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Book Reviews 225 also specifically situated in time; but the Pastoral Son often seems to live in the timeless world of the "ethnographic past/present" where change cannot wither and custom survives unstaled. This unfortunate impression is reinforced by statements about the "archaic mode of stockkeeping " or the lumping together of Somali camel-herders and ancient "Indo-Europeans" as representatives of "Old World pastoral traditions." Nonetheless, criticisms of the choice of material should not detract from the importance of Meeker's exploration of selfhood and social representation within a patriarchal society. The use of ox-songs to explore the ambivalencies of filial obedience and self-assertion, and of cosmology to express the father's view, is both intriguing and innovative. These chapters form the core of the book and constitute the best part of the argument even though they inevitably lack Geertz's "being there" quality of field ethnography. As more scholarship is devoted to the symbolic representation of pastoralism, Pastoral Son and the Spirit ofPatriarchy will find its place. As good comparative analysis should, it raises more questions than it answers. Richard Waller Bucknell University Where Giants Trod: The Saga ofKenya's Desert lake Monty Brown; foreword by Sir Vivian Fuchs London: Quiller Press, 1989. 431 pp. This is yet another book about white men in Africa. It tells the stories of those Europeans who "explored" the region of Lake Turkana during the latter part of the 19th century and early years of the present century . The hagiographical style gives emphasis to the daring achievements of these "pioneers," stressing the "mystery and wonder" of the unknown lands they entered. The Africans who lived around Lake Turkana, and whose homelands were traversed en route to the Lake are less in evidence.©Northeast African Studies (ISSN 0740-9133) Vol. 1, Nos. 2-3 (New Series) 1994, pp. 225-227 226 Book Reviews The opening chapters provide a partial survey of archaeological evidence and (less speculatively) what was known of the peoples of the Lake Turkana region on the eve of European penetration. Brief cameo ethno-histories are provided for Samburu, Laikipiak Maasai, Rendille, Gabbra, Dasenech, Elmolo, Turkana and Borana, all of whom Brown styles as "nomads." Scholars of northeast Africa will find nothing new in these sections, and some will undoubtedly find the sweeping certainty of the prose style an irritant. Twice as much might have been said in half as many words. The real meat of the book lies between pages 89 and 281, comprising 14 chapters, each of which is devoted to a single journey of European exploration. The most important is of course the Teleki and von Hohnel expedition of 1886-88; this is perhaps the most informative and successful section of the book. Like those which follow, this chapter is based almost entirely upon published sources, augmented by a few rarer materials. Brown is to be congratulated for having tracked down much ephemeral information on each European adventurer, and in almost every case he has been able to find contemporary photographs to accompany the text. But readers of this journal are likely to already be familiar with the account Brown provides of the Teleki journey, as they may also be with the treatment of the well-documented journeys of Chanler (1892-94), Neumann (1893-96), Donaldson-Smith (both 1894-95 and 1899-1900, though the latter deserves and receives only slight treatment), Wellby (1898-99), Austin (1901) and Stigand (1909). Details of the travels of Bottego (1895-97), Cavendish (1896-97), Harrison (1899-1900), the Austrian Count Wickenberg (1901) and De Bozas (1901-3) will hold greater interest for regional specialists if only because their own published accounts are less easily available. The description of Lord Delamere's sojourn of 1896-98 is heavily padded with references to his future importance in Kenya and has next to nothing to say about the Lake Turkana region. In each case, as in the final section dealing with the gradual establishment of colonial rule in the Lake Turkana region, Brown has allowed the life stories of his European "heroes" to dominate the text. We learn a great deal more about the men and their social background than we do about...

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