Choice Review

As sub-Saharan Africa is now the dynamic population center of Christianity, Green's study of Roman Catholicism among the 90,000 agriculturalists of Ulanga district in southern Tanzania is an important addition to the literature. The author's main argument--that the successful Christianization process during the colonial mission period was primarily the result of educational and economic opportunities offered to the locals, rather than their recognition of a superior form of spirituality--is well taken, while her focus on contemporary social and ritual practice is informative. In terms of the latter, Green (anthropology, Univ. of Manchester) analyzes family, marriage, and kinship, and, to a greater extent, female gender construction and antiwitchcraft movements still extant in the area. The ethnographic material is rich, and her theoretical perspective is sophisticated. The only drawback is the occasional lapse into a convoluted writing style and stilted academic format, which will unfortunately limit this otherwise compelling study to a small professional audience. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. W. Arens SUNY at Stony Brook