132BOOK REVIEWSparticularly the African health services, but he has done this by the inclusionof interesting accounts written by some of the participants in this develop-ment themselves. As one of the lesser participants involved in this develop-ment (and incidentally no mention is made by Gelfand of the important parthe himself played in this development), I am proud to have been and stillbe identified with the continuance of this 'Service to the Sick'University of RhodesiaW. FRASER ROSSOld and New in Southern Shona Independent Churches. Vol. 2: ChurchGrowth Š Causative Factors and Recruitment Techniques By M. L.Daneel. The Hague, Mouton, 1974, xvii, 373pp., maps, illus., 45 Dutchguilders.This is the second volume of a proposed four-volume study of independentchurches among the southern Shona peoples of Rhodesia, what ProfessorH. W. Turner describes in his foreword as 'the most considerable study ofAfrican independent churches ever attempted' (p.vii)- As such, the readermight expect close detail and case study derived from meticulous field re-search. He will not be disappointed with DaneeFs examination of the churchesof the Chingombe chiefdom, nearly 40 pages of statistical Tables based oninterview and questionnaire, 16 pages of photographs and 3 detailed maps.Daneel's text reaches above detail to a careful analysis of the reasons forthe growth of Independent Churches among the rural Shona, the attractionsof their belief and ritual and their methods of recruitment. Above all theterminology of 'schism' and 'separatism' is laid to rest as inappropriatelysuggesting the defection of Independent Church members from prior member-ship of mission churches. Instead the direct appeal to many young people isdemonstrated; more than half of Independent Church members cla;m no priormission-church affiliation (pp.18, 76); and the Independent Churches show amuch higher proportion of male members than almost all the mission churches(p.73). The churches stand on their own faith, ritual and the satisfaction theyprovide for the religious needs and aspirations of the southern Shona.Particular roles associated with the Independent Churches include ferti-lity and rainmaking, health and security, social roles and comforts thatattract considerable numbers. Indeed Daneel claims that, 'No single factorhas been mentioned more often by members of the Spirit-type Churches as thedirect reason for their joining these movements than the healing treatment per-formed bv African prophets' (p. 186). This constitutes a 'gospel of strength'(p.255). Other factors dealt with, and bound together into some overall Africanunity, include dreams, communication with the ancestors and spirits, wizardryand possession.Throughout, the religious content of the churches was uppermost, as werethe religious reasons for their growth. Daneel properly insists that the Inde-pendent Churches are not 'predominantly land-protest movements' p.47) andthat shortage of land played a scant role in membership growth even in recentyears. Moreover Independent Church members are not confined to the 'econo-micillv less privileged run lists' (p.65). Rather, 'the Independent Churchhouseholds . . . belong to the "privileged" rather than the "deprived" ruralclasses' (p.49) and 'on the whole, the Independent Churches have the "wealth-iest" pastoralists in the chiefdom' (p.63). And as religious institutions 'theBOOK REVIEWS133Independent Churches are not (overtly at least) identified with the Africancause for more land to a greater extent or on a more organized basis thanany of the other religious groupings' (p.48).The growth and attraction of the Independent Churches are accountableby their 'typically African guise', a process of continual adaptation, not staticconformity to traditions; 'This is a dynamic process with numerous variations,even within the same Church' (p.309). It also raises problems of syncretismand the messianic content of these church movements, with which it is hopedthat Daneel will deal in succeeding volumes.This is a scholarly work of anthropology, sociology and theology whichwill interest experts in these fields. The treatment of different churches throughtime will also be of importance to historians. But above all, thinking menand especially Christians will find in this volume, and in Daneel's otherwritings, a source of understanding of the faiths, beliefs and religious needsof the African peoples of Southern Rhodesia. The book is superbly producedand splendidly illustrated.Stony hurst CollegeA. J. DACHSWhat do the Coloureds Think? An Attitude Study of the Coloured Communityof Johannesburg By M. L. Edelstein. Johannesburg, Labour and Com-munity Consultants, 1974, 153pp., no price indicated.With a view to proposing an alternative mode of analysis for the study ofRace in Southern Africa, one would have liked to detail the theoretical short-comings of Edelstein's work on the 'Coloureds' (of South Africa), particularlyits failure to explain systematically the historical and ideological basis of theconcept of 'Coloured' and the consequent absence of a definition of a'Coloured Community' except in terms of that common tendency Š originat-ing and inherent in popular racist theories based on crude stereotypes Što treat the distinguishing physical and biological characteristics (i.e. the meregenetic and racial constituents, complexion of skin, hair type, etc) which setapart persons of mixed race as, in themselves, constituting, a priori, a socialcategory. Nevertheless the limited academic content of the work might be-come evident in this discussion ŁŠ to which we are restricted bv the exigenciesof snace Š on its ideological outlook, which will already be evident from thepaternalism implicit in its title, What Do The Coloureds Think? (Edelsteinpublished another book, What Do Younz Africans Think in 1974?) He statesquite explicitly that the major objective of his study is to provide a means ofpredicting the attitudes of the 'Coloureds' towards the Government and ofhow best to ensure their allegiance to the Whites. 'What is the future of theColoured people of South Africa? What steps can they, the authorities andthose sympathetic to Coloured progress take to ensure and assist their ad-vancement within the broad framework of South Africa?' 'To some extentthe answers to these questions will be suggested by the results of this survey?'(p. 94). This is a position not surprising from a man who was once a ChiefWelfare Officer of trie Department of Non-European Affairs (1960-2) wherehe became 'intimately associated with some of the problems of the Colouredpeople' (Preface) and an officer of the Bantu Administration Authority untilhis unfortunate death this year at the hands of angry Soweto students whenthey attacked the Administration buildings in that township.But this book, which is based on a D.Phil, thesis of the University of