Henriques, F. M. Family and Colour in

REVIEWS OF BOOKS I25
aims of social medicine than to state precisely Henriques, F. M. Family and Colour in
what social medicine is and how its objectives Jamaica. (Preface by Professor
are to be attained. He does, however, Meyer Fortes.) London, I953. Eyre
vividly portray the ill effects of adverse and Spottiswoode. Pp. I96. Price
environmental circumstances on the health i8s.
of different nations throughout the world
and stresses the association of poverty with THE author, Lecturer in Social Anthropology
bad housing, poor nutrition and insanitary in the University of Leeds, is an Oxford-
conditions which, he says, are the principal educated West Indian anthropologist. This
social causes of disease. study is the result of his field studies carried
The association of poverty with disease out in I946 in Jamaica, more particularly in
was recognized by Edwin Chadwick' a the north east Parish of Portland on the
century ago, and there can be few today problem of colour hierarchy and family
who fail to appreciate the important contri- disorganization.
bution the public health services have made Jamaica, the largest of the West Indian
to the health of the people since that time. islands, covers an area of 4,400 square miles
There are few also who are likely to disagree on which a million and a half people (largely
with the author when he commends to the descendants of slaves of West African origin
more backward nations with high infant and whites) of all shades of colour eke out a
mortality rates the improved environmental miserable living. Discovered by Columbus
circumstances now enjoyed by the more in I494, the West Indies remained a Spanish
progressive nations. There are many too, possession until I635 when it became a
who would even concede that the epidemio- British colony. The discovery that the land
logical methods which have hitherto been was suitable for the successful cultivation of
applied to infectious diseases might also be sugarcane brought many people to the islands
applicable to non-infectious illnesses. But -white planters who imported Negro slaves
in a book entitled Social Medicine some and later Indian and Chinese indentured
readers may regret that the author has not labour. While this background explains the
clearly distinguished between subjects tradi- present day pattern of colour complexities,
tionally the concern of public health depart- 78 per cent of the population is classified as
ments-sanitation, housing, epidemiology Black people.
and the control of communicable diseases, The book is an illustration of the applica-
and subjects with which departments of tion of modem social anthropology to the
preventive medicine may be increasingly study of the Jamaican social situation. Dr.
concerned in the future-genetics, biology and Henriques expounds the sociological theory
sociology. Dr. Leff urges research into the of " Class " division as superimposed on a
social circumstances which might adversely colour-graded society of diverse ethnic
affect the health of people in this country origins. While the people are predominantly
at the present time, but he is critical of the black, they still suffer from the " white bias "
research methods employed by the Oxford of the slavery days and have voluntarily and
Institute which, he feels, tend to be too perhaps unwittingly imrposed on themselves a
academic in their approach. The alternative system of attitudes and values based on
method he advocates is so comprehensive colour. The real upper classes are the white
and flexible that it defies criticism. Neverthe- and the rich. The black but wealthy and the
less, he succeeds in his main intention, viz. white but poor-both these classes belong to
-to give a general survey of social medicine the upper class by common consent. Below
which will provide a guide to other workers. them are the near-white, coloured, brown,
The volume is well produced and the and last the black. The class division cuts
industry of the author is readily apparent across the colour gradation.
from his sources of reference. As for the Jamaican family, it is difficult to
R. M. DYKES. generalize. While the lower class Jamaican
rI g6 THE EUGENICS REVIEW
family is matriarchal, the middle and upper through informants, by questionnaire and
classes are Victorian as far as the place of the participation. A statistical evaluation of the
husband-father in the family is concerned. methodological approach can easily reveal
The attitude of the average Jamaican toward which of the author's conclusions merit
marriage is most interesting and Dr. Hen- serious attention. Last, I wish he had given
riques writes about it with sympathy and more space to the question of social mobility.
understanding. The middle and low class Some day the different colours are bound to
Jamaican is apparentlv unable to concede merge; what then would be the criteria for
that conventional marriage is at least a leadership?-ability, birth, wealth or physical
necessary evil, for a great majority " Jive in attributes?
sin " and more than 70 per cent of the births Dr. Henriques writes as a " native" and
are illegitimate. Many do not marry in the at the same time as an outsider looking into
sense of a Church ceremony or a civil Jamaica. The study is objective and
marriage. There is no ceremony of any kind. scholarly. It is very readable.
They Jive together in either faithful concu- S. CHANDRASEKHAR.
binage or change partners at will. Either of
these arrangements seems to be no barrier
for the arrival of children. The advantages AFRICA
are obvious. Marriages are expensive and to Carothers, J. C. The African Mind in
a Jamaican an inexpensive wedding is no Health and Disease: A Study in
wedding at all. Then, marriage ties one down Ethnopsychiatry. Geneva, I953.
for life. If one cannot afford the luxury of a World Health Organization.
Church ceremony one can afford even less
the further luxury of a divorce proceeding. (London, H.M. Stationery Office.)
Concubinage costs little and can be ter- PP. I77. Price ios.
minated at a moment's notice, children or no IT is suitable that the World Health Organi-
children. (One wishes that Dr. Henriques zation should have published this mono-
had gone a little deeper into the legal graph, dealing as it does with the interplay
complications of these " marriages.") W)hat of heredity, environment and physical health
surprises one is that even the women seem to in the field of African psychology and
welcome this arrangement, for in a marriage psychiatry. Dr. Carothers has had con-
the husband tends to dictate but who can siderable experience of both general and
dare to dominate a mistress? It will be rash psychiatric medicine in Africa, and combines
to call all this primitive or immoral, for the a survey of the relevant literature with his
Jamaicans are most " moral " as they are own valuable observations. His presentation
regular church-goers. They go to church of this material could hardly be bettered. In
regularly and live in sin continuously. Either a preface he argues the legitimacy of such a
missionary-Christianity has failed or the generalization as " the African mind," a
native's conception of the Christian attitude concept which is amply justified by the facts
toward marriage is different. The Jamaican in the monograph. Part I, " The Physical
sexual mores are not very different from the Background of the' African," prepares the
Scandinavian rural sexual mores, minus ground for Part II, "The Mind of the
perhaps its sophistication. African," and discussion is reserved for
I wish Dr. Henriques had included a little Part III, covering some half-dozen pages.
material on population analysis or some Part I deals briefly and lucidly with the
formal demography, even as an appendix. A physical anthropology of the African/races,-
knowledge of the demographic background and defines the African, for the purposes of
would have enhanced the value of his this' study, as the Negriforms of Africa,
material. Secondly, he does not tell us about excluding the Negrillos, whose numbers are
the methodology of his approach. One would too insignificant; the Bushmen and Hotten-
like to know what material was obtained tots are not included. Ideally it is only the

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