“Sacred Rice” by Joanna Davidson looks at how people respond to changes in their environment, especially when that change is the loss of a critical resource. For the people of the Jola located in Guinea Bissau that critical resource is rice “our money is rice, rice is our life” (Davidson). Rice was once the most important aspect of their tribes. It was used as food, in ceremonial rituals, clothes were fashioned from the stalks, and it was also used for burial rites. Then it stopped raining as much as it had and the Jola people were unable to grow the rice as they had before.
Davidson tells the reader of the problems that are affecting the people of Jola, by telling the story of AmpaBadji and his family. For Davidson AmpaBadji is a good source of information because he has lived through a number of vital events in the country’s history, such as the death of Portuguese colonialism, which was achieved after an eleven-year long war for independence. He has also seen the resulting changes in the political atmosphere as the country still struggles to establish who they are in the wake of their independence. He has also been witness to the arrival of missionaries and education. He is also one of the oldest Jola people and he is able not only to remember key events of his own life, but to act as a source of information into the lives of his parents and grandparents. Sacred Rice examines the ways in which the Jola farmers are dealing with the changes that have effected their ability to grow rice, a crop that was once the mainstay of the Jola diet as well as an important part of their society in general.
One of the biggest problems the relationship between knowledge and practice. The Jola is knowledgeable about the changes in the environment and how they affect the growth of crops. For the Jola knowing what the problem is not the same as addressing it or addressing it wisely. Organizations such as New Green Revolution in Africa are trying to implement methods to help eradicate Africa’s poverty. Davidson believes that the Green Revolution does not take into account the prior attempts to eradicate poverty in Africa’s past, nor do they take into account how “larger colonial and postcolonial international economic and political systems were among the causes of Africa’s current agricultural problems” (Davidson).
This relates to the global phenomenon of poverty in that it addresses the overarching topic of Sacred Rice which is the way that people respond to alterations in their environment. In the case of the Jola how do they respond to the inevitable issues such as food shortages and poverty that has been brought about by the inability to grow enough rice to feed their people. The New Green Revolution is pertinent to the Davidson’s argument is that the organization is one way that poverty in Africa is being addressed and the problems that may arise if the issue of poverty is not addressed in a way that is best for the Jola people.
Davidson looked at the effect that the mounting difficulty in growing rice has had on the region. She has studied various ways in which the Jola society could improve their rice growth. She, however does not believe that the best course of actions is to put the policies and methods of the Green Revolution in Africa in place. Instead, she feels that an agrarian approach is the best way for the Jola to be able to produce enough rice to feed their people
Works cited
Davidson, Joanna. Sacred Rice: An Ethnography of Identity, Environment, and Development in Rural West Africa. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
