Book Reviews

are by denition incestuous, as the Hanunoo rule is that one must not marry a relative. The newlyweds, therefore, pay a ne in glass and gold beads, which are ostensibly payment for the ceremonial services and feast foods provided at the wedding, but in fact vary in size according to the degree of consanguineal closeness between bride and groom. I had reason to think about this when I was doing eldwork among the Foi of Papua New Guinea where marriages between notional kin was commonalso as a result of longstanding tendencies toward community endogamy. When I described this to Michael Silverstein, he termed it performative exogamy. Its a way of creating a border between kin and non-kin by a practice that did just the opposite (something which I feel would delight my former teacher, Roy Wagner). But the importance of Conklins work was not based solely on his adeptness with languageshe was a meticulous observer and recorder of peoples everyday behaviour and talk (the latter is not the same as language seen as the sum total of its formal rules and properties). He observed the techniques and practices of betel chewing, bamboo inscription and other practices, the key ethnographic descriptions of which are included in this collection. He also was a mapmaker of great skill, and some of the maps he made of Ifugao country in northern Luzon (which appeared in the co-authored Ethnographic Atlas of Ifugao (1980)) are reprinted in this volume. Finally, Joel Kuipers and Ray McDermott provide an excellent introductory overview of Conklins work and have distilled his principles of eldwork and observation, rightly pointing out that however cumbersome and overly formal the ethnosemantic procedures appear to us today, they are components of an anthropology that is respectful of the beauty, complexity, and sophistication with which people sort their experiences into categories (p. 16). Ethnoscience depended on the existence and vibrancy of small languagesisolated dialects, in isolated places, where a subtle contrast in meaning could carry the (comparatively) lighter

weight of cultural difference. These days, it seems, it is not so much that we dont take language seriously in anthropology (although outside of the United States such an argument is certainly sustainable)it is that small languages are no longer the primary focus of the ethnographic project, and the bigger languages that eldworkers characteristically use these days are too big and hypersemantic to do more than dwarf and trivialise these differences themselves. Anthropologys attention has turnednecessarily, it might be arguedfrom the inward life of bamboo literacy, endogamy and intricate techniques of betel nut preparation, to the outward worlds of human rights, global pandemics, political struggle, climate change, migration. We have thereby gained a more universalistic view of the human condition (something which anthropology has always worked towards) but along the way we have jettisoned the centrality of that inward life where the universal is always already found. James F. Weiner Research School of Pacic and Asian Studies, Australian National University, and Department of Social Anthropology, University of St. Andrews

Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutus Zaire

B. W. White.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008. 300 pp., illustr., notes, bibliog., discog., index. ISBN 978-0822340911. USD $84.95 (Hc.); ISBN 978-0822341123. US$23.95 (Pb.)

What an enchanting ethnographic study! This book deserves to be widely read. I say this as a reviewer who is a complete outsider to African studies. As I have little rst-hand knowledge concerning the ethnography or even the music of this part of the world, my comments on this book are based on my understanding of its signicance in terms of the contribution it makes to debates within the eld of cultural anthropology, in particular the anthropology of performance, the anthropological study of music,

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political anthropology and the anthropology of popular culture. My particular interest is in its contribution to the comparative study of links between power and performance, as the main aim of the ethnography is to explore the links, both material and symbolic, between the performance of popular dance music and the emergence of a particular type of political culture in Mobutus Zaire (p. 24). This book was my introduction to popular Congolese dance music and the social and political context of its production. The ethnography is very helpfully supplemented by a website (http:// www.atalaku.net) to which the reader is directed at various places in the text by cues to audio and video materials stored on the site. If one follows the cues, one can hear the music and follow the dance rhythms as one is readinga delightful sensory treat. I could not resist jumping out of my chair in front of my computer to dance along to the cavacha rhythm and the call of the atalaku, both of which are described by White as contributing to a distinctive Zairian sound (Chapter 2). To develop an ethnographically rich understanding of the relationship between power and performance, politics and popular culture, White immersed himself in the music scene in the city of Kinshasa by joining a local dance band. He describes this process in a humorous and self-effacing manner in Chapter 5. I would recommend this chapter as a good reading for anthropology students on the adventure of ethnographic eld work. Given that he had been playing the guitar since he was 13 years old, White thought he should try out as a guitarist for the band. However, after struggling for some time to master the polyrhythmic elements of the music, without success, he suggested to the band manager that he instead train as an atalaku. According to White, the role of the atalaku, which is associated with traditional music forms, has become an integral part of modern Congolese dance bands. An atalaku is a kind of on-stage trickster who plays the maracas and enlivens the performance with shouts, dance steps and various antics. It seems his switch to training as an atalaku proved ethnographically fruitful for White as the atalakus role of anima-

tion is central to understanding the system of praised-based performance and cultural policy that was fostered by the Mobutu government in support of its regime (19651997). White develops his discussion and key points about the relationship between political and popular culture during Mobutus rule mainly in the nal three chapters of the book (Chapters 68). While Chapter 4 provides a captivating analysis of on-stage performances and draws the reader into sensory experience of a live concert, White focuses in Chapter 6 on the song texts themselves as a means by which musicians mediate between the people and the state (p. 178). He describes a kind of praise singing called libanga, which became an important part of the structure of popular dance songs during the Mobutu regime. Any member of the band with access to a microphone might be paid or sponsored to weave the names of particular people into the song, either in the verse itself, inserted between the lines of verse or between the verses and the chorus. The atalaku plays a key role in this phenomenon, which is a way for musicians to create and maintain a network of reciprocity with local elites in an environment of political oppression and economic crisis. I particularly like Whites analysis of the lyrics of love songs as songs of hunger, poverty, inequality, isolation and abandonment that, through a discourse of romantic love, comment on the effects of the economic and political crisis of the Mobutu years (p. 179). Here he clearly draws on Abu-Lughods interpretation of Bedouin love poetry for inspiration. However, he argues that these popular Congolese love songs are less songs of resistance than of suffering. Musicians criticisms of people in positions of power take the form of requests for political and nancial protection, but never of political reform (p. 192). This leads White, in his nal chapter, to consider the nature of leadership and cultural expectations of political big men and their social and moral obligations (Chapter 8). He shows how popular music in Mobutus Zaire was implicated in a uniquely modern tradition of authoritarian rule (p. 249) and approaches

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music not simply a reection of politics but as a complex eld of action in which popular culture and politics prop each other up and x each other into place (p. 250). Where I found the ethnography a bit unsatisfying was in relation to the analysis of Mobutus rule. As a complete novice before reading this book, I would have liked to have learned more about some of the actual practices of the regime that were otherwise only hinted at. On the other hand, I have been inspired to go and do some further reading on this matter. Another aspect that I would like to have seen further developed is the politics of gender relations as expressed in song lyrics and also as practised, especially in the role of the female dancers. Perhaps it is telling that gender is not a term to be found in the index of the book. Other than this, I have little to say that is negative about this ethnography. It was indeed a joy to read. Right now I am going to go out to buy a Congolese music CD to dance to! Rosita Henry Department of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Sociology, James Cook University

captures the unilineal and simplistic approach to development deployed by the author. The aim of the book is to introduce students to several aspects of development in the same reader. This is attempted in the rst six chapters by covering development concepts, theories, models, approaches, cultural indicators and factors supporting and impeding development. Unfortunately, the broad scope of the material does not allow for in-depth exploration, and the text consists largely of bullet points lled with simplications and generalisations. For example, Pandeys entire explanation of the globalisation model of development (one of forty-one models covered) reads:
This model of development is recent one. Under the inuence of unipolar world, our Government has introduced this model of development. This model has been adopted for cultural, economic and political development [sic]. (pp. 4445)

Developmental Anthropology
G. Pandey.
New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 2008. xviii + 294 pp., bibliog., index. ISBN 978-8180695704. Rs. 750 (Hc.)

The drawing of evolutionary man that adorns the cover of Gaya Pandeys Developmental Anthropology is an unfortunate indication of what awaits the reader. The opening lines read:
Man is only being on this earth who has thought, planned and made development ever since he emerged on this planet from his animal ancestry. In course of history, he passed through stages of savagery, barbarism and civilisation. Series of interventions were made and he became civilised citizen of a nation [sic]. (p. vii)

Gendered language and grammatical errors aside (which continue throughout, accompanied by numerous spelling errors), the preface

It is difcult to see the value in such a simplistic account that fails to explain, let alone analyse globalisation in relation to development. Similarly, the text is littered with broad generalisations without any supporting evidence. Examples include Families living in Villages have we feeling [sic] If a person becomes appointing authority, he helps his villagers beyond caste in getting them employed (p. 58); Generally poor people are more followers of ritualistic traditions They do not spend on health, treatment of disease and education (p. 66); Families belonging to below poverty line generally live in unhygienic house In one corner they have a pit for washing utensils. This pit is also used as urinals [sic] (p. 99). Although there is a bibliography, no references are provided in the text, and it is hard to discern what evidence, if any, supports Pandeys assertions. Further, the majority of texts in the bibliography date from before 1970, with Pandeys previous books contributing ve of only thirteen texts cited from the twenty-rst century. Developmental Anthropology is written for an Indian audience which is made clear in the

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