thorough discussion   on the scope andlllethods:for:futuredoeU!bell"
h.tion  work is urgently  needed.  Those librat'ie.ns and dOcullI(!nt
                                                                   .....
lists  who are concerned with Nal11ibianashol1J..dtherefore edabl.i$h
communication between themselves and con'lenea meeting in a not ...
too-distant   future in order to uplift   the standard or forthcom..
ing editions   of the NNB.
                                    (Dr. J. Jeske "- U.B.S. Gaborone)
Hoyt Alverson.        Mind in the Heart of Darkness: Value
and Self - Identity among the Tswana'
of Southern Africa . MacMillan
South Africa. 1978. 299 pp. £6.50
            Hoyt Alverson has addressl;!d
and most complex questions of
people from another culture
train  of associated  qu'~s1~iclns


rather    thana!llet'ereportoJ'        observations,   suggesting    less    than.
a complete synthesis.          Yet the outcome of this       meditation    is a
rich and valuable book, perhap$ the most profound to appear on
Botswana in the laat ten years.
              On the basis of extensive        interviews    among both
Bakwefia.and Bakgalagadi in two region$ of the Kweneng,.among
town dwellers of ~aboro~e and amongmine worker$ on the Rand,
Alverson explores the values which shape Tswana life-goals.                    He
systematically       reviews attitudes      toward work and achievement,
good and evil.l, heroic effot't        and day to day behavior.       Hils own
analysis     alternl;ttes   wHh 10ngelCcet'pts ft'om the ilnterviews,
adding preCision and varilety to the telCt.            He often makes obser-
vations whichseeJl1 both subtle and profoundly important.                  His
distinction      between desire and Tswana desire         as process (wanting
versus "wanting-to"'d.o'l) or the concept of evil as shame ("to
cause a person to hide his eyes. like            the badger for fear that
he will pe caughtll) are good El'JeamplelhHe concludes that                 inter-
action between the institutions            of colonization     and the subject
peoples,     at least     those stHlfirmlyembraced          in the framework
of traditionalso.ciety,          re$ults   in creative   adaptation    rather
 than confrontation'"        an unsurpri$ing     but judicious    conClusion.
              Yet these obvilous merits should not conceal some
 important problems wtth the nook.            The mostcrucilal     concerns
 the book's central        theme.   If one were tru.ly interested       iln ex-
 ploring the impac.t of colonial          dOJl1inationon .e, people'S   vieW of
 the world, why would one select           a gro~p likethel3akwena        for
 et1.1d:;? As Alverson himself admits, they have been sheltered                 by
 tneadvantageou.s       isolat.ionof     the :aechuanaland Protectorate
 (later    the R~pub1ieof :ao.tswana) from the worst effects             of
 eolonilal domination.wnu'e           they have suffered      economically and
 felt   the psychologileal impact of racism in their            mine J.abour
 exp.eriences., they h.ave been able to. retl'eat        into a re.sel've where
 they co.uld maintain the all         ilmportant appearance of independence.
 Botswanasilmplydoes         not         the bestcaeestudy       for examilning


(medical magic) in maintaining the stability and self-assurance
of the Tswana world-view      "in the heart of darkness"?    The
omission is all the more glaring since Alvereon's Tswana. father.
Rre Segatlhe,    is a traditional doctor himself and used his
medicines   to good effect in maintaining the illueion of control.
Surely Alverson's    own story of Segatlhe's self-praise, and
Segatlhe's   own words - "medicine smoothed the road. f1l1e-<1the
holes, and brushed aside thorny branches" (198) - states the
situation   too clearly to be ignored.     It would seem that 'l'swana
medicines   do indeed smooth the road.     They provide an illusion
of control and security which for oppressed peoples is one of
the most vital means of coping.       Could it be that this.secret
weapon remained    secret even from.Alverson?      Or did he repress
its importance    in an attempt to make the Tswana more heroic in
rationalist-oriented    western eyes?
            Nei ther of these problems, nor yet the author's unne-
cessarily   difficult and metaphorical language, shOUld sel'iously
vi tiate the book's impact.      Mind in the Heart of Darkness stands
out as a real tribute to inter-cultural understanding and the
west.s continually improving effort to understand the impact
colonialism in Africa. Everywhere. but especiallY in Bcl't;swanat
the book deserves many readers.
        (Dr. John Spears - John Hopkins University •. Baltimore -U.S.A.)
Abel Muzorewa . Rise
Autobiography.         Evans
London.