ETHNOLOGY 9 4 1

preted. The place of Atcho a t the center and apex of “La Religion Harriste,” his life, religious pro- nouncements, organizational talent, and his heal- ing and economic impact in the Ivory Coast, the elaborate curing festival process, complemented by extensive clinical case material on possession and confession are only some of the subjects cov- ered. It is to be hoped that a translation of this work will be forthcoming so that more American anthropologists may become familiar with its solid substance and interdisciplinary orientation.

Bishops and Prophets in a Black City: African Independent Churches in Soweto, Johannes- burg. Martin West. Cape Town: David Philips; London: Rex Collings, 1975. xii + 255 pp. n.p. (cloth).

Brian M. du Toit University of Florida

Religious independentism is one of the major features of modern Africa and one which has im- plications on a variety of levels. While most studies of urbanization and contemporary social change allude to it, relatively few social science students have made it their major focus. Martin West here presents one of the most thorough studies of this topic yet to come out of southern Africa. His fieldwork involved “almost 300 churches” (p. 22bactually it was 252.

While serving on the research staff of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa, West in- vestigated the structure and dynamics of inde- pendent African churches, primarily in Soweto. While this allowed him a concentrated focus the reader gets the impression that Soweto is some- how unique and t h a t the churches which emerged there are different. Both ofthese impres- sions are incorrect.

West introduces his topic by using Sundkler’s Zionist-Ethiopian dichotomy and immediately presents brief ethnographies of three churches: The Bantu Bethlehem Christian Apostolic Church of South Africa, the Apostolic Full Gospel Mission of South Africa, and the Holy United Methodist Church of South Africa. He then dis- cusses and contrasts bishops and prophets-later returning to this topic to compare the latter with traditional divinera-and their followers. A very interesting chapter deals with healing, both by faith and the use of herbs, and the author points out that “the emphasis is not on separation of the patient, but rather on reintegration” (p. 123). There appear repeated references to the recogni- tion of the shades and their role in the daily lives of leaders and followers alike. The move “from mission church to independent church has not changed beliefs about the shades, but merely brought them out into the open” (p. 181). In look- ing at the causes of independentism the author

does not give a single reference to John Barrett’s analysis ofSchism and Renewal in Africa (1968)! Two chapters deal with interchurch interaction and attempts at forming associations of indepen- dent churches.

A t one point West questions Sundkler’s suggestion of comparing independent church leadership with traditional leadership (p. 48), yet a few pages later while discussing the role of women in positions of leadership, he suggests that “A parallel may be drawn here with some traditional African Political systems” (fn. p. 64). There also is obvious faulty reasoning when the author states: “It is sometimes suggested that the South African independent churches are short- lived . . . but the evidence collected in this study does not bear this out. The average age of the 252 churches in surveys A and B was 22 years-that is, established about 1949-with a range from 1898 to 1971” (p. 42). This sounds like a demog- rapher calculating life expectancy by adding up the ages of survivors.

This book should generate a wide appeal among persons interested in southern Africa generally as well as those studying religious in- dependentism. It is a valuable contribution to a somewhat neglected field of study.

Class, Race and Gold: A Study of Class Rela- tions and Racial Discrimination in South Af- rica. Frederick A. Johnstone. International Li- brary of Sociology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976. xiv + 298 pp. $15.25 (cloth).

Brian M. du Toit University of Florida

The author states that he will deal with a topic which heretofore has not been understood in all its depth and complexity. His aim then is “a study of class and race relations in South Africa which hopes to deepen such understanding and to help to resolve some of these problems” (p. 1). Specifically, he promises to focus on the gold min- ing industry and this whole study proceeds in terms of a Marxist structuralist approach. The book is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the material in the form of historical sociol- ogy, the second historiographical in nature. So much for the aim and methodology. What follows must be one of the most boring and jargonized rehashings to which this reader has been sub- jected.

The basic premise of this book, for which a doc- torate was awarded, is that academicians who have been writing about race relations have really been beating around the bush because a race system must be “some disguised form of some- thing else.” Johnstone now explains that he is writing about a system in which the working class is being exploited by mine bosses and