BOOK REVIEWS 195The Rural-Urban Interface in Africa: Expansion and Adaptation Editedby J. Baker and P. O. Redersen. Uppsala, The Scandinavian Institute ofAfrican Studies, 1992, 320 pp., ISBN 91-7106-329-3.This book presents sixteen chapters based on empirical and Africanexperiences of the relationships between small urban centres, their ruralhinterland and the larger towns in the urban hierarchy. The book presentsa refreshing, critical and thought-provoking account by authors who allemphasize the interdependence of the rural and urban sectors. The authorsdepict small urban centres as playing a positive role in the developmentprocess, without glossing over the negative sides of small urban centres.Simon points to the need to adopt a holistic approach in our understandingof the relationship between small urban centres and their rural hinterlands.Namibia offers an opportunity to apply new perspectives that emphasizethe bottom-up mechanisms, but at the same time he recognizes some ofthe merits in top-down approaches. Aeroe uses the example of Makambakoto illustrate a decisive role of small urban centres in regional development.The next four chapters focus on rural-urban linkages.Abdel-Ati points out that although Sinkat, a small town in Sudan, isnow mostly operating as a refugee centre and plays a minimal role interms of fostering development in its hinterland, it holds potential in therange of services it can make available to the hinterland. Little examinesthe importance of climatic factors in shaping economic and social linkagesbetween rural areas and small towns in Southern Somalia. Pedersen pointsout that although agricultural marketing and processing activities arecontrolled from the centre, the role of locally based branch managerscould enhance productivity in local or rural economies. At the same timethe role of branch managers in local development based in small townscould lead to closer and beneficial ties between the rural hinterland andthe small town. Baker examines how historically local entrepreneurialspirit among the Garage of Ethiopia survived in spite of the vagaries ofadministrators.Three chapters focus on the role of entrepreneurship in small towndevelopment. Jones-Dube shows how colonialism invariably thwarted localentrepreneurial activity in Botswana, largely explaining the absence ofTswanas in the manufacturing industry to this day. Rasmussen shows howin Masvingo, in Zimbabwe, entrepreneurial spirit flourishes at the locallevel: surprisingly, he finds that for successful entrepreneurship, 'longterm, non-family, territorially based trust relations are more conducive forenterprise efficiency than heavy reliance on the family network' (184-185).Burrows discusses the role NGOs are playing in Ghana in stimulating andsustaining local-level entrepreneurial spirit, useful in the integration ofsmall towns and the rural hinterlands. Burrows's study shows the need formore research into the role of NGOs in urbanization in the rural context.Three studies examine the relationship between living conditions andlabour markets. Andrea's study of urban workers in Nigeria shows that,faced with adverse socio-economic conditions, most of them maintainedrural links which could be activated to ensure sustenance in the city. Troiland Holm describe urban migrants in Tanzania adopting strategies that196 BOOK REVIEWSmaximize economic benefits and hence survival chances. Migration is asurvival strategy that strengthens rather than undermines rural-urbanlinks, which are beneficial to both urban and rural inhabitants.The volume ends with an interesting section on urban agriculture as asurvival strategy for different groups of people. It is a part of the strategyfor meeting basic food needs as shown by Drakakis-Smith in Harare. Thesame themes are repeated in Gutu (Nigeria), Mlozi, Luponga and Mvena(Tanzania). In spite of the many problems the poor face in urban contextsthey are quite innovative and resourceful when it comes to meeting theirfood requirements. On the other hand, Binbangambah (Uganda) arguesthat the ruralization of urban centres through agriculture is a reflection ofthe extent of rural poverty and urban decay.This book is a useful addition to the literature on the rural-urbaninterface in Africa.University of Zimbabwe V. N. MUZVIDZIWAThe Legal Situation of Women in Southern Africa Edited by Julie Stewartand Alice Armstrong. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1990,xiv, 241 pp., ISBN 0-908307-15-2 , Z$ll.This book comprises contributions by scholars from Botswana, Lesotho,Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe on the legal situation ofwomen in their respective countries. These six countries are included in aResearch Project on Women and Law in Southern Africa.The book opens with an introduction by Maboreke on the concept ofwomen's law. She points to the need to understand how the law hasperceived women and responded to their lives and to uncover the extentto which the law itself is biased towards a particular view of life. Sheexplains that the distinguishing feature of women's law is its insistenceupon the factual knowledge of the effect of the reality of women's livesupon their access to formal rights.In Botswana, Molokomme touches on laws relating to women's legalcapacity, marriage, inheritance, maintenance, divorce, health and abortion.She argues that the legal situation of women should be studied within thecontext of socio-economic realities and recommends a multi-dimensionalapproach in which lawyers work with sociologists, economists and othersocial scientists in the study of women's law.In Lesotho, Seeiso et al. state that although women are de facto headsof households due to labour migration, they nonetheless continue to besubject to legal disabilities. One such disability is the absolute authoritygiven to the husband to act on behalf of his wife in marriages in communityof property. In such marriages the legal capabilities of wives of migrantsare severely restricted until the husband's return. The writers also presentan overview of other laws affecting women in the area of health,employment, commerce, and education.The Mozambican section by Casimiro et al. focuses in particular onthe role of women within the judicial system. With regard to the overall