Book Review: African Assignment
| Published date | 01 June 1955 |
| Author | A. Godfrey Harvey |
| Date | 01 June 1955 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205501000222 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
149
The
study,
which
is
rich
in
first-hand
data,
documents
one
of
the
paradoxes
of
race
relations:
the
toughness
and
persistence
of
stereotyped
misconceptions
of
the
foreigner,
and
the
degree
to
which such
misconceptions
melt
on close
personal
contact.
McGill
University, Montreal
OSWALD
HALL
AFRICAN
ASSIGNMENT.
By
Major-General
Sir
Francis
de
Guin-
gand.
1954.
(Toronto:
Musson; London:
Hodder.
$5.00
21/-)
General
de
Guingand's
book
falls
substantially
into
two
parts.
The
first
is
the
story
of
the
author's
adventures
and
impressions
in
East
Africa
while
serving
on
secondment
from
the
War
Office
as
a
junior
officer
with
The
King's African
Rifles.
It
is
an im-
mensely readable
story,
told
with
much
charm
and
wit.
It
is
a
story
of
big game
hunting
and
exploration
through
a
(at
that
time)
little-known
part
of
Nyasaland;
of
the
unselfish devotion
to
duty
of
British
Colonial
Officials;
and
of
witch-doctors,
magic
and
cannibalism.
But
de
Guingand
has
written
far
more
than
just
a
good
story:
it
is
also
a
fair
and
accurate
appraisal
of
the
character,
human
value
and
potential
of
the
African.
The
last
part
of
the
book
entitled
"In
Defence
of South
Africa"
is
a
plea
by
the
author,
an
Englishman
who
since
1946
has
made
a
home in
the
Union,
for
a
sympathetic
understanding
of
South
Africa's
major
problem-the
racial
problem.
"I
have
come
to
the
very
definite
conclusion,"
says
the author,
"that
South Africa
is
to a
large
extent
the
victim of
an
uninformed
attack."
It
is
true
that
much of
the
criticism
levelled
against
the
Union
is made
by
ill-informed
persons
who
clearly
have
little
or
no
understanding
of
the
country's
turbulent
history
and
of
her
racial
problem.
General
de
Guingand
has
taken
the
trouble
to
acquaint
himself
with
that
history
and,
in
his
assumed
role
as
counsel
for
the
defence,
he
fairly
answers
some
of
that
criticism.
He
believes
that
the
aim
of
statesmanship
in
South
Africa
should
be
to
evolve
a
way
whereby
the
various
races
may
live
in
harmony
and prosper
and
he
suggests certain
practical
measures
for
the
attainment
of
that
objective.
It
is
perhaps
unfortunate
that
in
his anxiety
to
maintain
a
strictly
neutral
attitude
as
regards
party
politics
the
author
omits to
note
that
these
measures
would
be
quite
inconsistent
with
the
declared
objectives
of
Dr.
Malan's
Nationalist
Party.
University
of
British
Columbia.
A.
GODFREY
HARVEY
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