BOOK REVIEWS 99But the introduction of any technology should go together with otherfactors, namely money, training and the availability of raw materials. Inthis regard, the articles in the book call for the introduction of specialcourses in the fields of processing, preservation, and storage of agriculturalproduce in local institutions of learning. Besides, the articles recommendthat women in para-professions associated with the identified technologiesshould be trained in the various technical skills so that they are able toacquire, learn, and understand the engineering and related detailsembodied in the technologies.Women and Food Security contains information about the nine countriesas well as suggestions for further study which local academics and policymakers should seriously examine because, as the article on Zimbabwenotes:Some of the technologies developed at public research centres have been designedby scientists who have little or no understanding of the communal women whoshould benefit from the introduction of the technology. There is a general failure toaddress women's real priorities, failure to include input from women with a choiceof alternatives, and failure to establish any viable communication networks at thelocal level to assess community-level impact (p. 81-82).The book, however, contains one major weakness. Although the writersof the articles correctly pay attention to the roles and needs of women indevelopmental processes, they fail to relate these roles and needs tothose of men. If developmental innovation is to be successful, plannersneed to attend to both men and women.The editing and printing is good, but the book contains no index andonly four of the articles refer to other sources. Nevertheless, Women andFood Security provides a welcome addition to the existing literature onwomen, food security and technology.University of Zimbabwe c. G. MARARKEZimbabwe Š (World Bibliographic Series: Volume 4) Revised andexpanded edition Compiled By Deborah Potts. Oxford, Clio Press, 1993,xxxi, 368 pp., ISBN 1-85109-195-5, S56.50.Each volume in the World Bibliographic Series consists of annotated entrieson works dealing with many aspects of the country concerned. The intendedobjective is to reflect each country's culture and 'its place in the world,the qualities and background that make it unique'. Volume 4 is on Zimbabwe.The Bibliography's publication is timely, i.e., 13 years after Independence,when Zimbabwe is fully immersed in an Economic Structural AdjustmentProgramme and when major changes are taking place in Southern Africa.The volume is divided into 36 chapters covering broad subject areas.There is a special listing of periodicals, encyclopaedias and directories,100 BOOK REVIEWSbibliographies and includes three indexes (author, title and subject).Selected theses and dissertations on Zimbabwe are also included.The largest number of entries is in the section on history followed byagriculture and economy, trade and investment. The annotations aresometimes subjective, especially in the section on history. Some entriesinclude useful background information on authors. The bias is towardsbooks, with a limited number of journal citations. Publications that havelittle or no social significance such as scientific and technical reports andsimilar publications have been excluded.Cross references direct the reader to other works that are similar incontent or present another focus.The meticulously researched introduction to the bibliography providesa useful background. The compiler traces the history of Zimbabwe fromthe pre-colonial era leading to Independence in 1980. Fundamental issuessuch as ethnicity (often unfairly exploited by the media), attempts toaddress new developments in education (to counter the colonial bias) andinstitutionalized racism give a balanced assessment of government'scommitment to transformation. One aspect having far-reaching implicationsthat is not adequately developed, is the reason for the failure of socialtransformation by a party and government committed to socialism. Twosets of reasons are advanced. 'First, the African political elites who led theliberation movement and are now in government are often claimed to beessentially petty bourgeois...', and second, there are inhibiting constraintsimposed by the Lancaster House Agreement and the International MonetaryFund, the South African destabilization programme and the devastatingdrought. I believe there are other major reasons, such as the ideology ofthe ruling party and its constituency, which have contributed to changingan inherited social structure.In a bibliography of this kind it is often difficult to achievecomprehensive coverage. The major objective of the publishers of TheWorld Bibliographic Series is to include works that explain or demonstratethe country's uniqueness. Zimbabwe's uniqueness could be based on theeconomic paradigm used to advance development. At Independence,Zimbabwe inherited a capitalist economy and, in spite of some restrictionsand interventions, it is still basically capitalistic. While major changeshave taken place in education and health, present circumstances mayreverse the trend. With the significant shift in the development paradigm,the future looks hazy. Government is now fully committed to a programmeof less control in the economy. Can this lead to social transformation?Perhaps the next spate of publications will address this issue.Based on the above rationale I have assessed the selection of items inthe section on economy, trade and investment. The compiler has included37 entries. On the basis of University of Zimbabwe library holdings andECONLIT (CD-ROM database), I believe this section should have beenexpanded considerably. Similarly, I think that there could have been morecoverage on the seminal works of Michael Gelfand that have 'socialsignificance'. The volume cites 14 entries. From the Medical Librarydatabase (UTANO) I found 20 further titles that should have been included,such as 'apparent absence of homosexuality and lesbianism, traditionalBOOK REVIEWS 101African attitude towards death and dying, the N'ganga, the guardian of theShona way of life' etc.On the section on mass media there are 14 entries. Provincialnewspapers such as Gweru Times, the Cheziya Gokwe Post, Kwayedza, tolist a few, were excluded.Notwithstanding these limitations, the publication is an invaluablesource of information for interested readers, lecturers, researchers andpersons working in the area of development.University of Zimbabwe D. PAKKIRIDambudzo Marechera: A Source Book on his Life and Work By FloraVeit-Wild. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, London, Melbourne,Munich, New York, Hans Zell Publishers, 1992, xvi, 419pp., ISBN 9-908307-29-2, Z$36.This unusual book is a stunning achievement Š a labour of love by theGerman-born Flora Veit-Wild. She sets out to trace the influences whichshaped the outlook of one of Zimbabwe's most controversial writers, thelate Dambudzo Marechera. For the first time those who have readMarechera's House of Hunger (1978), which won the Guardian FictionPrize in 1978, and his novels, Black Sunlight (1980) and The Black Insider(1990), have an opportunity to understand the life of the author, his viewson art, history, culture, sex, violence and what he sees as the endemicbrutalities of the twentieth century civilization. The book reveals at lengthMarechera's relentless engagement with world literatures, those he enjoyedmost and the writers who influenced him.In terms of structure, the book is flexibly constructed and dependanton particular phases of Marechera's life, the places he visited and thepeople he interacted with. Most gripping are the revelations about hischildhood in the ghettoes of colonial Rusape, his experiences at secondaryschool and his reactions to English society and to the somewhat staidacademic traditions of Oxford University, which he attended in Britainafter his expulsion from the then University of Rhodesia in 1973. Particularlyharrowing is the section chronicling Marechera's life as a tramp in Londonwith no fixed address or recognized identity and social role. Fascinatingto observe is the way the destitute writer relied on the generallysympathetic but increasingly frustrated Heinemann publisher, JamesCurrey. The book also says much on Marechera's unorthodox rise tointernational fame, which reaches its peak during his visit to the culturalfestival held in Berlin in 1979. Marechera relished the limelight of theoccasion, gave a dramatic performance and projected himself as a rebelwriter waging a guerrilla war in the world of literature. Flora Veit-Wild'sbook also chronicles Marechera's subsequent return to an independentZimbabwe and the isolation and disappointment he encountered.Significantly, what Marechera says about himself, Zimbabwe and Africa,