Dr Vera Bührmann has become widely known to the international community of analytical, psychologists in the last decade with her work on South African indigenous healing. However, within the professional circles of her native country, South Africa, she has been a well-known personality for a very long time—mainly as a teacher and supervisor of psychodynamic psychotherapy, as a champion of child mental health and as an expert on black African psychology. Being the only Jungian analyst (until recently) in the whole of the African continent, Dr Bührmann is, above all, renowned for introducing Jungian thinking not only within the helping professions but also among South African social scientists at large.

It is important to note that this book is addressed to the South African public and it should, therefore, be examined within this context. Another important consideration is that the book is addressed to the ‘non-specialist reader’ who, as Dr