Book Reviews : Africa Today. Edited by C. GROVE HAINES (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. 1955. Pp. xvi, 510. $6.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900117
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

179

Africa

Today.

Edited

by

C.

GROVE

HAINES

(Baltimore:

Johns

Hopkins

Press.

1955.

Pp.

xvi,

510.

$6.00.)

This

is

a

compilation

of

articles

and

commentaries

by

the

experts

who

gathered

at

the

School

of

Advanced

International

Studies

during

August,

1954,

to

exchange

ideas

about

the

erstwhile

&dquo;Dark

Continent.&dquo;

Divided

into

six

sections-&dquo;The

Position

of

Africa

in

World

Affairs,&dquo; &dquo;The

Heritage

of

Africa,&dquo;

&dquo;Elements

of

Political

and

Social

Upheaval,&dquo;

&dquo;Recent

Develop-

ments

in

the

African

Dependencies,&dquo;

&dquo;The

Economic

Status

and

Future

Possibilities

of

Africa&dquo;

and

&dquo;The

United

States

and

Africa,&dquo;

it

covers

virtually

every

aspect

of

its

provocative

subject.

Furthermore,

it

does

so

from

a

widely

divergent

group

of

viewpoints:

those

of

African,

American,

and

European

scholars,

government

officials,

colonial

administrators,

and

businessmen.

The

result

is

a

body

of

important

information

invaluable

for

both

the

specialist

and

the

layman.

If

such

a

book

can

be

said

to

have

a

theme,

it

is

simply,

in

the

words

of

British

technical

expert

Paul

Henry,

&dquo;Africans

are

people.&dquo;

They

are

on

the

whole,

however,

very

troubled

people,

deprived

of

the

security

previously

offered

by

the

tribal

system

yet

prevented

from

fully

participat-

ing

in

the

European-controlled

industrial

societies.

Their

growing

demand

for

&dquo;equality,&dquo;

as

opposed

to

the

whites’

concern

with

protecting

their

own

vested

interests,

presents

the

major

problem

of

contemporary

Africa:

decid-

ing

on

the

modus

vivendi

in

the

political

and

social

spheres

of

two

races

which

are

completely

interdependent

economically.

Particularly

pertinent

analyses

of

this

matter

are

given

by

Edwin

S.

Munger,

who

critically

dissects

the

apartheid

doctrine,

and

by

Dr.

Elizabeth

Colson,

whose

emphasis

on

the

need

for

developing

new

mutually

beneficial

institutions,

rather

than

studying

culture

patterns

of

the

past,

is

most

refreshing.

Also

enlightening

is

Sir

Philip

Mitchell’s

interesting,

if

somewhat

self-righteous,

account

of

conditions

in

Kenya,

which

destroys

many

popular

myths

about

the

origins

and

activities

of

the

Mau

Mau.

In

discussing

the

importance

of

Africa

to

the

free

world,

the

contributors

are

agreed

on

one

basic

point:

Africa

must

no

longer

be

regarded

as

an

appendage

of

Europe,

and

any

plans

for

its

future

must

be

made

in

terms

of

its

own

welfare.

Here

again

the

Africans’

desire

for

&dquo;equality&dquo;

presents

problems,

particularly

in

the

areas

which

are

approaching

their

independ-

ence.

Thus

Kofi

A.

Busia,

of

the

Gold

Coast,

speaking

on

behalf

of

his

country

and

Nigeria,

asks

the

challenging

question:

will

the

other

members

of

the

British

Commonwealth

accept

them

on

an

equal

status?

A

positive

reply

would

do

much

to

check

the

spread

of

communism

and

to

weld

the

continent

closer

to

the

West.

A

negative

answer

could

well

mean

après

nous

le

deluge.