Black Rice
The book Black Rice by Judith Carney gives a voice to voiceless
population. We rarely read about books
that show a positive image of Africa civilization, especially in the
sub-Saharan countries. Most of the
writings focus on presenting the positive influences of Europe colonization to
the Dark Continent. Black Rice however
opposes that image and projects the African knowledge of agriculture and their
techniques and mythology of rice cultivation as well as their abilities to
accommodate different landscape in West Africa.
Furthermore the author touches on issues such as gender and its role in
agriculture, especially emphasis on the role of female farmers.
I agree
with Tim that the author’s approach to commodity fits our definition of
commodity history by using rice as product.
Also, Carney explains the production process of rice in both in Africa
and America; however the supply and demand chain was not clearly covered. I think that is due to her approach, which
she bases on the fact that slaves were only able to produce rice and their
owners were the ones who control the supply and demand. Not sure that’s what you want to say but I
put in the brackets a little bit of clarification.
Overall
Judith Carney did a great job demonstrating the role of African slaves in
shaping American culture. She gave
agency to the slaves and presented them in away that is contrary to the popular
ideology about the black race. Without a
doubt she proved her argument, however few of her ideas were not very clear as
Ben mentioned about negotiations among slaves and masters, I could not fully understand
what was her point.
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