John W. Harbeson

Weinstein Jeremy. Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xix + 402 pp. Maps. Tables. Notes. Index.

plification of a very complex period in Tanzanias history. The relationship between Europeans and Africans during decolonization and in the postindependence period is a difficult theme, not least because the events are relatively recent. But the events are also complicated: when the authors write in terms of a descent into Congo-style chaos (92), this raises the question of whether the authors are aware that the Congo-style chaos was in part orchestrated by the West. While every author is clearly at liberty to adopt whatever view he or she chooses, consideration of the counterarguments should also be part of the equation; in this book the lack of balance is all the more apparent because the current received wisdom on the value and worth of colonialism is not invariably positive. The armed intervention of Great Britain in 1964 was in real terms a continuation of British imperial foreign policy. In chapter 11, entitled The Decisive Request, the authors talk more specifically of the British military intervention in Tanganyika, describing how rebellions in Zanzibar, Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya were seen in London as being orchestrated by the Communist bloc (135). To consider whether this is true or false does not seem to matter; the Communist threat justified military intervention even if that meant subjecting the civilian population to violence. The fact remains that at the end of what Laurence and MacRae see as the superlative operations of the British—only rarely have [mutinies and coups] been quickly and successfully reversed by prompt intervention of foreign force. The mutiny of the Tanganyika Rifles in 1964 was one such case (19)—a British military force remained in the former British colony. After the federation of Tanzania the national army was finally completely Africanized. The authors do not discuss whether this was acceptable to Great Britain because the British had in any event retained a military presence in the newly independent country, or whether this was in part a positive outcome of the original 1964 mutiny.

70.00. Cloth.

B O O K R E V EW S 41 Part 3 deals with the need to accept and defend mixtures and heterogeneity. Using Hanif Kureishi’s works, Needham explores the diffi culties of being a native whose intellectual knowledge base is rooted in the colonizers’ logic. This is especially obvious when, as with Kureishi, one’s biological parent is a descendant of the colonizer; however, for indigenous Africans, Indians, and Caribbeans whose biological, cultural, and intellectual roots are apparently opposed because of politics and history, a new way of understanding reality must be created. The triad of biology, culture, and intellectual history asserts the need for a new terrain for knowledge exploration and production. Needham’s book explores and extends some important issues in diasporic literatures. These include the assumption that with reference to diasporic identities, geographical considerations go beyond established binary oppositional discussions about culture, territory, and history. This book is a useful research tool for diasporic, intercultural, and women’s studies.