Hopkins, A. G.

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168 JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORYSHORTER NOTICESAfrika: Eine neue Welt in deutschen Schritfen des 16. und IJ. Jahrhunderts. ByMARILLA DOS SANTOS LOPES. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992. Pp. 286.DM 76 (ISBN 3-51506-087-1).In the year 1992 we were overwhelmed by literary works commemorating the'discoveries' of Christopher Columbus. It is all the more welcome, then, to reviewa volume that deals with European ' discoveries' of a different sort - the ' discovery'of Africa. In this study, which was originally presented as a doctoral thesis atBamberg in 1991, Marilla dos Santos Lopes has set herself the task of analysing thereception and spread of knowledge about Africa in German writings of thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The author is not so much interested in theprocess of geographical discoveries per se, but in the aspects of cultural history thatstemmed from the discoveries. This has involved an assessment of the writings ofGerman travellers to Africa in this period and of the extent to which writers haveborrowed from one another, as well as considering how far and wide this newknowledge was disseminated.To cope with this far-reaching aim, Marilla dos Santos Lopes has divided herstudy into three parts. The first deals with the manner by which Africa became asubject of attention for German authors. She analyses German writings on thediscovery of Africa, discussing in particular how these writers gathered theirinformation. The second part presents travellers' reports, written in German, onmany parts of the continent. These chapters are arranged geographically, givingthe reader an idea of the extent of European knowledge on each region during thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As one would expect, these chapters con-centrate upon coastal regions. The third part offers a discussion of specificelements drawn from the travel reports, dealing with geography, anthropology,religion and history, and showing how this information was fitted into the widerunderstanding of the world (as presented in German writings) and how it was used.Each of the three parts of this study adopts a rather different methodologicalapproach, yet the author has succeeded in making each part easily readable. Marillados Santos Lopes' painstaking work and her profound knowledge of the sourcesmake this an important book for all those who study the history of Africa.Free University, Berlin ULRICH VAN DER HEYDENUn centenaire: i885~ig85. Les relations Europe—Afrique au crible d'une com-memoration. By JEAN-LUC VELLUT. Leiden: Institute for the History of EuropeanExpansion, 1992. Pp. 153. No price given (ISBN 90-74429-01-7).This small book, published under the sponsorship of Leiden's indefatigableInstitute for the History of European Expansion, has not been widely advertisedand may well escape the eye of even the most scholarly of scramblers for Africa.This loss would be their misfortune, for Jean-Luc Vellut has produced a surveythat should become the starting point for the future study of the subject now thatall the ruminations of the centenary of the Berlin Conference have been aired andmost of them, so it seems, published too.The book consists of two parts: a substantial historiographical commentary (pp.1-95) and an annexe (pp. 97-152). The annexe will be something of a revelation toanyone who thinks that he is on top of this subject. After listing seventeen colloguesand reunions devoted to the Berlin Conference in 1984-5, the author provides anannotated list of nearly one hundred publications (in half a dozen languages), alldealing with the centenary. Understandably, some of these are slight pieces writtenof use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700026244Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 07:39:08, subject to the Cambridge Core termsSHORTER NOTICES I 69for the occasion, and others are repetitive (and, as Vellut points out, theysometimes repeat errors), but there are a large number of sizeable contributionstoo, even if the best known of these1 also remains the most substantial. The annexeprovides the foundation for Vellut's astute and wide-ranging commentary. Vellutbegins by identifying the main themes of the literature, by noting the influence ofdifferent national traditions of historiography and by giving a welcome emphasisto the development of tin discours africain on the subject. He then enlarges hiscomments by placing the Berlin Conference in the wider context of the scramblefor Africa, examining the interests of the major powers and traversing thecontinent in both short-term and long-run perspectives.The scholarship that underpins this essay is as formidable as it is modest. Vellutis alert not merely to the accumulation of evidence and argument but also to theideology and symbolism of the Berlin Conference and the centenary conferencestoo. The historian can easily be tempted into producing the type of formula writingrequired by commemorations of this kind, and Vellut concludes by reminding usof the need both to keep our minds open to the unforseen and often contradictory' incoherences' of the past and to accept the challenge of writing about it withsubtlety, originality and coherence ourselves. Let the challenge now be directed atits author: Jean-Luc Vellut is one of the few historians who possess the necessaryarmoury to attack the problem of the scramble from a fully European perspective.He is also exceptionally sensitive to the need to understand and respond to Africanperspectives on the European invasion of the continent. Can we encourage him towrite the book that is now needed so badly on this subject?The Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva A. G. HOPKINSScenes from African Urban Life: Collected Copperbelt Papers. By A. L. EPSTEIN.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1992. Pp. xxvi + 233. £29.50 (ISBN o-74860-321-2).Scenes from African Urban Life is a collection of essays on the towns of theZambian Copperbelt by the renowned urban sociologist, A. L. Epstein. Whilemost of the essays have been published before, and remain in their original state,the last chapter, 'Response to social crisis: aspects of oral aggression in CentralAfrica', is an extended and much revised version of a previous paper. In hisintroduction, Epstein provides the collection's rationale, pointing out that the neo-Marxist preoccupation with structure and class rather than culture and contextthat dominated much of Africanist scholarship during the 1970s and 1980s, seemsto have 'run its course' (p. xi). Epstein sees the collection as a chance 'to draw theattention of younger scholars to an earlier tradition and even persuade some ofthem to follow in its path again' (p. xi).Indeed, one is struck by the richness and complexity of Epstein's findings. Wefollow one of his research assistants around town, listening in on his conversationswith friends and acquaintances. We discover new words and language beinginvented to enable people to understand one another in the urban environment.And in the last chapter, we are tantalized by the possible relationship betweenAfrican weaning patterns, ambivalence towards parents and both marital behaviourand reactions to colonial policy.The extraordinary detail in these chapters offers much to the contemporaryscholar, particularly those interested in issues of language, knowledge and power.However, even in his innovative last chapter, Epstein remains caught up in olddebates, particularly the argument with Max Gluckman over the legitimacy of1 Stig Forster, Wolgang Mommsen and Ronald Robinson (eds.), Bismarck, Europe andAfrica: The Berlin Conference of 1884-188 5 and the Onset of Partition (Oxford, 1988).of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700026244Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 07:39:08, subject to the Cambridge Core terms

Book Review: Un centenaire: 1885-1985. Les relations Europe—Afrique au crible d'une commémoration: Un centenaire: 1885-1985. Les relations Europe—Afrique au crible d'une commémoration. By VellutJean-Luc. Leiden: Institute for the History of European Expansion, 1992. Pp. 153. No price given (ISBN 90-74429-01-7)

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