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A Multimedia Approach to Teaching the Total Environment of International Business: "What'sIt like, What's It Really like?"Author(s): J. Frederick TruittSource: Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1975), pp. 107-120Published by: Palgrave Macmillan JournalsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/154352Accessed: 05/05/2010 08:06

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A MULTIMEDIA APPROACH TO TEACHING THETOTAL ENVIRONMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS:

"WHAT'S IT LIKE, WHAT'S IT REALLY LIKE?"J. FREDERICK TRUITT*

This article reviews motivations for going beyond traditionalbusinessteachingmaterial nto the realmof films, memoirs,andnovels. Included are suggestionsof specific examples of films,memoirs,and novels which have a place in teachingthe inter-national business environmentin less developed countries. Anextensiveannotated bibliographyof films, memoirs,and novelsisprovided.

Theonly truevoyageof discoverywouldnot be to visit strange ands,but topossessother eyes, to behold the universe hroughthe eyes of another,of ahundred others ....Proust

Five years' teachingexperiencewith novels, memoirs,and documen-tary films have led to personal enthusiasm over the use of nonbusinessmaterials n courses in the internationalbusinessarea.Novels,memoirs,andfilms can be an importantstep towardbroadening he intellectual horizonsof students in a most fundamentalway and also can make teaching theenvironment of international business more exciting (and easier) for theteacher.TheNeed to SupplementStandardBusinessandEconomicSources

Standardsocial science materials can impartconcepts, empiricalde-scriptions,and possibly even coherent theories of the what, why, and howof internationalbusiness. But even the best and the brightestbusiness,eco-nomic, social-psychological,and anthropologicalnmaterials deficient in de-scribingthe ambience or milieu, the totally rich, complex foreignenviron-ment in which internationalbusinesstakesplace.The vast numberof texts on underdevelopment iveexcellent presen-tations of capital output ratios, competing theories of growth (Marxist,stages,balanced or unbalanced),social and technicalfactors,structuralbar-riersto LDCexports and aid absorptivecapacity.The IBRD makes available

*J. Frederick Truitt is Associate Professor of International Business at the Grad-uate School of Business Administration, University of Washington, Seattle.

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the basic income and demographicdata of underdevelopment n its Atlas:Population, Per CapitaProduct and Growth Rates. And of course U.N.yearbooksunveil the gnawing, tragic data on birth rates, infant mortalityrates, expectations of life at birth,literacy,and nutrition(or more preciselythe lack of it) in the LDCs. But do the students come awayfrom this kindof material with a convincing, indelible image and understandingof whatunderdevelopments, let alone what the implicationsof anunderdevelopedenvironmentare for managingnternationalbusinessactivity?This writer thinks not: texts and data are a necessarybut not suffi-cient condition of really understanding he "foreign"(particularlya lessdeveloped) environment for internationalbusiness. To round out the stan-dardmaterial, he use of fiction, memoirs,and filmsis suggested:

(1) Fiction because it richly describesrelationshipsbetweenpeople(and their environment) n the context of a complete (andcom-pletely foreign)social,political,andculturalenvironment.(2) Memoirs because they convey to us in distilled, carefullywrought, criticallanguageor naive uncritical anguage"what itwas (is) like."(3) Films because through powerful visual and audio imagestheynot only explain a phenomenonbut also try to convince us tochangeourattitudes and behavior.

WhatContext, WhatAssumptions?The task of selectingand schedulingthe appropriatenonbusinessma-terial and provokingstudents into seeing the connection and relationshipswith the mainbody of internationalbusinessknowledge requireskeen sensi-tivity to problemsof context. In selecting the context, assumptionsregard-ing the reasonsstudentsstudy internationalbusiness n the firstplaceshouldbe examined.It is temptingto assumethat somedayin the nearfuturemany

of these students actually will be managingsubsidiariesabroad.Obviouslythis is a delusion, and otherjustificationis neededif the effort involved n amultimedia approach to teaching the total environment of internationalbusiness s to be extended.Multimedia efforts are justified for three reasons. First, and mostimportant,the use of this unique materialnot only broadens he opportun-ity for students to exercise their usually untaxed imaginations,but it alsodeepens and broadenstheir understandingof the complex foreignenviron-ment by providingvivid, personal,and humanexperience in a foreignset-ting. By understandinga foreignenvironmentstudentsinevitablycome to abetter understandingof their own environment by way of implicit andexplicit comparison.Second, students are introducedto a streamof litera-ture which will not do them any harnl and might actually expand theirhorizons. Finally, if all else fails, the teachermay personallyenjoy fiction,

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memoirs, and films, and their use may provide him with the excuse toindulgehimself in yet another novel, film, or memoirwhich he otherwisemightnot justify to himselfandhis full schedule.Some explicit examples will be offered. Since everyone is at leastvaguelyfamiliarwith films as a teachingdevice, some possibilitieswith thisleastunfamiliarmedium will be examinedfirst.

FILMSThe challengeof selectingfilmsto supplementmaterial n internation-al businessis basicallyhow to pick the best and most appropriate rom anincreasingly arge choice of good films. The single best source of informa-tion on new films in internationalbusiness s Jean MarieAckermann's"Me-

dia" section in InternationalDevelopmentReview, the quarterlypublicationof the Society for InternationalDevelopment.Most of the films listed in thefilm bibliographygivenlater were discovered hroughMs. Ackermann's ol-umn. Filmsprobablyhavetheir maximum mpactwhenused in conjunctionwith cases. Again, selection of context and "positioning' of the film areextremly importantfor the film to have maximum mpact. Listed below areexplicit combinations of cases and films which have worked well for thiswriter n the past.A. A raw materialsextractive nvestment.1. Case:"BougainvilleCopper,"ICCH9-372-1462. Films: Men and Money in ActionBuilder to an Age: The Bechtel Organization,TheBougainvilleCopperProjectOn the WayB. Foreign nvestmentas an agentof socialchange.1. Case:"AireLibre,S.A.," ICCH9-313-0202. Films: Sugar in Today's WorldSugar and the Cane

Sugar CountryC. Internationalization f social responsibility:Should MNFstoler-ate apartheid?1. Case:"A Questionof Color,"ICCH9-370-1232. Films:TheColorLineThe Heart of ApartheidWhiteAfrica

D. Political risk in naturalresource nvestments.1. Case: "Expropriationof Alcan'sBauxite MiningSubsidi-ary," Parts A, B, C, D, and E, ICCH9-375-661 through9-375-665 and TeachingNote 8-375-666A- Bauxite and the InternationalAluminumIndustry

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B- Guyana:A BackgroundNoteC- AlcanAluminum,Ltd.D- Dembato GuybauE- Contempt and Arrogance for Government andGuyanesePeople2. Films:Light,StrongandBeautifulGuyana:NationbuildingMEMOIRS

Occasionallya memoir or recollectionof social and economic condi-tions is written which can give tremendous nsightandappreciation or themeaning and conditions of underdevelopmentand Third World vs FirstWorldanimosity. For example:Blythe'sAkenfield:Portraitof an English VillageThis book's unique portrayalof economic "development" n the firstchapter, "The Survivors,"generates ively discussionconcerninghow slip-pery, relative, and sometimes deceivinglyethnocentric the term "develop-ment" can be.

Spunt'sA Place in TimeThere probablyis no better vehicle than GeorgeSpunt'srecollectionof his youth in interwarShanghai o illustratethe meaningof both enclaveandnonindigenouscommercialclassinterposedbetween colonized andcolo-nizer.Guppy'sA YoungMan'sJourneyOne sometimesis confronted with a strangelyvirulent form of ThirdWorldanimosity-an animosityso bitter and strongthat for all the worldit

gives the odor of havingfermented under pressure or many years. See, forexample, the tone of Guyana'sPrimeMinister Forbes Burnham'sspeechannouncing the takeover of Alcan'sbauxite mining subsidiary,DemeraraBauxite Company (Part E of the case "Expropriationof Alcan's BauxiteMiningSubsidiary,"referredto earlier).Onevery effective way to come tounderstandthe relations which undoubtedly played a role in shapingtheanimosity that bears such ugly fruit today is to read NicholasGuppy'sAYoungMan'sJourney, a recollection of a naivetwenty-threeyearold bota-nist's four-year our as AssistantConservator f Forests n what was BritishGuiana.Guppy observeseverythingfrom the insufferablealcoholic incom-petence and arroganceof high (Georgetown) society to crass racismandeven morecrassexploitation of the colony's naturalresources.

Then an unworthy thought entered my brain: were we British really soincompetent? Or was this a plot-taking everything and putting nothingback; spending not a penny, leaving the colony sucked dry, and then

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abandoning it. ... We ... were either being wicked or crassly stupid, ifwell-intentioned.1

FICTIONOne is familiar with films; and memoirs and recollections-selective,

filtered, and subjective as they may be-at least are rooted in fact. But theuse of fiction probably requires a few extra words of explanation. Actuallythe explanation is quite simple. The use of fiction is based on the assump-tion that the novelist selected is acutely aware of the total environment inwhich his characters live and work; thus, a student reading a novel can seeits characters relating to one another in the context of a rich complex ofsocial, political and cultural environments.

Obviously, novels must be carefully selected for use in internationalbusiness; the list presented later represents several years' searching forappropriate novels. From this list the writer has come to favor Achebe's AMan of the People because of its length, availability in paperback, style,and abundance of discussable incidents.

A series of examples will demonstrate how novels can illustrate vividlyand drive home to students concepts which might have been "lectured" tothem in vain.

TribalismHow better to illustrate the tensions and problems of tribalism andconflict of religions so prevalent in new "nation-states" whose arbitraryborders reflect limits of colonial energy, not nations of like people, thanwith these incidents in Achebe and Forester:The Minister's speech sounded spontaneous and was most effective.There was no election at hand, he said amid laughter. He had not come tobeg for their votes; it was just "a family reunion-pure and simple." Hewould have preferred not to speak to his own kinsmen in English whichwas after all a foreign language, but he had learned from experience thatspeeches made in vernacular were liable to be distorted and misquoted inthe press. Also there were some strangers in that audience who did notspeak our own tongue and he did not wish to exclude them. They wereall citizens of our great country whether they came from the highlands orthe lowlands, etc., etc.2They shook hands, in a half-embrace that typified the entente. Betweenpeople of distant climes there is always the possibility of romance, butthe various branches of Indians know too much about each other tosurmount the unknowable easily. The approach is prosaic. "Excellent,"said Aziz, patting a stout shoulder and thinking, "I wish they did notremind me of cow-dung"; Das thought, "Some Moslems are very vio-lent."3

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CorruptionCorruption is a major theme (but in this post-Watergate era one mustbe slightly less smug and indignant in his reactions to Afro-Asian corrup-

tion) in both Achebe's A Man of the People and Armah's The BeautifulOnes Are Not Yet Born.I am not a child, my friend. If you work in the same office you can eatfrom the same bowl.4A man who has just come in from the rain and dried his body and put ondry clothes is more reluctant to go out again than another who has beenindoors all the time. The trouble with our new nation-as I saw it thenlying on that bed-was that none of us had been indoors long enough tobe able to say "To hell with it." We had all been in the rain together untilyesterday. Then a handful of us-the smart and the lucky and hardly everthe best-had scrambled for the one shelter our former rulers left, andtaken it over and barricaded themselves in.5Cultural Differences and Oppportunities for MisunderstandingOne of our leading artists had just made an enormous wooden figure of agod for a public square in Bori. I had not seen it yet but had read a lotabout it. In fact it had attracted so much attention that it soon becamefashionable to say it was bad or un-African. The Englishman was nowsaying that it lacked something or other."I was pleased the other day," he said, "as I drove past it to seeone very old woman in uncontrollable rage shaking her fists at the sculp-ture...."

"Now that's very interesting," said someone."Well, it's more than that," said the other. "You see this old wo-man, quite illiterate pagan, who most probably worshipped this very godherself; unlike our friend trained in European art schools; this old lady isin a position to know ...""Quite."

It was then I had my flash of insight."Did you say she was shaking her fist?" I asked. "In that case yougot her meaning all wrong. Shaking the fist in our society is a sign ofgreat honour and respect; it means that you attribute power to the per-son or object." Which of course is quite true.6

SUMMARYCarefully selected films, memoirs, and fiction can be used effectivelyin international business courses to bring to life the most essential featuresof a foreign, less-developed environment. Fiction especially offers a way of

discovering, illustrating, and understanding concepts and features in theenvironment which would be difficult if not downright dull to lectureabout. Films, memoirs, and fiction will make the courses more interestingand meaningful, bring concepts to life on a human scale, and truly broadenthe horizon of teacher and student alike. The following bibliographies arerecommended.

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SUGGESTEDBIBLIOGRAPHYFilms

Documentary FilmsAmerican Samoa: Paradise Lost? (55 min. color, 1969) Produced and di-rected by Dan Klugherzfor NET. The cruel conflict of modernizationand retention of an old but beautifully complete and simple culture isexplored in a kind of paradise.Available rom: NET, IndianaUniversity,Bloomington,Indiana,47401.

BoromSarret. (20 min., black and white) Producedby OusmaneSembene.Young man in DakarSenegal squeezedbetween modern and traditionaleconomies. Availablefrom: New YorkerFilms,43 West61st Street, NewYork, 10023.

The Bougainville Copper Project. (28 min., color, 1972) Establishing a cop-per mine in the Solomon Islands. Availablefrom: Bechtel Film Library,Box 3965, San Francisco,California,94119.Builder to an Age: The Bechtel Organization. (30 min., color, 1971) Theactivities of a huge firm of engineer/contractors. Available from: BechtelFilm Library, Box 3965, San Francisco, California, 94119.The Color Line. (40 min., black and white) About apartheid in South Afri-ca. Available from: Time-Life Films. 43 West 16th Street, New York,

10011.Gandhi's India. (58 min., black and white, 1970) Produced by BBC forIntertel. A retrospective view of Gandhi and the possible implications ofhis philosophy, especially economic philosophy, for development. Availa-ble from: AV Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47401.Guyana: Nation Building. (20 min., color, 1971) NET "Black Journal" film

presents development and decolonization efforts of Forbes Burnham'sGuyana. Struggle with Alcan and Cooperativemovement is stressed.Available from: NET, AV Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indi-ana, 47401.

The Healers of Aro. (28 min., black and white, 1966) A UN InternationalZone film, directed by Ronald Fleher and produced by Diana Boernstein.A story of unique, integrated psychiatric treatment for the mental "casu-alties of development," originated and described by Dr. Lambo, a Nigeri-an psychiatrist in Ibadan. Available from: Contemporary Films/McGrawHill, 330 West 42, New York, 10036.The Heart of Apartheid. (39 min., black and white) About apartheid inSouth Africa. Available rom:Time-LifeFilms,43 West 16th Street,New

York, 10011.

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The Japanese. (58 min., black and white, 1968) Producedfor CBSNews,narratedby Edwin O. Reischauer.Of special interest to internationalbusinessclassesbecause of focus on how a Japanesebusinessmanworks,Japaneseethos, industryand daily (nightly) comingsand goings.Availa-ble from: CBSNews, 51 West 52 Street,New York, 10019.Juggernaut. 28 min., color, 1968) Directedby EugeneBoyko for NationalFilm Board of Canada.Contrastsmodern and traditionalsociety in con-

temporary India by tracing atomic reactor movement to location atRajasthanAtomic ReactorProject. Availablefrom: National FilmBoardof Canada,Box 6100, Montreal3, Canada,or LearningCorp.of America,711 Fifth Avenue,New York, 10022.

Light, Strongand Beautiful. (30 min., color, 1973) Producedand directedby Neil Tardio. About the internationalaluminum ndustry, filmed onfour continents. Emphasison product applicationsof aluminum.Availa-ble from: Kaiser Aluminumand ChemicalCorp., Film DistributionSer-vices, 778 KaiserBuilding,Oakland,California,94604.Men and Money in Action. (45 min., color, 1970) Story and clamor ofinternational banking. Available from: Public Relations Department,Bank of America,Bankof AmericaBuilding,San Francisco,California,94119.North Indian Village. (33 min., color, 1959) Directed and produced byPatricia J. Hitchcock. Traditionalanthropologicalpicture of society in

Khalapur,a North Indian Village. Available from: InternationalFilmBureau,Inc., 332 SouthMichiganAvenue,Chicago,Illinois,60604.On the Way. (31 min., color, 1972) Directed by Kai Reinhardt.Global

scope and complex orchestrationof many factors over time in massiveconstruction projects. Available from: Ingolf Boisen; 4, Melchiorsvej,DK-2920,Charlottenlund,Denmark.Sugarand the Cane. (9 min., color, 1969) Availablefrom: CentronEduca-tional Films, Suite 652, 1255 Port Street, San Francisco,California,94109.Sugar Country. (28 min., color) Descriptionof sugarcane industry n Flori-da. Availablefrom: Mr.BillHunter,SugarCaneLeague,Clewiston,Flor-ida.Sugar in Today's World.(14 min., color, 1968) Available from: CoronetFilms,65 East SouthWaterStreet,Chicago,Illinois,60601.Tauw.(26/2 min., color, 1971)Produced by OusmaneSembenewith largelynonprofessionalcast. In Wolof with Englishsubtitles. A young man incontemporarySenegalis caught in unemploymentbetween modernandtraditionalsocieties. Available rom: Broadcasting nd FilmCommission,NationalCouncil of Churches,475 RiversideDrive,New York, 10027, orNew YorkerFilms,43 West61st Street,New York, 10023.

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Whena ManHungers.(28 min., color, 1968) Directedby ErskineChildersfor Development Support CommunicationService, UNICEF. Develop-ment implicationsof 1967 Biharfamine. Gentle by today'sstandardsofstarvation.Availablefrom: UNICEFnational committees and UN Inter-national Zone distributionagencies.

WhiteAfrica. (40 min., black and white) About apartheid n South Africa.Available rom: Time-LifeFilms,43 West16th Street, NewYork, 10011.FeatureFilms

Bed and Board. (100 min., color, 1970) Directed by FrancoisTruffaut.Portrayscross-culturalproblemsof romance,cuisine, and conversation.Availablefrom: ColumbiaCinematheque,711 Fifth Avenue,New York,10022.Bwana Toshi. (115 min., color, 1965) Directedby SusumiHani. Clash ofJapenese and African culture precipitated by disagreementabout thevalue of work. Toshi, a Japaneseengineer,supervisesAfricanconstruc-tion crew in erection of prefabricatedhouse. Availablefrom: Audio/Brandon Films, Inc., 34 MacQuestenParkwaySouth, Mount Vernon,New York, 10550.

PlantationBoy. (85 min., black and white, 1965) Based on Jose LinsdoRego's novel about beginningsof industrialization n Brazil'sNortheast.Available from: New Yorker Films, 43 West 61st Street, New York,10023.

Sambizanga.(102 min., color, 1972) A black Africanversion of "Z." Ter-ror, immorality,and struggle n one of the last formalcolonies. Availablefrom: New YorkerFilms,43 West 61st Street,New York, 10023.Walkabout.(95 min., color, 1971) Directed by Nicolas Roeg. Aboriginal

teenagersaveslives of white teenage girlandheryoungerbrotheragainsta strongcurrent of intercultural mpasse.Available rom: FilmsIncorpo-rated,98 W.JacksonStreet, Hayward,California,94544.

Film BibliographyFilms in a ChangingWorld.Commentariesby JeanMarieAckermann.Avail-able from: Society for International Development, 1346 ConnecticutAvenue,N.W.,Washington,Districtof Columbia,20036.ThirdWorldFilm List. A selective, briefly annotated istingof ThirdWorldFilms. Availablefrom: Third WorldFirst (3W1), BritwellSalome, Wat-lington, Oxon, England.MemoirsBlythe, Ronald.Akenfield: Portraitof an English Village.New York: Pan-theon Books, 1969. Beautifuldescriptionof an agricultural illage,begin-ningwith a chapterof recollectionsof village ife 50 yearsago.

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Guppy, Nicholas.A YoungMan'sJourney. London: John Murray,1973.Sensitiveyoung botanist does a forest surveyof British Guiana n 1950.Acute observationsof floraand faunaand socialimplicationsof colonial-ism.Laurence,Margaret.New Wind n a Dry Land. New York: Knopf, 1963.Wifeof a civilengineerpresentsaccount of stay in Somalia.Naipal,VidiadharSurajprasad.MiddlePassage.New York:Macmillan,1973.Poses interesting questions about confluence of cultures and history inWestIndies,Surinam,andGuyana.Rego, Jose Lins do. Plantation Boy (Translatedfrom the PortuguesebyEmmi Baum).New York: Knopf, 1966. Recollections of boyhood spenton plantation n the Northeastof Brazil.Spunt, Georges.A Place in Time. London: MichaelJoseph, 1969. Eyewit-ness account of interwarChinavia biographyof Spunt family in Shang-hai.FictionAchebe, Chinua.Arrow of God. London: Heinemann, 1964. Conflict be-tween old ways and new white man'sways is exploredin the Ibovillages

in EasternNigeria.A Chief Priest'sson, instructedin Christianity,over-zealously destroys a sacred religioussymbol of the village, thus furtherwidening the gap between the Chief and white authority. (Paperboundby Doubleday.)Achebe, Chinua.Manof the People. New York: John Day, 1966. A compli-cated novel which satirizes the ambiguities,corruption,and greedinher-ent in the political developmentof a West African state. Thenarrator,aschool teacher, is introducedto the misuseof power by ChiefNanga,theMinisterof Culture. Eventuallythe protagonist challenges Nangain theelections to Parliament, an election marred by odious corruption.

(Paperboundby Doubleday.)Achebe, Chinua. No Longer at Ease. London: Heinemann, 1960. Nativeborn but educated in England,the hero is trappedby his ambitionsfor arefined life in the higher Nigeriansocial structure.Obi Okonkwofindspersonal tragedy when bribes begin to supplementhis income and out-ward appearanceoutweighs the man within. (Paperboundby Fawcett.)Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: McDowell, Obolensky,1959. Ratherthan a novel of strongplot, this is an evocation of a modeof life, drawn from Nigeriantraditions and folklore. The orderly andrhythmicexistence of Okonkwois fatally toppled when one of his cher-ished sons becomes a Christianand harkens the end to the old order.

(Paperboundby Fawcett.)

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Armah,Ayi Kwei. TheBeautiful OnesAre Not Yet Born. Boston: Hough-ton Mifflin, 1968. One honest voice in a sea of filth andpolitical corrup-tion is the theme worked out in newly independentGhana.The "man" sderidedby his wife for not possessing ife's luxuries-so easilyobtainable.by theft or bribes. The personalintegrity of the protagonist,however,isa vividcontrast to the disintegrationof society andthe fall of Nkrumah.(Paperboundby Macmillan.)Armah,Ayi Kwei. Fragments.Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970. A nativeGhanaian,a "been-to" named Baako,returns o his country only to findthe white bureaucracy ndcorruptionhas been replacedby blackdissem-blance. Baako's disintegration s swift and symbolic. Unableto success-fully balancethe old traditions and new.ambition, Baako'send is tragic.

(Paperboundby Macmillan.)Asturias,Miguel Angel. The GreenPope (translatedfrom the SpanishbyGregoryRabassa).New York: DelacortePress,1970. A centralcharacter,GeorgeMakerThompson,dominates this volatile novel of empirebuild-ing in aCentralAmericanrepublic.Vast bananaplantationsarewrenchedand won by Thompson over the years, who then aspires to installhimself as governor.Asturias,MiguelAngel.Strong Wind Translated rom the Spanishby Greg-

ory Rabassa).New York: DelacortePress,1968. Set in the lush tropic ofa Central Americancountry, this novel condemns the exploitation ofman and the abuse of nature. Bananagrower Lester Meade'spassion,shared by his wife, is the development of harmony between the U.S.company and the nativegrowers-a utopian plan never obtained and inthe end annihilated.Brook, Ian.Jimmy Riddle. New York: Putman, 1961. Writtenby a formerBritish colonial official, the novel irreverentlyexamines the pitfalls of

colonial rule as well as the mixed blessingsthat independence bringstoan Africannation.Caute, David.Decline of the West.New York:Macmillan,1966. Wealthy nnaturalresources,a young African state named Coppernica the Congo)faces the overthrowof its inexperiencedgovernmentby a powerfulgroupof French and Americanentrepreneurs.Charhadi,Driss ben Hamed.A Life Full of Holes (A novel tape-recordedn

Moghrebiand translated nto Englishby PaulBowles).New York: GrovePress, 1964. Unique translationof tapes which tells of a young Moroc-can's daily strugglewith life. Ahmedis rejectedby his stepfatherwhenhis mother remarries,and from that time on his stringof menialoccupa-tions barely wards off starvation.Hisjob as housekeeperto a Europeanhomosexual further develops the atmosphere of degradation. (Paper-boundby Grove.)

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Edqvist, D. Black Sister (Translatedby Joan Tate). Garden City, NewYork: Doubleday, 1963. Underthe effective guise of a murdermystery,this novel probes the manyfacets of white-blackrelationshipsn Tangan-yka (Tanzania).After an Englishwomans murdered,a naturalsuspectisBlackSister,an Africanschoolmistress.

Ekwensi, Cyprian.Beautiful Feathers. London: Hutchinson, 1963. Set inLagos, Nigeria,the sharpconflict betweenthe protagonist'spersonalandpublic life is explored. London educatedpharmacistWilsonrisesrapidlyin Nigerian politics with the founding of his own party, the NigerianMovementfor Africanand MalagasySolidarity, only to be despisedandeventuallyabandonedby his wife.

Estival, G. Gap in the Wall. New York: Knopf, 1963. Frenchand Islamicculturesclash as a young Arab-Algerian irl returnshome from a Frenchlycee after completingthe ninthgrade.Condemned o days spent behindthe courtyardwall, the girl seeks to escape only to be engulfedby mis-understanding ndtragedy.

Forster, E. M. Passage to India. New York: Grosset, 1924. Account ofconfrontation of cultures in pre-Independence ndia. A literary classic.(Paperboundby HarcourtBraceJovanovich.)Fuentes, Carlos.Where he Air Is Clear(Translatedby SamHileman).New

York: I. Obolensky, 1960. This novel pieces togethera vibrantmosaic ofmodern Mexico. Essentially by using flashback nsight into the motiva-tions of the characters,the book comments on the apparent nertia ofMexico's middle class in furtheringthe country's revolution. (Paper-boundby Farrar,StraussandGiroux.)Garcia-Marquez, abriel.No One Writes o the Colonel.New York:Harperand Row, 1968. A collection of shortstorieswhichessentially depict thepoverty-ridden xistence of people in the town of Macondo n Columbia.Ghose, Zulfikar.TheMurderof Aziz Khan.New York: John Day Company,1967. An involved plot of socioeconomic intrigue and murderset inPakistan. The Shah brothersplot to gain possessionof Aziz Khan's cot-ton farm n orderto expandtheir own empire.Milltown life andways ofthe newly richin Pakistanaredescribed.Hersey, John. Single Pebble. New York: Knopf, 1956. Americanengineerencounters an inscrutable culture in his survey of the Yangtze River.(Paperboundby Bantam.)Icaza, J. Huasipungo: The Villagers(Translationby BernardM. Dulsey).Carbondale:Southern IllinoisUniversityPress,1964. Theexploitation ofthe Ecuadorian ndian n the face of capitalistictreachery s the theme. Acontrast is drawn between the avaricious andownerPereiraand the suf-

fering degradationof one strong-willedhuasipunguero. PaperboundbySouthernIllinoisUniversityPress.)

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Laurence,Margaret.ThisSide Jordan. New York: St. Martin'sPress,1960.A Ghanaian eacher belonging to two worlds is caught in a programofAfricanizationdirected from abroad just before the Gold Coast is tobecomeGhana.Nativetraditionswar with growingcommercialismwithinthe protagonistandwithin the countryas a whole.Markandaya,Kamala(Mrs.KamalaTaylor). The CofferDams. New York:John Day, 1969. The sweep of technological change in India is broughtinto focus through the building of a dam, a job not without greathin-drancesand tragicmishaps.The Britishcontractor'swife growsin appre-ciation of the traditions of the villagersand provides a touchstone toIndia'sancient customs. (Paperboundby Fawcett.)Naipal, VidiadharSurajprasad.Miguel Street. New York: VanguardPress,1959. Sketches of street life in Port of Spain, Trinidad,emphasizethateccentric androguishelements of characterarecommonplace.Naipal, Vidiadhar Surajprasad.Mimic Men. New York: Macmillan,1967.Within the stream of "commonwealthliterature" this book is in theformat of memoirs of an exiled politician who has toppled fromwealthandpowerin a BritishCaribbeanprotectorate.Naipal, VidiadharSurajprasad."One Out of Many,"In a Free State. New

York:Knopf, 1971, pp. 25-61. Washington,D. C. viewedthrougheyes of"primitive" ndianservantposted to the U.S. with his master.Narayan,R. K. The Vendorof Sweets. New York:VikingPress,1967. Thegenerationgap providesthe viable theme for facingchangein India. ForJagan,a sweetshop owner in south India, the challengeof changecomeswhen his son arrivesback from the U.S. and attempts to involve hisfatherin a capitalisticscheme.Ousmane,S. God's Bits of Wood.New York: Doubleday, 1962. Based onfact and written from experience, the novel pivots around a railroadstrike in FrenchWestAfricain 1947. Recurrent s the theme of aliena-tion andstresswhich technologicaladvancesbring.Slimming,John. The Pepper Garden.Philadelphia:Lippincott, 1968. TheBritishmanagerof a rubberestate faces severalguerilla nsurgencies,bothin Malaya and Sarawak.In the first uprising,his Eurasianmistress ismurdered,andin the secondhis Chineseboy-servantoins the revolution-

aries,with tragicconsequences.Theroux,Paul.Girlsat Play. Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 1969. Fiveethnical-ly variedfemaleschoolteachers hrown nto an isolatedenvironmentpro-vides materialenough for a volatilestory. Add to this the dilapidationofthe Kenyabush country which permeatesall aspects of mindandspirit,and tragicconsequencesareinevitable.

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Tutuola, Amos.Ajaiyi andHis InheritedPoverty. London: Faber,1967. AnAfrican folklore fantasy which comes full circle,beginningat impenetra-ble povertyandendingin a state of idealChristian ommunism.Vaid, KrishnaBaldev.Steps in Darkness.New York: OrionPress,1962. Thesubjectmatteris familiar:a poor Indianfamilystruggles or survivaln aneven more wretched town. The perspective,however, is throughthe be-wildered and maturingeyes of a small child. (Paperboundby InterCul-

ture.)Vargas-Llosa,Mario. The Green House (Translatedfrom the SpanishbyGregory Rabassa.)New York: Harperand Row, 1968. The charactersand events reflect a broad scope of Peruvian ociety. Emphasized s thealliance between soldiers and churchmento subjugatethe Indians andthe exploitation of human beingsin the next lower social scale. (Paper-bound by Avon.)Yanez, Agustin. The Edge of the Storm (Translatedby Ethel Brinton).Austin Texas: Universityof Texas Press, 1963. The storm of Mexico'sRevolution (1910) finds stubbornresistance n a small, tradition-bound

village in the state of Jalisco.The old social orderof priest-landowner-politician begins to disintegrate,however, in the face of painful humanliberation.(Paperboundby Universityof TexasPress.)

Footnotes1. NicholasGuppy,A YoungMan's ourney(London:JohnMurray,1973), p. 66.2. ChinuaAchebe,A Manof thePeople (NewYork:JohnDay, 1969), p. 13.3. E.M.Forster,A Passage o India(NewYork:Grosset,1924), pp. 266-267.4. Aki Kwei Armah,TheBeautifulOnesAre Not Yet Born (Boston:I-oughtonMif-flin, 1968), p. 29.5. Achebe,A Manof thePeople,p. 34.6. Ibid.,pp. 4748.

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