Uganda: An Annotated Bibliography of Source Materials (with Particular Reference to the Period since 1971 and up to 1988). By Cherry Gertzel. London: Hans Zell, 1991. 328 p. ISBN 0–905450–83–3. $78.00.
Librarians, watch out! This is definitely not a conventional subject bibliography, its title notwithstanding. Rather than a list of material covering all aspects of a particular period of Uganda's history, it is a personal compilation, reflecting the patterns of research and teaching of a political scientist whose lifetime study has been the post–colonial state in Africa and in Uganda in particular. It therefore includes not only sources relevant to the politics of the Amin and post–Amin years, but also material that the author has found relevant to understanding present–day politics in Uganda and to charting continuity and change from the colonial to post–colonial state.
Within this subject context, the bibliography lists mainly published primary and secondary sources in the English language to a cutoff date of 1988. For the colonial period to 1962, the bibliography is not intended to be exhaustive; from 1962 to 1971, the period of the first Obote government, the bibliography is fuller but still reflects the author’s interest in understanding the Amin regime in its historical context. From 1971 onward, the author has included all material that she has been able to locate. The bibliography is organized by type of material (bibliography; primary publications — government publications and reports, international organization publications, material published by Ugandan political parties and human rights organizations, pamphlets published in Uganda, documents from Makerere University; secondary publications — books and chapters in books, articles and conference papers, occasional papers, theses, newspapers, and periodicals). If the material allows, it is then grouped into periods: pre–1962, 1962–1971, 1971–1979, and 1979 onward. In total there are 2,062 entries; of these, some 450 are primary sources for the Amin and post–Amin years, and 650 are secondary sources for the same period. An alphabetical subject index concludes the volume. Bibliographic details (where available) are given, and a short descriptive annotation follows many of the entries. Layout is simple and clear.
The volume is prefaced by an excellent essay that explains the structure of the bibliography, critically reviews the primary and secondary sources, and finally examines the value of the material for explaining the political economy of Uganda.
I would have preferred fuller indexes, differentiating between individuals, geographic names, and subjects; the choice of subject indexing terms and their application also requires rationalization. One of the pluses of this bibliography is its idiosyncratic nature; yet I would have liked to read fuller annotations, which not only described but also gave Professor Gertzel’s opinions. I am surprised that the author does not mention using the Library of Congress Accessions List, Eastern Africa. Since 1967, this publication has listed material produced in Uganda. Certainly her checklist of newspapers and periodicals would be augmented both in number and publication history by consulting the Annual Serial Supplement.
As bibliographic control becomes more universal, it is often maintained that the discrete subject bibliography has had its day. Gertzel’s work proves the opposite — so long as the entries are not available through other bibliographic tools and so long as the compiler does not just list but also interprets and assists in the study of the subject. Certainly no one wishing to understand recent Ugandan history should proceed further without consulting this work. I only wish that similar scholarly bibliographies were available for other countries in Africa.
Diana Rosenberg is Dean, Faculty of information Sciences, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. She has an M.A. from Oxford University, and is a Fellow of the Library Association. She worked as a librarian in London, Leicester, and Bristol, before joining the Tanzania Library Service in Dar es Salaam. For ten years she was University Librarian, University of Juba, Juba, Sudan. Dean Rosenberg’s research interests include the history of African libraries, information retrieval, and library education. She was featured in a "personality interview" in the latest African Journal of Library, Archives & Information Science. Mrs. Rosenberg was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1988.
© 1992 Rosary College