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main strategic line across North Africa, from Casablanca to Suez-a line that must be
held if Europe should be overrun by the Communist armies of Russia” (p. 26). This
naive anthropologist finds it hard to see how such a line could be held if the Africans
have no other reasons than these for loving us; and Rudin has his doubts too.
The various regional surveys come off well, on the whole. Apter summarizes his
book (reviewed above), Kenneth Robinson presents a careful and detailed discussion
of political development in West Africa, and Noon summarizes political developments
in East Africa. Baum tells about Ethiopia and the former Italian colonies. Carpenter
discusses the Congo from the point of view of American policies. Leonard H. Samuels, of
the University of the Witwatersrand, contributes a useful article on the changing economic structure of the Union of South Africa, in which he takes full account of the
limiting effects of racial prejudice and the apartheid policy.
I n the conclusion of the book, Herskovits points out that race prejudice is becoming demode among Europeans in most of Africa, and that it is being replaced by a
subtler form of discrimination: culture prejudice and the culture bar. The classical
formulation of the culture-bar policy was given by Cecil Rhodes: “Equal rights for all
civilized men.” African cultures are of course beyond the pale, and only an African who
is wholly alienated from his own culture qualifies to lead his people and to have “equal
rights” with Europeans. The other papers to a considerable degree reflect this new line.
Where it is stated that Africans will insist on keeping part of their own culture, i t is
usuaUy implied that this is a bad thing. Seldom do the writers ask whether there may
not be things of permanent value to Africans in African culture, and no one asks whether
cultural elements of importance to the rest of the world may not still be found in Africa.
None of the learned social scientists who contributed to this volume seems to have
heard of the African plastic arts, or of African music or the dance. To judge by this
book, Africa has no contribution to make to world thought generally.
This reviewer finds the book useful as an ethnographic document which reveals the
state of mind of a group of distinguished Africanists in mid-twentieth century. He welcomes the vigorous growth of interest in Africa from so many other disciplines, and
concludes that there is still room for anthropologists in the African field. I n this spirit
he would like to underline the note with which Hans J. Morgenthau closes the book:
I ‘ . . . Western governments, however enlightened some of their substantive policies
have been, have not realized the depth of the longing for ‘freedom from contempt’ by
which all colored races are possessed, of the resentment a t its continuation, and of the
suspicion of the white men’s intentions [because of it]” (p. 325).
People of South-West Ethiopia and Its Borderland. ERNESTA
CERULLI.
(Ethnographic
Survey of Africa, edited by Daryll Forde.) (North-Eastern Africa, Part 111.) (London International African Institute.) London: Hazel1 Watson & Viney Ltd., 1956.
x, 148 pp., 2 maps, tables. 17s. 6d.
Reviewed by WOLFLESLAU,University of California, Los Amgeles
The extremely useful work of the International African Institute manifests itself
once more in the book under review, which is Part I11 of the “North-East Africa” section of the “Ethnographic Survey of Africa.” Part I by I. M. Lewis deals with the
“Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar, and Saho”; Part I1 by G. W. B. Huntingford deals with “The Galla of Ethiopia, and the Kingdom of Kafa and Janjero.” The
object of the series is to organize the data on a specific population. These data come
either from personal observations of the author or are brought together from various
writings, The subjects discussed for each population are such as: nomenclature and
15481433, 1957, 5, Downloaded from https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1957.59.5.02a00380 by Test, Wiley Online Library on [19/03/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Book Reviews
Americalz Anthropologist
[59, 19571
grouping, demography, physical characteristics, tradition and history, language, main
features of economy, life cycle, social organization, political system, and main cultural
features. Unfortunately, our information on several of these subjects is scanty and
quite often nonessential, The usefulness of this series therefore lies principally in the
fact that i t shows us the gaps (and they are many) in our knowledge of the African
continent and will thus stimulate the future research worker to deal individually with
each population. The book under review deals with the population of South-West
Ethiopia and the Sudan. The main divisions are: I, Peoples of the Ethiopian Borderland; 11,Didiga-Logarim-Murle Group; 111,Peoples of the Lower Omo; IV, Peoples of
South-West Ethiopia. The most important subdivisions and their geographic distribution are as follows: I , The peoples of the Ethiopian borderland include the IngassanaMao group in Ethiopia and in the Sudan; the Suri-Surma-Mekan group in Ethiopia and
in the Sudan; and the Burji-Konso group in Ethiopia. 11, The Didiga-Logarim-Murle
group with various subdivisions lives in the Sudan. 111, The peoples of the Lower
Omo include the Galaba (Reshiat), the Buma, and the Marle (Marile), mainly in
Ethiopia. IV, The peoples of South-West Ethiopia or the Sidamti including the GimiraMaji; the West Sidtimti or the Ometo; and the Sidamo-Darasa-Kambatta group, all in
Ethiopia.
Considering the scarcity of material for some of the regions, it is useful to have any
additional bit of information. It is in this spirit that I wish to make the following observations. The name of the lake in Gurage is Zway, not Zeway (p. ix, and map). Since
the Ometo group is called Western Sidamti by the author (96), the Sidamo-DarasaKambatta group (118) should be grouped as Eastern Sidama. The dialect of Gudella
(rather than Gudela) is not spoken in Qabenna (118); it is Qabenna, a dialect different
from Gudella, that is used in that province. The group called “Tambaro” by the author
(1 18) should be Tembaro. I did not hear the name Sambaro. It is not sufficiently stressed
that coffee is one of the most important products of the whole Eastern Sidtimti region,
not only of Darasa. As for Dilla, the main Darasa center, i t is probably second only to
Jimma as a coffee market. Barter and thalers are no longer used in the Sidamo markets
(124). The Sidamo women are mainly dressed in hides. The god Wa’a is indeed to be
identified with the sky, since “sky” in Hidiya (Gudella) is wa’a, not imen-waha as
stated by the author on Conti Rossini’s authority (129). In the bibliography one misses
the important book by J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, which contains much
information on Islam as professed by the peoples of South-Western Ethiopia.
It was not an easy matter to sift out the material dispersed in the many writings]
and only a specialist in the field could have accomplished this successfully. One would
not be surprised if the author were Enrico Cerulli, the Ethiopisant so well known to every
student of Ethiopic. However, the author of the book, Ernesta Cerulli, is new in this
field and one would like to know more about her. Whoever the author may be, the
book contains useful information and will serve as in important guide for future workers
in the field.
De hond bij de Nyanga, Ritueel en Sociologie. D. BIEBUYCK.(AcadBmie royale des
Sciences coloniales, Classe des Sciences morales et politique.) (MBmoires in-8,
Nouvelle sCrie, Tome VIII, fasc. 3 et dernier.) Bruxelles: E. P. E. Boelaert en de
H. N. De Cleene, 1955. 168 pp. F 160.
Reviewed by ROBERTG. ARMSTRONG,Atlanta University
The Dog among the Nyanga, Ritual and Sociology is an interesting monograph about
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