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1402 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [74,1972] the forms of female participation in the urban labor force and on the characteristics of urban households headed by females. To sum up my remarks, I think, then, that a mere description of laws concerning familial relations in Africa is insufficient. We need as well an analysis of the factors enabling us to assess the degree to which such laws are likely to be enforced and, thus, are adequate tools of social change. Psychologie economique africaine: Elements d’une recherche in terdisciplinaire. JAC- QUES BINET. Bibliothcque Scientifique. Paris: Payot, 1970. 334 pp., maps, bib- liography, index. 31.70F (paper). Reuiewed by GERALD BERTHOUD Universily of Montreal According to the author “this book was written to help.. . practitioners in contact with populations. It does not claim to disclose to them mentalities that they know perhaps better than the author. It simply wants to provide with an outline for their reflections” (p. 10). In spite of this pre- liminary restriction, I, as an anthropologist and as an Africanist, must emphasize my dissatisfaction with such a work, which is, by any scientific standard, of very poor quality. In spite of the brief space allocated for this review, I will try to justify my negative appraisal. Any anthropologist who reads this book cannot overlook the recurrent value judgments, and unsubstantiated skeptical views on the anthropological contribution to the knowledge of past and present Africa. A few samples are here in order. The author warns anthropologists somehow to avoid being “caught in the trap of words” (p. 53), even though he does not himself escape from such a pitfall. He also makes reference to an “anthropological routine” (p. 122) without any further explanation. Other similar re- marks can be found elsewhere (see, for example, pp. 60, 75, 84, 124, 195, etc.). In no way does the author direct his criticisms to a definite work or a specific tendency within anthropology. On the contrary, his indiscriminate views cause us to question his actual knowledge of such a complex and contradictory field as anthropology. Moreover, throughout the book, the re- ferences are either absent, inaccurate, or only approximate. Various authors are quoted without any reference to particular publications (see, for example, pp. 45, 59, 79, 124, etc.). References to surveys are equally unprecise. Thus in a loose statement like “according to an inquiry made in a Senegalese village” (p. 116), we have no way of knowing who did such research, where in Senegal, and when? Apart from these kinds of simple careless- nesses and anthropological misunderstand- ings, the essential deficiency of this book is exemplified by the discrepancy between the subtitle “Elements of an interdisciplinary research” and the content of the work, which is simply a patchwork of descriptive data and highly debatable subjective state- ments. In short, this book cannot, in any respect, be seriously considered as an intro- duction to the economic psychology of Africa. In all likelihood we will still have to wait for a satisfactory work on this complex topic. Education in Angola, 1878-1914: A History of Culture Transfer and Administration. MICHAEL ANTHONY SAMUELS. Teachers College Studies in Education. New York: Teachers College Press, 1970. xiii + 185 pp., maps, notes, bibliography, 5 appendices, index. $7.95 (paper). Reuiewed by GEORGE R. HORNER Bridgewater State College This volume is hardly worth a reviewer’s time to read it for reasons, to be discussed later, other than its historicity or subject matter. A notice of its publication in a “New Books Received” section of this journal would have sufficed. I am not questioning the historical worth of the book. The description of the sequence of events from the early period of the Portuguese invasion of Angola to 1914 is a good account, as is his account of the taming of the tribes, the opening of territories for schools, the tedious process of recruiting students to attend these schools, the record- ing of the Portuguese attitudes to its African populations, and the granting of educational

Ethnology: Psychologie économique africaine: Éléments d'une recherche interdisciplinaire. JACQUES BINET

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1402 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [74,1972]

the forms of female participation in the urban labor force and on the characteristics of urban households headed by females.

To sum up my remarks, I think, then, that a mere description of laws concerning familial relations in Africa is insufficient. We need as well an analysis of the factors enabling u s t o assess the degree to which such laws are likely t o be enforced and, thus, are adequate tools of social change.

Psychologie economique africaine: Elements d’une recherche in terdisciplinaire. JAC- QUES BINET. Bibliothcque Scientifique. Paris: Payot, 1970. 334 pp., maps, bib- liography, index. 31.70F (paper).

Reuiewed by GERALD BERTHOUD Universily of Montreal

According t o the author “this book was written t o h e l p . . . practitioners in contact with populations. It does not claim to disclose t o them mentalities that they know perhaps better than the author. It simply wants to provide with an outline for their reflections” (p. 10). In spite of this pre- liminary restriction, I, as an anthropologist and as an Africanist, must emphasize my dissatisfaction with such a work, which is, by any scientific standard, of very poor quality.

In spite of the brief space allocated for this review, I will try to justify my negative appraisal. Any anthropologist who reads this book cannot overlook the recurrent value judgments, and unsubstantiated skeptical views on the anthropological contribution t o the knowledge of past and present Africa. A few samples are here in order. The author warns anthropologists somehow to avoid being “caught in the trap of words” (p. 53), even though he does not himself escape from such a pitfall. He also makes reference to an “anthropological routine” (p. 122) without any further explanation. Other similar re- marks can be found elsewhere (see, for example, pp. 60, 75, 84, 124, 195, etc.). In no way does the author direct his criticisms to a definite work or a specific tendency within anthropology. On the contrary, his indiscriminate views cause us to question his

actual knowledge of such a complex and contradictory field as anthropology.

Moreover, throughout the book, the re- ferences are either absent, inaccurate, o r only approximate. Various authors are quoted without any reference t o particular publications (see, for example, pp. 45, 59, 79, 124, etc.). References to surveys are equally unprecise. Thus in a loose statement like “according to an inquiry made in a Senegalese village” (p. 116), we have no way of knowing who did such research, where in Senegal, and when?

Apart from these kinds of simple careless- nesses and anthropological misunderstand- ings, the essential deficiency of this book is exemplified by the discrepancy between the subtitle “Elements of an interdisciplinary research” and the content of the work, which is simply a patchwork of descriptive data and highly debatable subjective state- ments. In short, this book cannot, in any respect, be seriously considered as an intro- duction to the economic psychology of Africa. In all likelihood we will still have to wait for a satisfactory work o n this complex topic.

Education in Angola, 1878-1914: A History of Culture Transfer and Administration. M I C H A E L A N T H O N Y SAMUELS. Teachers College Studies in Education. New York: Teachers College Press, 1970. xiii + 185 pp., maps, notes, bibliography, 5 appendices, index. $7.95 (paper).

Reuiewed by GEORGE R. HORNER Bridgewater State College

This volume is hardly worth a reviewer’s time to read it for reasons, to be discussed later, other than its historicity or subject matter. A notice of its publication in a “New Books Received” section of this journal would have sufficed.

I am not questioning the historical worth of the book. The description of the sequence of events from the early period of the Portuguese invasion of Angola to 1914 is a good account, as is his account of the taming of the tribes, the opening of territories for schools, the tedious process of recruiting students t o attend these schools, the record- ing of the Portuguese attitudes t o its African populations, and the granting of educational