Board of Trustees, Boston University

South West Africa/Namibia: Facts, Attitudes, Assessment, and Prospects by Gerhard K. H.TotemeyerReview by: Richard DaleThe International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 15, No. 4 (1982), pp. 742-743Published by: Boston University African Studies CenterStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/217877 .

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742 BOOK REVIEWS

SOUTH WEST AFRICA/NAMIBIA: FACTS, ATTITUDES, ASSESSMENT, AND PROSPECTS. By Gerhard K. H. Totemeyer. Randburg, South Africa: Fokus Suid Publishers, 1977. Pp. x, 322. R14.50.

Gerhard Totemeyer, currently head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Transkei in Umtata, is an interna- tionally recognized scholar on the politics of Namibia. A Namibian by birth, he was educated in South Africa and also did research at the Arnold Bergstrasser Institute at Freiburg, West Germany. He began his university teaching career at the distinguished Afrikaans- medium University of Stellenbosch, where he earned a doctorate in political science in 1974 with a dissertation on the political development of Ovamboland, a traditionally-ruled northern zone of Namibia which is currently where most of the guerrilla warfare is being waged.

This book is organized into an introduction and three parts which are labelled facts, attitudes, and assessments and prospects; this arrangement provides, therefore, an introductory chapter, nine enumerated chapters, and two postscripts. Six of the enumerated chapters and one of the postcripts are documented with a total of 241 endnotes, and the book also contains one map, four tables, and a brief trilingual (Afrikaans, English, and German) bibliography. The two principal drawbacks of the book from the point of view of those who choose to use it as a reference source is that it lacks a chronology and, worse still, a name and subject index.

One of the most attractive features of the book, though, is the author's extensive reprinting and occasional translation in chapter six (on the Christian churches in the territory) of five articles or lectures by leading clergymen which are not easily obtainable, and in this chapter Totemeyer, himself the son of a Lutheran missionary, provides an insightful analysis of the role of the churches in the socio-political life of the African inhabitants of Namibia (pp. 211- 225). The Protestant and the Catholic clergymen play a much more crucial role in African political development in Namibia than they do, for instance, in tending to their white congregations in the central, coastal, and southern parts of this vast territory, and, more often than not, they have access to international clerical circles which provide support and a receptive audience for their African parishoner s

It would appear that chapter six, which is concerned with political opinions, is a collation of eight separate essays written for this volume by African and non-African notables associated with the medley of political parties or with ethnically-oriented news- papers in Namibia. Although the contributions are enlightening, it would have been helpful had Totemeyer provided a brief introduction to this chapter, drawing attention to the points on which these notables and their client networks converge and diverge. The chapter devoted to political leaders (chapter four) is really too skimpy (pp. 179-182) to examine the styles and mechanics of leadership in this complex nation-to-be. The single most important aspect of the book, though, is the author's monumental chapter (pp. 57-178) devoted to no less than twenty-seven different separate political groupings in Namibia, three of which cater (or are restricted) to the white segment of the population. Throughout the chapter, the author quotes from, as well as paraphrases, the different platforms of these groupings and, where data permit, comments on their viabil-

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BOOK REVIEWS 743 BOOK REVIEWS 743

ity, longevity, and audience. All of these data are conveniently outlined and arranged in a table following the bibliography.

Those Africanists who are enamored of scenarios will find this book especially attractive, for Totemeyer has crafted six different scenarios for the future of Namibia.

The author, who is one of the handful of really well informed political scientists with respect to the political parties, leaders, and processes of the African and non-African sectors of Namibia, has written a superb source book on the territory. It is by far the best book in print on the political party system of Namibia, and it is exceptionally well balanced, objective, and temperate. The author shows great care and thought in the organization, scope, and breadth of his topics. The two postcripts (one of which was written after his U.S. Department of State-sponsored trip to the United States) contain some of the sharpest analysis of Namibian politics by any political scientist in Africa, Europe, or North America. His book should be required reading for all those who prefer analysis to rhetoric, and his focus on domestic politics is a welcome counter- weight to the plethora of literature on the territory written from the perspective of international law and the innumerable Interna- tional Court of Justice advisory opinions and decisions on the status of Namibia. It should be republished in a second edition, which ought to contain the suggested index and chronology; with such minor improvements, it could become the best single reference source on Namibian political parties and factions yet published.

RICHARD DALE Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

FOLKTALES OF EGYPT. By Hasan Mo. E-Shamy. Foreword by Richard M. Dorson. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980. Pp. lvii, 347. $25.00.

Hasan M. El-Shamy has provided students of oral traditions with a fine collection of narratives. This compilation is the latest addi- tion to the series Folktales of the World, formly coordinated by the eminent folklorist Richard M. Dorson. As is the standard for the series, El-Shamy's narratives are carefully annotated according to the Aarne-Thompson Types of the Folktale and the Thompson Motif- Index of Folk Literature, as well as the growing body of additions and revisions to these massive compendia. These Egyptian narratives are explicated for content in the notes which precede each talee They are also annotated for "types" and "motifs," as well as ver- sions and variants, in a separate "Notes to the Tales" section, A final appendix provides an "Index of Motifs" which not only lists the Thompson items but also introduces newly-unearthed motifs which are particular to the Middle East and North Africa.

Historians will be especially pleased by the notes which precede each narrative and the introduction and foreword to the collection. The notes provide the dates and location of the performances, as well as biographical data on the performers. The themes of the nar-

ity, longevity, and audience. All of these data are conveniently outlined and arranged in a table following the bibliography.

Those Africanists who are enamored of scenarios will find this book especially attractive, for Totemeyer has crafted six different scenarios for the future of Namibia.

The author, who is one of the handful of really well informed political scientists with respect to the political parties, leaders, and processes of the African and non-African sectors of Namibia, has written a superb source book on the territory. It is by far the best book in print on the political party system of Namibia, and it is exceptionally well balanced, objective, and temperate. The author shows great care and thought in the organization, scope, and breadth of his topics. The two postcripts (one of which was written after his U.S. Department of State-sponsored trip to the United States) contain some of the sharpest analysis of Namibian politics by any political scientist in Africa, Europe, or North America. His book should be required reading for all those who prefer analysis to rhetoric, and his focus on domestic politics is a welcome counter- weight to the plethora of literature on the territory written from the perspective of international law and the innumerable Interna- tional Court of Justice advisory opinions and decisions on the status of Namibia. It should be republished in a second edition, which ought to contain the suggested index and chronology; with such minor improvements, it could become the best single reference source on Namibian political parties and factions yet published.

RICHARD DALE Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

FOLKTALES OF EGYPT. By Hasan Mo. E-Shamy. Foreword by Richard M. Dorson. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980. Pp. lvii, 347. $25.00.

Hasan M. El-Shamy has provided students of oral traditions with a fine collection of narratives. This compilation is the latest addi- tion to the series Folktales of the World, formly coordinated by the eminent folklorist Richard M. Dorson. As is the standard for the series, El-Shamy's narratives are carefully annotated according to the Aarne-Thompson Types of the Folktale and the Thompson Motif- Index of Folk Literature, as well as the growing body of additions and revisions to these massive compendia. These Egyptian narratives are explicated for content in the notes which precede each talee They are also annotated for "types" and "motifs," as well as ver- sions and variants, in a separate "Notes to the Tales" section, A final appendix provides an "Index of Motifs" which not only lists the Thompson items but also introduces newly-unearthed motifs which are particular to the Middle East and North Africa.

Historians will be especially pleased by the notes which precede each narrative and the introduction and foreword to the collection. The notes provide the dates and location of the performances, as well as biographical data on the performers. The themes of the nar-

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 23:45:37 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions