Book Review

Abstract

Background: The book is rich and dense in detail, covering differing fields ranging from history, anthropology, and the role of Christianity in the creation of ethnicity and tribes in Africa, to the linguistic aspects of colonialism; as well as the onset of unequal power relations among Africans based on formal (written) and oral versions of African languages. The book has old maps of south-eastern Africa as well as illustrative figures and photographs of butterflies, fauna and some of the most influential Swiss missionaries to Yenture south of the Sahara in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Of particular interest is how the Missionaries tried and, to some extent, succeeded in changing the lrnowledge systems of the indigenous Africans in south-east Africa through their vritings, actions and practices. The book is also about how Africans undermined and adapted European knowledge systems to suit their conditions. This did not always settle well with the missionaries, who saw their mission as bringing 'light' to the 'darkest' of Africa.