BOOK REVIEWS 143

Adhikaris discussion of Hotel Rwanda correctly criticizes director Terry Georges

portrayal of the Rwandan genocide. He argues that Hotel Rwanda makes little
more than a cursory attempt to explain why the genocide happened or to sketch
the political and historical context in which it unfolded (p. 280). Adhikari points
out that Hotel Rwanda chiefly overlooks the colonial history of the region, which
contributed to the ethnic divisions between Tutsis and Hutus. More importantly,
he recognizes that Terry Georges overly romantic depiction of Paul Rusesabagina,
based on the real hotel manager who provided the Hotel des Milles Collines as a safe
haven for victims of the genocide, is foregrounded at the expense of representing the
real horror experienced at the height of the ethnic turmoil in the country.
Both Black and White in Colour and African Filmmaking: North and south of the
Sahara examine the social, political, and historical issues that contribute to the repre-
sentation of Africa in film and filmmaking in Africa. While Armess African Filmmak-
ing extends earlier studies of African cinema, Bickford-Smiths and Mendelsohns
edited collection of essays provides an essential groundbreaking interdisciplinary
text on African history and film.
School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London M. M. OYEDEJI
doi:10.1093/afraf/adn076
Advance Access Publication 2 December 2008

Cities in Contemporary Africa, edited by Martin J. Murray and Garth A. Myers.

New York, NY and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. xiv + 318 pp. 40.00
(hardback). ISBN 978 1 4039 7035 0.

Readers of African Affairs who are seeking insights into what is now happening
in a range of African cities, from Lagos to Luanda, will find plenty here, especially
those who have been stimulated by the most prolific recent writer on the subject,
AbdouMaliq Simone, who makes a brief contribution. The book aims to provide
glimpses into the complicated dynamics of urban life in Africa today, and in this
it certainly succeeds. However, the editors describe it as a montage which does
not aim to grasp the true or objective reality of contemporary cities in Africa.
Indeed, in their substantial introduction they are highly critical of most existing
writing on African cities, especially those offering facile generalizations, preferring
their contributors here to explore diverse (random?) themes in unique (random?)
places. This book will therefore not satisfy anyone seeking an analysis of recent
patterns of urban growth or urbanization in Africa, for there is as yet no replacement
for the 1997 book from the United Nations University Press, The Urban Challenge
in Africa, edited by Carole Rakodi. Cities in Contemporary Africa provides no clear
messages on such topics as the current rate of population growth in most cities
in Africa; the proportion contributed by net in-migration; the extent of material
poverty; the issues most relevant to the half of all city-dwellers who are under
eighteen; or the implications of the slight improvement in most national economies
since 2000.
One intended message of the book is that cities in Africa are not exceptional
in the world but ordinary cities in the sense used by Jennifer Robinson in her
2006 book of the same title. However, for this reviewer one problem is that these
essays mostly deal with cases that are very specific in either space or time or even
both, as in the case of Debby Pottss thoughtful examination of the 2005 Operation
Murambatsiva in Harare or Daniel Jordan Smiths informative discussion of the
2001 anti-Ibo violence in Kano. Of the thirteen essays, seven are on cities in South

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 144 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Africa, Zimbabwe, or Kenya, all originally creations of settlers from Europe, and
arguably less ordinary among cities in Africa than Accra, Kampala, or Dar-es-
Salaam. Douala might seem a relatively ordinary African city, but the picture of
it presented here by Basile Ndjio is generally so horrendous that one must hope
that it is not so. Perhaps surprisingly, Guillaume Iyenda and David Simon provide
a somewhat more positive view of life in Kinshasa.
While the book is not tied to a single academic discipline, it is notable that there
are no economists or political scientists among the contributors: all are essentially
anthropologists, sociologists, or geographers, and the overall focus is on emerging
forms of social organization and social relationships often in the face of the break-
down of structures inherited from colonial or minority rule. The index entries with
the largest number of references are colonialism and apartheid. While the editors
say that they hoped to involve as many contributors as possible from Africa, the sad
reality is that apart from two based in South Africa and one based in Kenya, all
others are based in North America or Europe.
The essays certainly support the editors view that cities in sub-Saharan Africa
are highly diverse, but perhaps not their more controversial view that the African
city is an unrealistic and inappropriate concept. They could be taken as showing the
validity of the view that once strongly contrasting cities such as Lagos and Nairobi
are becoming increasingly similar (and share few characteristics with cities in other
continents, such as Beijing or Buenos Aires). The Preface begins by stating that one
of the principal goals of this book is to place cities in Africa at the centre of analysis
rather than relegating them to the margins; but this evidently refers to Africa at
the centre/margins of urban studies probably not the perspective of most readers
of African Affairs rather than cities at the centre/margins of African studies. Of
course if, as argued by the editors, one should not think in terms of African cities,
but only cities in Africa, should one equally query the concept of African studies, or
even African affairs? That said, there is much of great interest and great value in this
book, and it is to be hoped that a paperback version will follow, especially so that it
can be read by more people within Africa.

University College London ANTHONY OCONNOR

doi:10.1093/afraf/adn082
Advance Access Publication 3 December 2008

Socio-economic Challenges: The African context, by M. Henry Kyambalesa.

Trenton and Asmara: Africa World Press, 2004. xvi + 262 pp. $29.95 (paperback).
ISBN 1 59221 268 9.

Extreme and persistent poverty, hunger, disease, and ignorance have come to
characterize life in a typical developing country. This book urges African political
leaders to move away from the blame game of colonialism and confront their devel-
opmental challenges head-on. Kyambalesa calls on African leaders to look inward
and identify their own problems, as they need to take full responsibility for finding
viable solutions to their domestic problems (p. xi). He also advises African govern-
ments to trim excess fat in their bloated bureaucracies because government is best
that governs least (p. 113) and he urges them to create viable democratic systems
of government.
It requires a certain boldness to address the socio-economic challenges of Africa
as a whole. Uduku and Zack-Williamss book Africa Beyond the Post-Colonial: Political

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