Title: Pathbreaking studies in African social history
Review: Much of this work was published before as book chapters or articles in scattered and sometimes hard-to-find scholarly journals, but it is very handy to have them collected here. Wright helped pioneer the study of African women's history, and such chapters as "Women in Peril" (complete with four first-person life histories), "Bwanikwa" and "Justice, Women and the Social Order" still repay close attention. The essays on slavery expand our understanding of the often vague boundaries marking that hazardous status, and the special vulnerability of female slaves, particularly the ways in which kinship idioms worked against them. Her more specialized collection is also worthwhile: M.J. Hay and M. Wright eds., "African Women and the Law: Historical Perspectives." N.B. In the context of this work, East-Central Africa includes Zambia, southern Tanzania and southern Zaire/Congo.
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