18.00. Paper.

Middleton, John. The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992. xii + 254 pp. including notes, glossary, references, and index.

Economy and society in East Africa

30.00 cloth. Ensminger, Jean. Making a Market: The Institutional Transformation of an African Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. xv + 212 pp. including references and index.

Change and the contestation of meaning in African life

49.95 cloth.

The Maasai of Matapato: A Study of Rituals of Rebellion

Rose, Laurel L. The Politics of Harmony: Land Dispute Strategies in Swaziland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. xviii + 234 pp. including appendix, notes, references, and index.

The anthropologist as historian and as scientist, or the uses of history

59.95 cloth. Rigby, Peter. Cattle, Capitalism and Class: Ilparakuyo Maasai Transformations. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992. xviii + 247 pp. including appendix, notes, bibliography, and index.

E. A. Brett. Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa: The Politics of Economic Change, 1919-1939. Pp. xi, 330. New York: NOK, 1973.

34.95 cloth.

16.00. Paperbound,

When first published in 1988, this classic study was the first to relate the dynamics of the Maasai age organisation to the tensions within the family. Together, these provide the twin strands of a mans career, opposed ritually and reflecting a fundamental ambivalence in Maasai thought. The analysis is illustrated with extensive case material from the the Matapato, selected for this study as a typical Maasai group.

4.95:

Margaret T. Hodgen. Anthropology, History, and Cultural Change. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology No. 52. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974. vii + 108 pp. Tables, maps, references, and index.

The Head of the King: Museums and the Path to Resistance

4.50 (paper). Annemarie deWaal Malefijt. Images of Man: A History of Anthropological Thought. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974. ix + 383 pp. Bibliography and index.