Why then is the `race' issue so import- translated by Rupert Swyer ant to the new right? On page 1 Gordon The Making of Great Men . and King state that the central project of Male domination and power among the the new right is to preserve the class struc- New Guinea Baruya ture of contemporary capitalism . An Cambridge University Press, 1986 analysis of the `racial' dimensions of that 251pp, £30 (h/b), £10 .95 (p/b) class structure, of the ideological and political processes which have resulted in Reviewed by Sasha Josephides the racialisation of certain class fractions, GODELIER TELLS US that his book is about would have provided the context which power, primarily the power of men over explained the power and strength of the women, but in reality it touches on almost new right. This strength is not just because every major debate within anthropology of their access to politicians and the media . of the last couple of decades, provides a It is because of their ability to frame an general ethnography of the Baruya (some understanding of `race' issues and a justi- of it unnecessarily voyeuristic), includes a fication of racism which makes sense to technical argument regarding the differ- the majority of white citizens . Gordon and ences between `big man' and `great man' Klug provide some insights on this ques- societies, and concludes with a rather tion . More work needs to be done . curious exhortation to the reader not to imagine that s/he is less savage than the Baruya . For the purpose of this review I shall concentrate on the central theme of the book which is the claim that male domina- tion does not originate in the emergence of classes but predates them . By looking at structures which existed in Baruya society prior to colonisation Godelier is able to identify mechanisms which subordinate women to men and which clearly belong to a classless society . He recognises that inequalities also exist among men (hence the title of the book which signals that only some men become great) and that particular women can have a higher status than particular men . But men as a group dominate women as a group and the way this manifests itself is through the exclu- sion of women from control over the means of production, destruction and exchange . The social mechanism which separates men and women into two distinct groups and which both institutes and legitimises female subordination is considered to be male and female initiation . Female initi- Book Reviews
ation Godelier sees as a way of making 141
women consent to their subordination . The reason why initiation is seen as so crucial appears to be because of the kinds of symbolic statements made regarding the reproductive and nurturing abilities of the two sexes and because of the statuses conferred on the sexes as a result of the rituals . Godelier's material to support this thesis includes data on the Baruya economy and their warfaring traditions, statements on the symbolic meaning and use of bodily fluids, and a corpus of myths regarding a past matriarchy . Neither the data nor the analysis offers anything new to those acquainted with the literature on the Melanesia or even with more general works on gender and anthropology . This Barry Munslow (ed .) is not to devalue the data which is in itself Africa : Problems in the Transition to interesting and useful, but in view of the Socialism amount of work which has been carried London : Zed Books, 1986 out in this area and the controversies 221pp, £18 .95 (h/b), £6 .95 (p/b) regarding how this kind of material can be interpreted, it is disappointing that Reviewed by Harry Goulbourne Godelier should present both the material and the analysis as a `new discovery' with- THERE ARE SEVERAL reasons for saying out in any way justifying his particular forthwith that this collection of essays is a interpretation nor taking into account any welcome addition to the literature which other . describes and analyses what is happening Where the book is more promising is in in post-colonial Africa . I will mention only its attempt to relate all forms of inequality three of these . and therefore treat the mechanisms which First, the interest in the question of result in the general subordination of transition is significant, if only because it women as part of the same process which indicates that the academic community is allows certain men to become `great' . In taking this problematic phase in the order to do this Godelier picks out a development of human society seriously, number of different strands which are following the pioneering work of Charles relevant to the analysis . However these Bettelheim but particularly Clive Thomas, are not sufficiently developed . In a way with respect to the Third World . To vary- the strength of this book is also its weak- ing degrees the pieces live up to the expec- ness : it attempts to bring together a tations engendered by the title of the number of different issues which one can collection . A great many of the problems agree with Godelier, should be related, involved in the process of transition from but it does not succeed in relating them in the underdeveloped, some would say a coherent and convincing manner . simply the backward, conditions in which