Review by Choice Review
Studies of fertility, mortality, and migration in sub-Saharan Africa are hobbled by inadequate data: it is daunting to try to compare spotty statistics gathered according to varying, often ill-defined, criteria. One response is to construct deeply detailed analyses of particular ethnic groups that may be extended to others in the immediate region and beyond. Notkola and Siiskonen focus on northern Namibia, where Finnish Evangelical Lutheran missionary accounts provide decades of demographic details. Records have been kept consistently, and missions are distributed evenly across Ovamboland, allowing the authors to identify trends that they suggest are valid for Ovambo peoples more generally. Tracking fertility and mortality fluctuations over the decades, they confirm conventional wisdom about labor migration, politics, and environmental factors at play. The book may appeal to regional specialists and those interested in the effects of missionary activity on African demography, yet its relevance beyond its scope is unclear. Vague statements like "AIDS seems to be causing many kinds of problems in Africa" are absurd when so many Namibians are afflicted, and mortality must have begun skyrocketing within the period of the authors' investigation. The work also suffers from poor copyediting. A. F. Roberts University of California, Los Angeles
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
