Introduction
Both Judith Carney and Rafael Marquese examine the contribution of African Slaves in the development and production of specific cash crops. Carney believes that the production of Rice in South Carolina is as a result of diffusion of agricultural culture from Africa to Americas. She argues that rice production was the culture of the West Africans far before the Portuguese explorers reached Africa in in the 14th century. Rice was the staple food among most of the West African communities. They used the mangrove swamps to create paddies and used canal irrigation to water the rice. The same methodology was transferred to Americas. Rice production in America during the slave trade was not from the instruction of the masters but was a brainchild of the slaves. By the production of rice and the transfer of their religious culture, the Africans were able to survive in the Americas’ environment. Though slave trade, the labor required to continue with rice production was inadequate. As a result, the production of rice in West Africa declined drastically. Carney says that currently, the rice production in America is credited to the masters.
On the other hand, Rafael Marquese examines the African slave’s contribution on coffee production in Brazil. He acknowledges the African labor contribution but believes that they did not come up with the idea. Even though coffee originated from Africa, the idea of its production in Brazil was brought by the Dutch and the French who borrowed the idea from Islamic counties. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the Marquese’s and Carney’s believe on the African contribution in the production of the two cash crops. The paper will then examine how the African contribution affected their development as slaves and how it affected their cultural and social construct.
The Black Rice. The African Origin of Rice Cultivation in the Americas by Judith A. Carney
Carney carries the basic fact that rice in the Americas and black slavery are two similar realities which are combined by a single unique entity. The only reason why rice found its way to the Americas was nothing other than the presence of the African slaves in America. As a matter of fact, the presence of the rice in the America solely depended on the expertise the African slaves had on rice cultivation. This expertise was as a result of experience they had acquired in their early life in West Africa. Carney barely talks about the white contribution on the rice cultivation in America. The perceived “innovators” are barely mentioned on the towards the end of her book (Carney 162). By naming her book, “the Black Rice” was an indication of the application of oxymoron to connect the availability of rice in Americas with the presence of the black slaves. Rice is white, and the European Americans are also white. By breaking all these odds and calling the book, black rice, Carney is trying to show the real picture that the availability of rice in America has nothing to do with the whites’ “innovations”. Carney made it appear such that slaves became metonymy for rice and the other way round.
Carney argues that the existence of Rice in America was not as a result of the masters’ technological expertise but the slaves’ expertise and their labor. (Carney 156). She explains the shift in ownership that occurred between the slaves and the masters. The slaves come up with an idea, they labor to make it a reality, then the master takes it and credits themselves with the innovations (Carney 156). Carney reminds us about the complexity of the American rice history. This complexity is partially as a result of the fact that rice cultivation in America lies in a crossroad of numerous disciplines. These disciplines included anthropology, agricultural history, botany and the study of African American culture. In looking at the history of rice in America, one should not focus only on the botanical genealogy. This will focus on where the first seed came from, how it was transported from the its origin to America and how rice was grown in the ancient period of the New World. Rice is now the backbone of South Carolina Economy. It is the ingenuity of the African slaves that ensured that the hostile South Carolina wetland was reclaimed and made to become one of the largest producers of rice in the in the Atlantic world (Carney 79-80).
In her book “Black Rice” Carney contends that the only reason why rice found itself in the western hemisphere is because of the African slaves. They are the very people who ensure the physical continuity of the rice production in the region. All the works associated with rice production were done by the slaves. The black selected the seeds, they prepared the land, they constructed canals which were used for irrigation, they did the plantation, they took care of the plants throughout the growth period, they did the harvesting and processed the rice. Carney believes that the history of rice in America is as a result of the transfer of knowledge from Africa to America. The entire cultivation system was diffused from West Africa to the Americas (Carney 165). In the book Black Rice, the concept of agriculture, culture and technology play a paramount role in the story. It explains the African cultural survival and retention in America. This culture retention is evidenced by the food preference and the idea of the provision gardens in South America (Carney 116).
Black Rice takes us to West Africa in the areas which were primarily for rice growing. The book takes us along Niger River and Gambia River where rice was first domesticated. The readers are also taken to the mangrove rice field found in Guinea Bissau. It takes us to where it all started. Before the invasion and the slave trade the African men and women cultivated rice. With the fragile ecological conditions, they were still able to rehabilitate the land and grow rice. After harvesting the African women used pestle and mortar to mill the rice. All these knowledge and technology was in Africa far before Portuguese discovered the West coast of Africa. The Idea of land reclamation, irrigation, cultivation and processing of rice was inside the African culture far before it could be diffused to other places such as South Carolina, Surinam, Cayenne, and Brazil.
When the first Portuguese voyage landed in West Africa in the 14th century, they discovered that rice cultivation had started long ago in Africa. The early European explorers confirmed that rice plantation in West Africa was of the most unique technique. This is the very technique which is currently used by all the rice growers all over the world. They witnessed mangrove rice plantation. In the mangrove swamps, the paddies and the canals were created. The rice was planted in the paddies while the canals were used for irrigation. The African ecosystem composed of three different climatic regions, the flood plains, the rain-fed uplands and the inland swamps. All these ecosystems were used to cultivate and produce rice. The cultural aspect of rice cultivation in West Africa remained more or less the same. The gender division of labor in the production of rice differed from one point to another; however, the cultivation and cooking process remained the same. Through slavery, all the idea of rice production moved to America. Rice become one of the biggest American exports. At the same time, the production of rice in West Africa declined drastically due to the depletion of labor resulting from slave trade. At this point, the African contribution towards rice production was denied.
Carney gives us the origin of rice domestication in Africa. For a long time, the only notion was that rice originated from Asia and spread over to the whole world. However, when Auguste Chevalier and other French botanists did a research in the West Africa, they realized that there was an independent origin of rice domestication in the region. The archeological site was at the Inland Delta of the Niger River. This was the point where rice domestication started in Africa. Due to territorial and political upheavals, the idea of rice domestication spread to other parts of Western Africa. Carney compares the mangrove swamps of the West Africa with the climatic condition of South Carolina. She believes that there are striking similarities between the two ecosystems (Carney 59). The reason why the Slaves survived in the Atlantics was not just because they retained their religious belief, but also because they retained they staple food (Carney 80-81). The slaves also survived the geographical locational change due to the similarities between the African mangrove and the South Carolina Ecosystem. Carney argues that the rice production in South Carolina is definitely as a result of knowledge transfer from the African slaves to the other Americans. Even the gender distribution in rice production and processing in South Carolina was a replica of what was happening in west Africa. However, the European Americans have always on white “innovation” in rice production.
African Diaspora, Slavery, and the Paraiba Valley Coffee Plantation Landscape: Nineteenth-Century Brazil; by Rafael Marquese
In his work, Marquese demonstrate the origin and the process of coffee production in Paraiba Valley, Brazil. In the 19th century, Paraiba do Sul River valley become the world’s biggest producer of coffee. This was as a result of the labor they obtained from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. More than 450, 000 African slaves were taken to Brazil between 1811 to 1830 (Marquese 195). These slaves formed the labor force that pushed the level of coffee plantation in Brazil. They were physically involved in the process. They did the preparation of the land, cultivation, and harvesting of the coffee berries. They also built farm structure that hosted the slaves and were also used as the storage structure. Some of these structures are still standing in Paraiba do Sul River valley.
Marquese believes that African had a hand in the development and production of coffee in Brazil. They formed the direct labor that ensured that ensured that the production process was continuous. However, the Africans have no innovative contribution on the production of coffee. All they did was to work under the supervision of their masters. Marquese supports has statement by saying that during the period there was continuous slave revolutions, as a result, the production processes were never left on the hands of the slaves because this would jeopardize the process. He believes in Carney’s postulation that the rise production was a brainchild of the African slaves. However, he doesn’t believe that the same was with the production of coffee in Brazil. Even though, he believes that there was a close correlation between the slave trade and the coffee production in Brazil. The Regency Law that illegalized slave trade in 1831 created a halt in the production of the of coffee (Marquese 195). This made the coffee farmers to find a way of smuggling slaves into Brazil. Between 1835 to 1850, more than 315,000 African slaves were illegally smuggled into Brazil. This improved the production of coffee once again until the slave trade was totally disbanded in 1850 (Marquese 198).
Marquese noted that Arabic species of coffee was first domesticated in Africa. In the beginning of the 16th century the Ethiopians were growing Arabic coffee in the in the Ethiopian mountains and forests. When the Arab merchants reached Ethiopia, they assimilated the coffee growing culture which they took to the Arabian Peninsula. For two centuries, the production of coffee was monopolized by the Arabs (Marquese 203). Most of the production was done by the peasant Arabs. Due to their mode of production which was restricted the world supply of coffee was below the world’s demand. This prompted the Dutch and French to take the possession of the plant. Their aim was to produce coffee in large scale so as to ensure adequate supply. In the 18th century, coffee production started in Brazil. Due to the need for labor in the coffee fields, the Europeans took some of the slaves to Brazil to provide the necessary labor. At this point, the Trans-Atlantic salve trade was at its peak and the supply of slaves was adequate to provide the labor required in the firms. As a result, Brazil become one of the world’s largest producers of coffee (Marquese 212).
Even though coffee was a product which originated from Africa, the African slaves did not come with the idea. All they did was to provide the necessary labor which was required for its production. It is important to note that Arabica coffee originated from Ethiopia, which is in the Eastern part of Africa. However, most of the slaves which were acquired through Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade were from western Africa. This therefore means that it is possible that most of the slave saw coffee for the first time in Brazil. Their participation in the coffee production in Brazil cannot be gainsaid. When the slave trade was totally abolished, the coffee production, in turn, dropped drastically. An indicator that the production was pivotal on the existence of the African trades.
Compare and Contrast Judith A. Carney and Rafael Marquese
Both Carney and Marquese believed that the African slaves contributed to the development and production of the crops in the respective countries. Carney believes that the African Slaves should get the full credit of rice production in South Carolina. She believes that the whole idea came from came from the slaves. Marquese on the other hand believes that the slaves were instrumental in coffee production in Brazil but the idea was not theirs. He believes that the only role the African slave played was to provide labor to the plantations. The instructions on how to undertake the production process came from their masters.
Carney Argues that domestication of rice first started in West Africa. In the banks of the rivers like river Niger and in the mangrove swamps. The African used to rehabilitate the swamps by creating the paddies and canals. The canals were then used in the irrigation of rice. This process long ago, even before the Portuguese explorers reached East Africa. In the 14th century, the Portuguese explorers confirmed a unique method of rice production in the West Africa. When slave trade started, most of the labor force were transferred to America. They carried with them the skills of rice production. It was this skill which they adopted to produce rice in the Americas. In the 19th century, North Carolina become the world’s greatest producer of rice. They used the same methods and the skills which were used in Africa. During the same time, rice production in Africa decline because a great portion of the labor force was taken as slaves. Currently, the European Americans credit themselves with the domestication of rice in America avoiding the truth that rice production in America was the brainchild of the African Slaves.
Marquese, on the other hand, acknowledges the fact that coffee production started in Africa. In his case he tries to prove that the Arabica species of coffee was first grown in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians grew coffee in small scale. When the Arab merchants reached Ethiopia, they copied the production of coffee. For a long time, the Islamic countries monopolized the production of coffee. However, the production was done by the peasants leading to small scale production. When the Dutch and the French took the idea, they transferred it to the European countries. This is how the idea of coffee production reached Brazil. The only role of the African slaves was to provide labor. This shows that both Marquese and Carney believe that the African slaves contributed to the large production of rice and coffee in America and Brazil Respectively. The only difference is that Carney believes that the whole rice idea came from the slave. Marquese on the other hand believes that the African slaves only offered the necessary labor for coffee production.
The Socio-cultural Impact of the African Slave Participation in the Production of Rice and Coffee
Rice production was an idea of the African slave. Rice was their staple food. During the slave trade, their masters were ware that they could produce rice. For that reason, a large number of African Slaves were taken to areas favorable for rice plantation. These areas had almost similar climatic and ecological conditions of Africa. This gave them easy time in adapting to the geographical change. They also got the opportunity to produce their staple food. This was an avenue where they could exercise their socio-cultural activities. They maintained the process of production and the gender based division of labor in the production process. Apart from just carrying their religious culture to America, the African slave carried their social culture of rice production and consumption. This gave them a better opportunity of adopting to the new environment and, somehow, preserving their culture. The slaves who went to Brazil did not get the same opportunity. Therefore, they were easily assimilated into the new culture.
References
Cox, Edward L., and Judith A. Carney. "Black Rice: The African Origin of Rice Cultivation in the Americas." (2003): 295-297.
de Bivar Marquese, Rafael. "African Diaspora, Slavery, and the Paraiba Valley Coffee Plantation Landscape: Nineteenth-Century Brazil." Review (Fernand Braudel Center) (2008): 195-216.
