Regional Analysis and Regional Planning: Recent Books

Abstract

An interest in the spatial of society has long been the province of geographers. Recently, scholars in other fields have been applying geographical models and concepts in their own studies. (See, for example, Howard (1976) on the usefulness of spatial analysis in African economic history.) The books under review indicate various ways in which geographical concepts of space and region are currently being used. That by geographers Obudho and Waller represents an application of the concept of region to the problems of development planning. The two volumes edited by Smith, on the other hand, utilize spatial frameworks in very broad way to examine many aspects of social and economic systems. Smith's book indicates the current directions of group of scholars-mainly anthropologists-who began by studying periodic marketing systems as spatial systems and who have now moved on to the examination of other aspects of social systems from spatial perspective. Much of their work was stimulated by Skinner's (1964-65) work on marketing systems in China; Skinner's work in turn was based on models from economic geography, primarily central-place models. The first of the volumes, Economic Systems, is primarily concerned with marketing systems, while the second, Social Systems, considers institutions such as political, religious, and kinship systems. The interest in geographical models among anthropologists stems in part from concern with finding ways to link village-level studies with analyses of national and regional systems. Thus, Smith argues that the regional approach provides a method for integrating the microperspective with the macroperspective-a coherent framework for understanding how local communities are linked to others forming intermediate and higher levels of social organization (1976: II, 4). Smith's two volumes are of considerable interest for those concerned with studying traditional economic organization, marketing systems, and economic development, as well as for those interested in other issues where regional approach might be useful, such as urbanization and, as Smith argues, stratification. The major weakness in the volumes from an Africanist's point of view is the scarcity of cases dealing with Africa. Two articles in Volume I focus on Africa; otherwise there are scattered references to applicability to African data, but no extended discussion. The lack of material on Africa is especially noticeable in