Ours is an association organized on an areal basis. What we have in common is an interest in a particular portion of the earth's surface. Yet every member of the society whether a practicing academician or not bears an affiliation of a different order, namely, membership in one of the standard academic disciplines--sociology, history, anthropology, or some other. This is formally acknowledged by the placing of an appropriate letter abbreviation after each name in our membership list, and it can normally be assigned without hesitation. The latter basis of group identification, that of discipline rather than area, seems in a real sense to be primary. It is older and better established, and, above all, it supplies the very framework of American academic organization, that into departments which normally are distinguished along the lines of division of the disciplines.

True, there are programs of African studies in a number of universities, just as there are other programs, both areal and nonareal. But after a period of initial enthusiasm in some quarters following World War II for the training of areal specialists as such and without primary reference to traditional disciplinary affiliation, it became evident that if a scholar was to be, for example, an Africanist and a sociologist, he should receive his higher degree in a sociology department. He would thus be a sociologist in the broadest sense of the word, but one with a special interest in Africa rather than an Africanist with a greater interest in the sociological than the other aspects of African life. Area study programs thus failed to shake the fundamental organizational basis of American academic life. In fact, today most African programs are interdepartmental as well as interdisciplinary and their staff members are usually at the same time members of established academic departments.

This is the second in a series of annual surveys of South African reference literature and follows the general pattern of the first review. Works published in 1963 which reached the compiler too late for inclusion in the earlier review are included in the present survey.

General Works. Among the generalia issued during the year was a second edition of E. Rosenthal'sEncyclopaedia of Southern Africa (London, Warne; R4-45 ). The South African Library Association issued aDirectory of Natal Libraries (Potchefstroom, The Association; 35c), one of a regional series, which will probably be superseded by a comprehensive “Directory of South African Libraries,” scheduled for publication by the State Library in 1965. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research published letters H and I ofPeriodicals in South African Libraries (Pretoria, The Council; R1O p. a.), which is a union list of serials held in South Africa.

Yearbooks. A very important reference work which appeared for the first time in 1964 was theStatistical Yearbook, compiled by the Bureau of Statistics (Pretoria, Government Printer; R4-15 overseas). The yearbook for 1964 contains 606 pages of statistical tables covering the period 1945-1963 and embracing the following subjects: population, migration, vital statistics, health, education, social security, judicial statistics, labor, prices, agriculture, fisheries, industry, trade, transport, communication, banking and finance. The last issue of theOfficial Yearbook of the Union of South Africa was No. 30 (1960), and later editions are still awaited. TheStatistical Yearbook fills a gap in this connection.

Previous listings of African studies offered at American universities have appeared in theBulletin, most recently in March 1963. This year the information is given in a slightly different form, as it is now possible to describe the general pattern of most African Studies programs in the U.S. If more information is desired, inquiries should be addressed to the directors of the programs. The Editor thanks those who kindly supplied the information, welcomes additional information and will be happy to include it in a subsequent issue of theBulletin.

Most universities and colleges which have an organized African Studies Program have some or all of certain characteristics, which are for convenience listed here, with individual variations described for each institution. The organization generally consists of a “Program,” “Center,” or “Committee” which is largely an administrative device to bring together members of different disciplines, and to systematize and expand existing courses and seminars. Participating faculty members come mainly from the departments of Political Science, Anthropology, History, Economics, Geography and Sociology. They usually offer such general courses as “Government and Politics of Tropical Africa,” “Problems in Economic Anthropology,” “Peoples of East Africa,” “History of West Africa” and the like. In addition, many institutions have some specialization in discipline and in regional emphasis: such specialization is indicated.

In the early years of decolonization, following North African, Sudanese, and Ghanaian independence, the new African governments seemed to have an encouraging stability and set off on democratic and constitutional paths which gave evidence of promising well for the future. The turmoil which developed in the Congo immediately after independence stood out in contrast to the relative solidity of other states and found its explanation primarily in the shortcomings of the kind of rule which Belgium had imposed. Elsewhere the nationalist leaders who had led the struggle for freedom from alien domination continued in power and enhanced the sense that the new Africa was making headway.

More recently, things fall apart. Mutinies, assassinations, coups and attempted coups, and military takeovers have shaken confidence in Africa's ability to make speedy and consistent progress toward the goal it has set itself. It seemed at first as if the transition from colonialism to independence, from older worlds to modernity, might be an easier process than was feared by the pessimists, among whom, on the whole, I would number myself. Where does one have to look to find the reasons for the interruptions in the advance, or at all events for the change in direction, of so many African states? A fruitful field of inquiry, I am sure, is an examination of some of the problems confronting the new governments which were the successors to the colonial regimes in Africa, and the conditions under which they entered the world and must carry on their business. If I may give away my theme at the start, it would be essentially that governments have in a variety of ways been overloaded and unable to carry the burdens which they have assumed and which they have had thrust upon them.

The African Studies Association was formed in 1958 by thirty-five founding fellows. At that time, African studies in the United States were just beginning to reach hesitantly beyond the half-dozen pioneer university centers in this country. The movement toward African independence was in full swing, but the political future of Africa was still uncertain. A few African universities were already in operation, but the great increase in their numbers was still to come. Even those that did exist were run almost entirely by an expatriate staff and followed European curricula. African participation in African studies was very small indeed. Now, some eight years later, the total membership of the Association is more than 1,200. Universities have sprung up all over Africa, and independence has brought an increasing rate of Africanization both in staff and in curricula. All the older African universities now have some form of African studies center, and the more recent ones were often founded with a built-in emphasis on research and teaching based on their own environment.

These dramatic changes were among those that prompted the President and Board of the Association to seek closer ties with Africanist scholars in Africa. In the summer of 1965, they sent an exploratory mission to Africa to examine possible avenues of cooperation with the Africanists in Africa. The Ford Foundation generously financed the project, and Professor Greenberg appointed two members of the Policies and Plans Committee to undertake it: Professor Hance for Eastern Africa and Professor Curtin for West and West-Central Africa. This report is designed to convey to the membership the findings and recommendations.

The area of international programs, as part of a rapidly developing university, has become increasingly important to Michigan State University, in East Lansing, in the last two decades. Faculty research abroad has been a primary factor in the growth of private and federal agency-sponsored technical assistance programs in educational activities overseas. Projects in Turkey, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Okinawa, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil, and Nigeria have been and are being conducted in the fields of business administration, public administration, agriculture, community development, education, and general university development. Continued outside financial assistance has enabled further enlargement of such programs on the campus as a whole.

The initiation of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University in 1960 owes much to an offer from the U.S. Office of Education to support the teaching of West African languages on campus. By coincidence, this occurred at the same time that the University was engaged in two closely related projects: the ICA (AID) contract of establishing and developing the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and the initiation of a Ford Foundation-supported research program for African studies.

New courses and additional teaching staff now allow for specialized courses in the departments of linguistics and Oriental and African languages, political science, history, anthropology, and geography. Much research is emerging from the Center's activity. In 1963-1964, for example, field research was under way in education, fisheries and wildlife, political science, economics, history, and geography, and there were four projects in the area of languages and linguistics.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts,currently offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and seminarsthat concern themselves exclusively with the history, government, and socialorganization of the peoples of northern and sub-Saharan Africa. The Departmentof Tropical Public Health in the School of Public Health, the Law School, andthe School of Business Administration also find a place for Africa in theirrespective curricula. The Center for International Affairs has for a number ofyears sponsored an interdisciplinary faculty seminar on Africa. It has alsosupported research in the fields of African history and government and maintainsa continuing interest through its Development Advisory Service in the economicproblems of Africa.

The resources of the Harvard University library system serve these variedteaching and research needs. Of the more than 7 million volumes housed in thevarious constituent libraries of the University, approximately 34, 000 form thecore of the African collection. Much of this collection is scattered throughoutthe component libraries and, within each, shelved among a number of subjectclassifications. The largest single centralized Africana grouping is found,appropriately under “Africa,” in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library. Itcontains about 14, 000 books and periodicals. A total of about 6, 000 additionalvolumes is classified according to language or under the categories Folklore,Archaeology, Economics, Education, Sociology, Geography, South America, andAsia. (Early printed titles are often housed, however, in the Houghton Library.)The Law School Library holds about 5, 500 volumes pertaining to Africa; nearlyhalf of its collection relates to the Republic of South Africa. The Library ofthe Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology contains about 2,400 volumes ofmonographs, 1, 600 volumes of serials, and several hundred pamphlets, all ofwhich, together with an index of periodical articles by author and subject,appear in the 53-volume printed catalogue of the Library. The Andover-HarvardTheological Library of the Harvard Divinity School has about 700 volumes thatdeal with the churches of the Republic of South Africa and some 1, 500 volumeson Protestant missions in tropical Africa. The libraries of the Harvard Schoolsof Medicine and Public Health, the Graduate School of Business Administration,the Graduate School of Public Administration, and the Museum of ComparativeZoology each contain several hundred books and serials directly relevant to thestudy of Africa. The Library of the Center for International Affairs alsomaintains a select collection of books and periodicals dealing with contemporaryAfrica.

The African Studies Center at UCLA will offer a special NDEA summer program in African languages and area studies for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. Five intensive language courses will be offered during the eight-week summer session from June 20 to August 12, 1966 (the first six of which will be coterminous with the regular six-week summer session). Introductory courses will be offered in Afrikaans, Hausa, and Zulu, and both introductory and intermediate courses will be offered in Swahili. Area courses in anthropology, education, geography, and political science will be offered during the first six-week summer session, and courses in education and history in the second six-week session. The area courses will be open to students enrolled in the eight-week language program. Each language course will include three hours of classroom instruction and one hour of work in the language laboratory each day, five days a week for the eight weeks. Classroom and laboratory hours will be conducted jointly by a linguist and an informant. The language courses are 6-unit courses, and the area courses are 2-unit courses.

A limited number of language fellowships for undergraduates will be available under the NDEA Fellowship Program. Inquiries should be directed to the Student Support Section, Graduate Division, Administration Building, UCLA.

The tuition fee for the eight-week summer session will be $130 and will also cover enrollment in any courses offered in the first six-week session. There will be no out-of-state fee.

The present review continues the series of annual surveys of South African reference literature and in general follows the pattern of the previous review.

An atlas not confined to South Africa but rather covering the whole of Africa has now been completed in ten parts. Africa: Maps and Statistics (Pretoria, Africa Institute; R9-50; overseas R12-50 including binder) presents a statistical survey of Pan-African territories in map form with an explanatory text. Subjects covered include population, vital and medical aspects, culture and education, and political development.

The reviewer's Guide to South African Reference Books (Cape Town, Balkema; R2-50) was published in an extensively revised fourth edition in 1965. This edition has an innovation in the inclusion of guides to reference material about four territories which are much in the news, namely, South-West Africa and the High Commission Territories of Basutoland, Bechuana-land, and Swaziland. An important bibliography concerning Bechuanaland also appeared in the year under review. This is C. Middleton's Bechuanaland: A Bibliography (Cape Town, University School of Librarianship). It has 155 entries covering administration, development, history, missions, native races, and other topics and complements an earlier bibliography by P. E. Stevens published by the same university in 1949. Further progress was made with the publication of South Africa's union list of serials. Letters J and K of Periodicals in South African Libraries (Pretoria, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) were published in 1965.