Abstract
THOSE who wish to know something of present-day conditions in native Africa and to understand why and how things have come to be as they are, may take up this book with confidence that what is essential will be found in its pages and for the most part told at first-hand. Dr. Westermann explains the ethnic composition of the African peoples, their linguistic affinities, and demonstrates the constituents of their culture. In the case of the last named, taking each aspect in turn, religion, social organisation, economics, material culture and the like, he shows how they have come into contact with European civilisation, the resulting modification in eachinstance, andits effect on native life generally. Tendencies and possibilities are carefully considered. The book should be read in conjunction with the scheme for African research of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, more familiarly known as the ‘Five Year Plan’, to which indeed Dr. Westermann makes frequent reference. The prolegomena to that plan and Dr. Wester-mann's book give a plain statement of facts, which should not be ignored in the future political and economic policy of Africa.
The African To-day.
Prof.
Diedrich
Wester-mann
By. (Published for the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures.) Pp. xv + 343. (London: Oxford University Press, 1934.) 7s. 6d. net.
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The African To-day . Nature 133, 892 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133892c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133892c0