108 BOOK REVIEWSWhere are the Ancestors? Changing Culture in Zimbabwe M. F. C.Bourdillon. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1993, 129 pp,ISBN 0-908307-35-7, $33.This is a short but provocative book, clearly written by an experiencedanthropologist who is not new to the study of Black Zimbabwean culture.Bourdillon looks at the tensions and contradictions that arise for individualsexperiencing a culture in transition. Although, as he points out, he raisespoints within the context of Shona culture, what he says generally appliesto 'the Ndebele, the Tonga and other groups in Zimbabwe as well' (p. 3). Itis not clear whether it also applies to the culture of White Zimbabweans.Changing cultureBourdillon's analysis focuses on the fact that culture is dynamic and itdemonstrates some of the implications of this fact. He argues that culturalpractices persist as long as they serve useful functions and are dropped assoon as they stop doing so. He identifies a number of factors that influencethe way people behave. These include habit, material interests, the needfor power and control, as well as the respect for certain ideas and values.Bourdillon does not rank these factors according to significance. However,the attempt to maintain that 'No one factor is independent of the others'(p. 16) leaves us confused. On the one hand, Bourdillon argues that'people are ready to drop the traditions that become useless', (p. 28) andon the other, he maintains that people '. . . think in terms of the valuesthey were brought up to accept' (p. 29). His attempt to balance thesefactors is not convincing in light of his own wonderful illustrations of howpeople, mostly interested in money, power and authority, are selective intheir interpretations of what culture prescribes in specific contexts.Bourdillon's book is most interesting when demonstrating how thepursuit of money, power and control influences individuals makingdecisions about their personal lives, in the context of marriage, family lifeand inheritance, as well as in the wider social, economic and politicalrealm. Bourdillon must be congratulated for making a contribution in theprocess of demystifying hegemonic struggles in family and kinshiprelationships as well as in religious, political and bureaucratic structures.The traditional and the modernBourdillon understands culture within the context of what he sees as thesocial movement, both in space and in time, from the traditional to themodern, 'from a life-style based on subsistence agriculture supplementedby trade to one based on cash incomes through labour or trade or cashcrops, often supplemented by growing for subsistence' (p. 3). Thus culturalchanges are understood in relation to 'material factors'. Hence,'... cultureis not independent of the material factors in our lives' (p. 4). This movementfrom the traditional to the modern way of life causes tensions 'in allbranches of Zimbabwean society' (p. 2). The major theme of the book is toidentify the tensions and the areas of life in which those tensions occur.This is done by identifying the major traditional institutions for thepurposes of comparing and contrasting them with those of modernBOOK REVIEWS 109Zimbabwe. Accompanied with this is a comparison and contrast of theworld views and values that inform the human relations between peoplein those respective societies. Bourdillon's analysis is guided by the principlethat'.. . we should expect even beliefs to change as society experiencesmaterial changes' (p. 6). He then makes a leap in his argument to identifythe traditional/modern distinction with the rural/urban distinction. Whathe attributes to the traditional he also attributes to the rural society andwhat he attributes to the modern he attributes to the urban. He thenconcludes from this that, 'A person who was born and brought up in anurban area has a different set of institutional responses from a personbrought up in a more traditional rural area' (p. 81).It is true that in Zimbabwe, there is a growing number of BlackZimbabweans who are becoming totally urbanized. It is also true thatthese Zimbabweans are beginning to have an impact on the nature ofculture in Zimbabwe. However, the majority of Zimbabweans are nottotally urbanized. Even if it were true that the majority of Zimbabweanswere totally urbanized, in the sense that they no longer had contacts withthe rural areas, it would not be true that those people's world views andvalues would be completely modern. In fact, it would not be difficult todemonstrate, as Bourdillon himself illustrates in his section on 'Authorityand power', that some of the problems of performance and efficiency thatcontemporary Zimbabwean institutions are facing are a result of attemptsby Black Zimbabweans to work in modern institutions according totraditional world views and values.Thus, Bourdillon has somewhat overplayed the contrast between 'thetraditional rural area' and 'the modern urban area'. By implication, he hasoversimplified the nature of cultural changes in Zimbabwe by collapsingthem into a single process which some writers call 'modernization'. Themovement to modernity should be understood in terms of the interactionof a number of separate processes of change. The processes are political,economic, social and cultural. Each process proceeds at its own pace sothat when it interacts with the other processes, the outcome is contingentand unpredictable.Bourdillon recognizes, but does not bring out clearly, the implicationsof the fact that most Black Zimbabweans shuttle between rural and urbanareas. The Zimbabwean rural life is not as traditional and the urban not asmodern as he suggests. This point can be appreciated by looking at thepolitical, economic, social and cultural processes of modernization withinthe African context. For instance, the contemporary Zimbabwean ruralspace and life-form has largely been created by the forces of modernity. Itis true that the majority of Black Zimbabweans have pride in their ruralhomes and many often identify these rural homes as representative oftheir traditional life and culture. Yet it is not long ago since their ownforefathers and foremothers were crying foul for having been forced intothose very rural areas and rural life. Although most Black Zimbabweanswould like to consider life in the rural areas as the foundation to theirauthentic identities, they also should recognize that it is a result of thedisruptive political, economic, social and cultural forces of modernity.There is no 'traditional farming community', not in some way created and110 BOOK REVIEWSrecreated by modernizing processes. The migrant labour system alludedto on page 48 shows how we cannot unproblematically identify the ruralwith the traditional.Privatization of the traditionalThe self-validation of modern institutions within the colonial and post-colonial context leads to the marginalization of traditional value systemsand societies. Bourdillon clearly identifies some of these processes ofmarginalization. For example, he describes how churches, schools andmodern medicine undermine, not necessarily on the basis of evidence, thestatus and knowledge of traditional wisdom. Thus, 'In the traditionalsystem, rituals were nearly always public affairs' (p. 75), but they havebeen marginalized to the private sphere where they have been turned into'attempts to overcome private problems and worries, or to fulfil secret orprivate desires and ambitions' (p. 76).ConclusionBourdillon has clearly and competently demonstrated that 'Today, wemust make sure that Zimbabwean culture is able to adapt to the needs ofall its people: the young as well as the old; the poor as well as the wealthy;and the minority as well as the majority' (p. 24). However, although he issometimes tantalizingly suggestive, he is hesitant to say anything thatmight begin to give direction as to how we can do this. He relies on theliberal principle that 'rather than criticizing those who behave differentlyfrom ourselves, we should try to understand why they behave as they do'(p. 123). Although he wants to talk about 'Zimbabwean culture', he saysvery little about where White Zimbabweans, for example, might come intoplay in this culture.I have selected the above points for discussion to demonstrate howprovocative Bourdillon's book is. It should be read by all Zimbabweansand anyone interested in the cultural landscape of Zimbabwe.University of Zimbabwe D. KAULEMUGrassroots Leadership: The Process of Rural Development in ZimbabweBy C. G. Mararike. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1995, xiv,114pp., ISBN 0-908307-39-X, Z$40.The book Grassroots Leadership: The Process of Rural Development inZimbabwe is based on the author's applied research experience in theBuhera District of Manicaland province. The book, inappropriately titled,revolves on the interaction between grassroots communities anddevelopment agents rather than on leadership at the grassroots level.The book begins with a discussion on research and its place indevelopment. Mararike urges that African countries cannot afford researchthat has no applied value. All research must contribute to a change inpeople's lives.