Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas (review)

Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas. By Judith A. Carney (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 2001) 240 pp. $40.00 cloth $15.95 paper

The genetic structures and geographical locations of crop varieties, and the ecological modifications made for their production, are the signatures of many generations of farmers. Yet, these signatures have often been viewed primarily as biological phenomena, or as the result of the unconscious actions of unknowing farmers. When historians attribute technologies to human ingenuity, however, they often ignore the contributions of women and the underclasses. A major challenge for interdisciplinary agrarian history is to expand the limited view of written sources by integrating with them an understanding of the biology of crop domestication and spread, the ecology of agrarian landscape changes, and the ethnography of indigenous and women's knowledge. Carney's Black Rice is a ground-breaking contribution to this ambitious goal.

Carney presents a radical, compelling, and lucid revision of the conventional history of the Atlantic rice system. First, she reclaims a place for African crops in the so-called "Colombian exchange," by presenting evidence for the role of the "black" rice domesticated in Africa (Oryza glaberrima) in the knowledge system of Africans, and in the introduction of rice cultivation to the Americas. Second, she locates African knowledge in the history of American agricultural development, by presenting evidence for the role of African knowledge systems in the creation of the rice economy of colonial Carolina—including the economic heart of this system, the sophisticated water-control technology for swamp rice production. Third, she presents evidence for the role of Africans in reshaping the terms of their domination by using their knowledge of rice production. Finally, she elevates women's knowledge and practice in the history of Atlantic rice systems, by demonstrating the important roles that African women played in rice production and processing in Africa and the Americas.

Carney relies mostly on primary and secondary historical sources in French, English, and other languages, but includes important information from botanical, archaeological and ethnographical research. She skillfully weaves these data into a compelling revision of the history of the Atlantic rice system, carefully avoiding the essentialism that often tempts revisionists. For example, although the evidence suggests a primary role for Africans in the development of the Carolina rice system, she acknowledges important contributions by white slave owners.

Although Black Rice is a major achievement, important work remains to be done in providing a critical assessment of, and detailed information from, the various disciplinary sources and viewpoints. It would be useful to have (1) a critique of the methods, data, assumptions, and possible alternative conclusions of the historical, botanical, archeological, ethnographical, and other research that Carney cites; and (2) more detailed ethnographical descriptions of Africans' rice cultivation knowledge and practice, of the archeological, botanical, and genetic evidence for its origin and spread, and of the ecological and agronomic aspects of the rice system. For example, she frequently states that African women have "keen awareness of local environments and deep familiarity with rice culture" (50), but she offers little explication about the nature of this knowledge. Nor is it given a context within the important theoretical discussion about the nature of indigenous knowledge in the social sciences. If there is a lack of relevant historical ethnography, she could discuss the matter, and make more use of contemporary ethnography.

Black Rice boldly shows the way forward for an interdisciplinary history of the Atlantic rice system, and for an interdisciplinary agrarian history in general. Readers will be able to see in their plates of rice, in the rice fields of the Americas, and in the historical and contemporary agriculture of the Atlantic basin the signatures of generations of African women and men farmers.