BOOK REVIEWS
     Steven Feierman. The Shambaa Kingdom: A History. University of Wisconsin
     Press. Madison. 1974. pp. 235.
     Most readers will have seen Professor Steven Feierman's chapter on the
     Shambaa in Tanzania before 1900 edited by A. Roberts. The chapter was
     written while the author was still doing his field work on the Usambara
     Mountains. But the summary therein promised so many new insights on the
     Shambaa Kingdom that the publication of The Shambaa Kingdom must have
    been long awaited.
          Historically, the Shambaa Kingdom. until recently the only well-known
    big Kingdom among the Eastern Bantu-speaking peoples. has attracted a
    number of writers. But no researcher before Steven Feierman has spent so
    much time among the Shambaa and understood Shambaa society so thorough-
    ly. As a well-trained historian and anthropologist, Dr. Feierman did "two
    separate but complementary projects at once: the first is the collection and
    analysis of Shambaa oral traditions. and second. a general study of Shambaa
    culture and society" (p. 4). Apparently this book consists of the results of
    the first study (originally submitted as a Ph.D. dissertation in History to
    Northwestern University). The Shambaa Kingdom is an outstanding master-
    piece clarifying most of the confusion which existed in the literature about
    the Shambaa. Another book based on the second study is also awaited. This
    is to be based on his unpublished D.Phil. thesis in Social Anthropology. titled
    "Concepts of Sovereignty among the Shambaa and Their Relation to Political
    Action". submitted to Oxford University.
          Professor Feierman has clarified four important points in this book.
    Firstly. by providing proper analysis of the Mbegha myth. the story of the
    founding of the Shambaa Kingdom has become much clearer. This is the
    point where training in social anthropology can be seen to be a valuable tool
    in handling the history of a non-literate society. Mbegha has always been
    recognised as the founding hero of the Shambaa Kingdom. but the story
    surrounding his life is an important epic in the development of the Shambaa
    society itself. As Dr. Feierman puts it. "the story of Mbegha is both an
    intellectual's and a moralist's model of the Shambaa Kingdom. For it told
    how the Kingdom should work. and at the same time how the Kingdom. in
    evil times. does work" (p. 64). By analysing the various symbols of the myth.
    the author has been able to show that the myth existed before the time of
    Mbegha, and that descriptions of historical events were integrated into the
    myth later.
         Secondly, Professor Feierman has greatly clarified the position of the
    Kilindi in Shambaa culture. Contrary to the diffusionist idea of Kingship, the
235 author states that "there is remarkable body of evidence which survives from


 the time of Mbegha's son Bughe, and which supports ... the notion that the
 royal rule was a glorification of traditional Shambaa culture" (p. 93). This can
 partly be explained by the fact that Mbegha came from a neighbouring society
 much similar to that of the Shambaa and from which some of the Shambaa
 themselves had migrated earlier. The effort of transforming Shambaa society
 can therefore be seen as an attempt to unite and preserve a culture which at
 that time was threatened not by the Kilindi, but by the alien cultures of the
Nango and Mbughu (both non-Bantu-speaking              groups) who had entered
 Shambaai and caused tensions within the unified culture.
      Thirdly, Professor Feierman has greatly illuminated the nature of the
 Shambaa Kingdom by focussing on its political economy. Although Kimweri
ye Nyumbai achieved harmony throughout the greatly expanded Kingdom
 by using his own sons and grandsons as chiefs, the real strength of the
 Kingdom was the tribute collection system which permeated the entire
population. Thus the changes which took place in the nineteenth century
 and destroyed the unity of the Kingdom were mainly in its political economy:
 "The political economy of the Shambaa Kingdom changes, in the nineteenth
 century, from one based primarily on tribute and territorial control to one
 based primarily on trade" (p. 120).
      Finally, Dr. Feierman has clarified remarkably well the question of
 regional action in the Pangani Valley. By the time Kimweri ye Nyumbai died
 in 1862, the Shambaa Kingdom had been virtually decentralised. The Bondei
 had become chiefless, a small Kingdom had been established in East Usambara
and Shambaai was divided between the forces of Semboja (Kimweri's son who
 became master of the new power base-trade) and those of the heirs of the
traditional power base. Unlike the traditional kinship alliance and tribute,
Semboja's power was of regional nature. Because of the importance of trade
 in this period "the major war for power in Shambaai was fought by the Wali
of Pangani, chiefs of Bondei and Zigula, and the most prominent family of
Mombasa [Mbaruk el Mazrui], it is clear that the most important events
 were no longer local in scale, but regional. In this setting the traditional
Shambaa concern with maintaining the culture of the ancestors was clearly
out of step" (p. 197).
      The Shambaa Kingdom is undoubtedly a very valuable contribution to
the history of East Africa. Its value as a scientifically well-produced and
critically analysed work has already been stated. As a microhistory it is
unique in that it discusses ideas of wide generaIisation. For example questions
of interpretation of myth and relationship between African thought and
African history. This is a book which is likely to be of interest to most
readers of history, specialist and non-specialist alike.
                                                                 I. N. KIMAMBO
Robert Chambers and Jon Moris (eds.), Mwea: An Irrigated Rice Settlement
in Kenya, Afrika-Studien      Nr 83, Weltforum Verlag, Munchen, 1973, pp. 539.    236