Religion

LES ETUDES SOCIALES 515 Un livre ala fois ethnologique et politique est paru sous Ie titre Ie suis une maudite sauvagesse (Lemeac, 'collection Dossiers: 238, $8.95). L'auteur , une Montagnaise, An Antane Kapesh (Anne Andre), presente un temoignage de sa vie d'lndienne de Schefferville. Mais plus qu'un h~moignage, c'est un cri de colere qui passe a travers ce livre ecrit en montagnais et dont la version fran~aise est assuree par Jose Mailhot, une ethnologue qui travaille depuis plusieurs annees au sein de la communaute montagnaise. Les rapports entre Indiens et Blancs y sont abordes avec lucidite et franchise. La poslface qui termine Ie livre en dit long ace sujet: 'Je suis une maudite sauvagesse. Je suis tres fiere quand, aujourd'hui, je m'entends traiter de sauvagesse. Quand j'entends Ie Blanc prononcer ce mot, je comprends qu'il me redit sans cesse que je suis une vraie Indienne et que c'est moi la premiere aavoir veCll dans Ie bois. Or toute chose qui vit dans les bois correspond ala vie la meilleure. Puisse Ie Blanc me toujours traiter de Sauvagesse: Meme si la production de 1976 en sciences humaines s'est concentree sur Ie Quebec, il nous faut en terminant, mentionner la parution de quatre livres importants centres chacun sur une analyse sociologique et politique de d'autres pays: Gabriel Gagnon, Cooperatives ou autogestion, Senegal, Cuba, Tunisie (Les Presses de rUniversite de Montreal, 482, $16.50); Jacques Levesque, L'URSS et la Revolution cubaine (Les Presses de l'Universite de Montreal et Les Presses de la fondation nationale des Sciences politiques, 220, $15.00); Jorge Niosi, Les Entrepreneurs dans la politique argentine 1955-1973 (Les Presses de l'Universite du Quebec, 189, $8.95); 1946- 1976, Trente ans de pouvoir noi,. en Haiti: tome premier: ['explosion de 1946: Bilan et perspectives (Collectif paroles, B.P. 263 succ. Lasalle, Lasalle, Quebec H8R 3V2, 270, $g.oo). (CELINE SAINT-PIERRE) RELIGION Religion reappears in 'Letters in Canada' after a year's absence during which this reviewer was in India for research. Accordingly, selections from both 1975 and 1976 will be featured here. I determined this year to concentrate on reviewing books which a wider or more interdisciplinary readership might read with interest or profit. Space limitations thus dictate the exclusion of a great many monographic volumes which reflect solid but more specialized scholarship. The choice has not been easy, for what has been excluded is often of great merit. Surprisingly, I found that nearly half my general-interest choices were collections rather than single works. Whether multiple-author volumes are a significant trend in Canadian publishing I can't say with any certainty. But what I can affirm, having reviewed more than an ordinary 516 LETTERS IN CANADA 1976 share of such works in the past, is that their compositeness makes them a diffuse target for the reviewer. In a brief note one can hardly characterize each chapter, let alone criticize it; and yet one feels he is cheating the reader if he retreats from a discussion of an anthology's content to a discussion of its form . Still, the handsomeness of its format is one of the good things about my favourite of the Canadian books in the field of religion in 1976: Introduction to Islamic Civilisation, edited by Roger M. Savory (Cambridge University Press, viii, 204, $17.95 cloth, $5.95 paper). A lucidity and clarity characterize the writing style of this book, and it is handsomely illustrated with black-and-white photographs of life and art in the Muslim world. Part of the reason for the book's clarity is its origin as a radio series, but a great deal of skilful editorial work has gone into the project since the material was first aired. As a result, the novice will find this book to be the welcome introduction which its title implies, while the reader already familiar with the Islamic world will be fascinated by the original insights and unusual details along the way. That practically all the chapters are written by members of one academic department, the Department of Middle East and Islamic Studies of the University of Toronto...