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The Role of African Rice and Slaves in the History of Rice Cultivation in the AmericasAuthor(s): Judith A. CarneyReviewed work(s):Source: Human Ecology, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp. 525-545Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4603297.
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Human
Ecology,
Vol.26,
No. 4, 1998
The Role of
African
Rice and
Slaves in
the
Historyof Rice
Cultivation
in
the Americas
Judith A. Carneyl
Thispaper presents
the botanical
and historical evidence or
the role of
African
rice
(O.
glaberrima)
and
slaves in the crop's
introduction
to the Americas
during
the sixteenth
and seventeenth
centuries.
By focusing
on culture,
technology,
and
the environment
the
research
challenges
the perspective
of the
Columbian Exchange
that
emphasizes
the
diffusion
of crops to,
rather than
from
Africa, by
Europeans.
The evidence presented
in
this
paper suggests
a
crucial rolefor glaberrima
rice and slaves
in the introduction
of African
crops
to the
Americas.
KEY
WORDS:
ice;slaves;
echnology ransfer;
Columbian xchange.
If Africa appears
o
have
provided
ittle for other
continents,
t is because
Africa
is
only just beginning
o be known.
Porteres,
1970,p. 43)
INTRODUCTION
A
recent
National
Research
Council
(NRC) book,
Lost
Crops of
Africa,
drawsattentionto the potentialof the continent's ittle-knownndigenous
crops
for
improvingregional
and
global
food
supplies.
Featured
promi-
nently
among
the
2000
native
grains,
roots,
and fruits
utilized as food
sta-
ples
is
African
rice
(Oryza
glaberima),
the
great
red rice
of the hook
of
the
Niger (1996,
p. 17).
One of
just
two domesticated
pecies
of the
Oryza
genus,
glaberima
is
scarcely
known outside
Africa,
and even there has
wit-
nessed steady replacement
this
century by higher-yielding
Asian sativa
va-
rieties. Compared
to
the Asian
species,
glaberima
is characterized
by
its
red
hulls,
small
size,
smooth
glumes
and
tendency
o break
in mechanized
milling.
Because
glaberima
does not
readily
cross with
sativa,
the African
'Department
of
Geography,
255 Bunche
Hall,
UCLA,
Los
Angeles,
California 0095-1524;
e-mail:
525
0300-7839/98/1200-0525$15.00/0
?
1998
Plenum
Publishing Corporation
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526
Carney
rice's greater
tolerance to
salinity,
drought,
and flooding is receiving in-
creasingplant
breeding attention
(Sano, 1989;Harlan, 1995;
NRC, 1996).
Yet despite its plant breeding
potential, there are other
compelling
reasons for a research ocus
on
glabenima.
A review of the
botanical,his-
torical,
and geographical iterature
on the
history
of rice cultivation
n the
Americasmayhold
the clue to issues meriting
additional esearchattention,
namely that: (i) glabemima
may have served as the initial
rice grown in
many regionslocated along
the western rimof the Atlantic
basin; and (ii)
West African slaves, familiar
with the techniques
of its cultivation,played
a crucial role in adapting he crop to diverseNew Worldenvironments.
This overviewof rice history
n
the Americasraises several
ssues that
bear
on
prevailingconceptions
of
the ColumbianExchange, he period
of
unparalleled
ropexchanges
rom
the
sixteenth hrougheighteenth cen-
turies. Scholarship
on the Columbian
Exchange
has
long emphasized the
economically
valuable
crops
of
American,Asian,
and
European
origin;
the
role of Europeans
n
their
global
dispersal;
and
thus,
the diffusionof
crops
to,
rather
than
from,
Africa
(Jones, 1959;
Ribeiro, 1962;
Miracle, 1966;
Crosby,
1972; Kloppenburg,1990).
The
slight
attention accorded African
crops
in
this
scholarship
s related to two factors: he minor role of African
domesticates
ike
okra,cowpeas,yams, pearl
millet,
and
sorghum
n
food
and
plantation
economies,
and
the
longstanding
belief that rice was
solely
of Asian origin.
Recent
historical
researchon the
beginnings
of rice cultivation n the
U.S.
South,however,
challenges
he view that Africacontributed ittle more
than
labor to
the
agricultural
istory
of the Americas
(Wood,
1974a;
Lit-
tlefield, 1981; Hall, 1992;
Rosengarten,
1997).
In
extending
the
emphasis
on
rice
history
to
Latin
America,through
a
preliminaryntegration
of
bo-
tanical
and
historical
materials,
his
paperprovides
additional
support
for
the argument hat
glaberima
and slavesplayeda crucialrole in the expan-
sion
of rice
cultivation
n the
Americas
during
the
early period
of
the At-
lantic
slave
trade.
In
so
doing,
this article
directlyengages
broader
issues
of
technology
transfer, ndigenous
knowledge,
and the
agency
of slaves
in
adapting
a
preferreddietary
staple
to
diverseNew World
environments.
The
paper
is
divided
into
four
parts.
The first section
addresses
bo-
tanical
scholarship
on
rice
origins,
with
emphasis
on the
discoveryduring
the
twentieth
century
that
rice domesticationoccurred n West
Africa
in-
dependently
of
Asia, long
viewed as
the sole center of the
plant's
domes-
tication.
The
next section
shifts
to the U.S. where historical
and
historical-geographicalesearch rom the 1970sfirstclaimedAfricanagency
in
adjusting
rice cultivation
o the South Carolina
swamps,
the
crop
that
sustained
he
South'smost
lucrative
plantation
economy.
The third
section
focuses on
the role of the
Cape
Verde Islands
as a
pioneeringagricultural
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Rice
Cultivation in the Americas
527
M A
U
R I
TA
N
I A
MALI
SECONDARY
PRIMARY
CENTER
I
H A
X
* .S
~~~~N I
G E
R
THEGAA
GUINE
IN
K
FASO'.'
BISSAU G
AEN
S
~lERA
Atatc
Ocea
Fig.
1. Indigenous African rice
domestication
area.
experiment station for African crops and as an entrepot for the diffusion
of rice
to
Brazil. The last section
presents
the botanical
and historical evi-
dence
for an
early presence
of
glabemima
rice
in
the
Americas.
BOTANICAL SCHOLARSHIP
ON AFRICAN RICE
Domestication
of African
rice occurred more than
3000
years ago
in
the
region
from
Senegal
to the
Ivory
Coast, long
before
any navigator
from
Java or
Arabia
could
have introduced
rice to
Madagascar
or the East
Af-
rican
coast (Fig. 1) (Porteres
1976;
NRC, 1996,
p. 23).
From
the
eighth
to
the sixteenth
centuries
Arab and
European
commentaries
mention
rice cul-
tivation
along
the
inland delta of
the
Niger
River
and the
West African
coast
as
well as
the
frequent purchases
of
surpluses by
Portuguese
mariners
(Ribeiro,
1962; Lewicki, 1974;
Littlefield, 1981; Brooks,
1993). During
the
Atlantic
slave
trade
rice
surpluses
contributed
to
provisioning
slave
ships
bound
for
the Americas
(Carney,
1996a,b).
Yet, despite
numerous com-
mentaries
on West
African rice from
the earliest
period
of
contact,
well
into the
twentieth century
scholars routinely
assigned rice an Asian
origin,
and attributed
its
diffusion to Africa to Arab and
Portuguese
traders
(Rochevicz, 1932; Ribeiro, 1962; Grime, 1976). As a result of the bias in
scholarship,
researchers
failed to consider the
indigenous
knowledge base
of African
rice
production
systems
and its
potential
linkage to the
cereal's
appearance
in the Americas.
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528
Carney
Linnaeus 1707-78) registered
only the Asiansativarice in his botanical
classification f the Otyza pecies,a
positionuncriticallyollowed n 1866 by
de Candolle 1964) n his compendium
n the originof cultivatedplants.The
Asian origin of rice remained
unquestioned ven with the earliestbotanical
collectionsof ricein WestAfrica
during he nineteenth entury.Frenchbota-
nist Leprieur attributed he rice
collections he made in Senegal between
1824-29to the sativaspecies as did
EdelstanJardin,who collectedrice from
islands
off
the coast
of
GuineaBissau n
1845-48 (Chevalier, 937a;
Porteres,
1955a).
But an
examination
of the
Jardin
collection by Moravianbotanist
Steudel ed himto conclude n 1855that the samplesrepresenteda rice spe-
cies
distinct from Asian
sativa,
which
he
named
Oryza laberima for its
smooth
hulls.His
research,however,
topped
short
of
arguing hatglaberima
was of African
origin.Only
at
the turn of
the
centurydid botanistsworking
in the FrenchWestAfricancolonies
suspectan Africanoriginfor the wide-
spread
cultivationof
a
red-hulledrice with
distinctive
haracteristics. his
suspicion
ed to the
discovery
f Steudel's
research onducted
half a century
earlier,
and
a
reexamination
f
the
Leprieur
herbarium
ollection,whichalso
showed
the
presence
of
glaberima (Porteres,1955a).
As
the French
began advancing
he
hypothesis
or
an
indigenous
West
African rice from
1914,
research nterest in
glaberima lagged
within the
international
cientific
community Chevalier
and
Roehrich, 1914;
Cheva-
lier, 1932; Rochevicz, 1932;
Chevalier,1936, 1937a,b;Viguier, 1939).
The
noted Russian
geneticist
Vavilov
1951),
for
instance,
whose
pathbreaking
research
on
indigenous
centers of
plant
domestication
eceived
widespread
attention
n
the
1920s,
made no mention of
glaberima,
assigning
ice
solely
an Asian
origin.
But over
the
following
decadesFrenchbotanists
ncreased he research
momentumon
glaberrima.They
showed that Asian rice had not
yet
reached
the Nile andEgyptduringgeographerStrabo's ime(ca. firstcenturyA.D.),
therebymaking
t
highlyunlikely
hat diffusion
acrossthe Saharacould
ex-
plain
the
widespreadpresence
of rice
in diverseenvironments f the French
Sudan
from the
eighthcentury,
when
it
receives
commentary y
Arab schol-
ars
(Lewicki,1974,p. 34). Strengthening
he
hypothesis
or an African
origin,
botanical
collectionsrevealed everalwild relativesof
glaberima
in West
Af-
rica
without
ocatingany
wild sativas
Rochevicz,1932,p. 950).
While
Frenchscholars
noted a
Portuguese
ole
in
introducing
ativava-
rieties
from
Asia
to
West Africa
during
he
sixteenth
century, hey empha-
sized the
continued
dominance of
glaberima
in the first decades of
colonialism(Chevalier, 1937a,b;Viguier, 1939; Pelissier, 1966; Porteres,
1976).
Their botanical
researchon rice
gained
momentumas
metropolitan
concern
grew
over the
food
shortages
and faminesthat were
accompanying
the
colonial
emphasis
on
exportcrops.
Rice,
cultivatedon
swamp
and
un-
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Rice
Cultivation n the Americas
529
suitable or peanutsandcotton,received ncreasing ttentionas a means to
alleviate
ood crises
(Carney,1986).
Duringthe 1930s the
potential of rice
as an
exportcrop proved
increasingly ignificant
with the establishment f
rice researchstations
throughout he West
African rice zone (Chevalier,
1936;
Baldwin, 1957; Cowen,
1984). The research stations
emphasized
shorter duration
ativa
varietiesmore amenable
o irrigation,
double-crop-
ping and mechanized
milling.Sativa
varietiesproduced
higher yields with
transplanting,
roke less
than
glaberrima
ith
mechanized
milling,and were
whiter
in
color.
Thus,
they
suited
the commercial
bjectivesand consumer
preferencesof potentialEuropeanexportmarkets Chevalier,1936, 1937b;
Grist,
1968).
In
the 1950s, as
sativacultivationwas
steadily displacingglaberrima,
French
botanist
Porteres (1976) identified the
African center
of rice do-
mestication.
Following
methods
pioneeredby
Vavilov,
he
located the
inland
delta of the
Niger
River as the
primary
enter
of
glaberima domestication
with
secondary enters
of the
crop'sspeciation
developing
along floodplains
in
Senegambia
and
under
rainfall
n
the
mountainsof Guinea
Conakry.
By the 1970s he
pioneering
Frenchbotanical esearchwas known
widely
within he international cientific
ommunity,
which
accepted
he
conclusion
that 0.
glaberima
was indeed an
independent
ice
species
of
African
origin.
The
legacy
was
the
publication
n 1974 of
two
pathbreaking
ooks
by
histo-
rians.
Working
n
previously
untranslatedArab references o
West
African
food
systems
during
he Middle
Ages,
Polishhistorian
Lewicki
1974)
docu-
mented the
antiquity
f
indigenous
West
Africanrice cultivation.
During
he
same
year
U.S. historianPeter Wood
(1974a)argued
hat
the
history
of rice
cultivation n
plantations
n South Carolinawas
likely
of African
origin.
AFRICAN AGENCY
IN ESTABLISHING RICE
CULTIVATION
N
SOUTH CAROLINA
Until historian
Wood's
(1974a)
research
on
the evolution of
the rice
plantation
ystem
n colonialSouth
Carolina,
herewas no hint
that rice cul-
tivation
n the U.S.
might
owe
its
genesis
to African
slaves.
Noting
the
ap-
pearance
of rice cultivation
in
tandem with
slavery
from the
earliest
settlement
period(1670-1730),
he
unfamiliarity
f the
colony's
English
and
French
Huguenotplanters
withcultivation
echniques,
nd
glaberrima
omes-
tication
in
West
Africa,
Wood
attributed
he
crucial
skills involved
n
the
plantation icesystem o WestAfricanslavesalready amiliarwith its plant-
ing.2
Rice formedthe
dietary taple
of
millions
swept
nto the
Atlanticslave
2Archival
ommentson rice
cultivation
n
South
Carolinaare evident by
the
1690s (Wood,
1974a).Nothing
suggestsany planter
knowledgeof Asian rice
systems.
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530
Carney
trade,
and the African
rice
regioncontributed
more
than 40%of
the
slaves
delivered
o colonial
South
Carolina
Wood,
1974a;
Richardson,
1991).
Littlefield
(1981)
advanced
Wood's
hypothesis
by drawing
attention
to
the antiquity
of rice
production
n West Africa,
to
European
interest
in
the techniques
of its cultivation
during
the
Atlantic
slave
trade,
and
to
planter
preference
for
slaves
with
rice-growing
xperience.
He
identified
as of African
origin
the
floodplain
rice
cultivation
ystemfound
along
the
Upper
Guineacoast,
where
groups
ike
the Baga
perfected
methods
to
de-
salinate
fertile
mangrove
soils for
rice cultivation.
By enclosing
plots
with
earthenpalisadesor embankments ndconstructingmallcanals,the Baga
could retain
water
on the fields or remove
it through
gravity
low
at low
tides (Littlefield
1981,
pp.
80-98).
As
analagous
echniques
developed
on
Carolina
floodplains,
Littlefieldshowed
that a rice
system
long
attributed
to
planter
ngenuity
was
in
fact
an
important
part
of the
agronomic
heritage
of
slaves
fromthe West African
rice region.
But subsequent
elaboration
of
the
Wood-Littlefield
hypothesis
suffered
from
the
meager
documentation
on
rice history
during
the
early
colonial
period
and the fact
that
accounts
were
written
by
those
who enslaved.Thus,planters
claimed
that they
were
experimentingwith growingrice in multiple environments,a task that
would
in fact
have
been
performed
by
their slaves.
Using
a
perspective
focused on environment
and material
culture,
Carney(1993,
1996a,b)
shifted
researchattention
from
rice as
a cereal to
rice
as a
crop,
a
perspective
which
requires
thinking
about
rice
as a suite
of
distinct
production
systems
with
specific
techniques
of
landscape
ma-
nipulation.
Rice
more
than
any
other
cereal
requires
human
beings
to
act
as
geomorphological
gents
in nature through
the process
of
transforming
swamps
to
productive
paddy
fields. The historical
record
in West
Africa
affirmsat the beginningof the Atlanticslave tradethe existenceof three
major
rice
cultivation
systems
which can
be
distinguished
by
micro-envi-
ronment,
agronomic
practices,
and
techniques
of
soil and
water
manage-
ment
(Carney,
1993,
1996a).
The
existence
of these
three rice
systems-
rainfed,
inland
swamps
and tidal
floodplains-is
documented
in
South
Carolina
by
the
1730s,
withindecades
of the
crop's
ntroduction
o the
col-
ony (Carney
1993, 1996a).3
Typical
of
rice
cultivation
n
Africa
but
not
Asia,
was the absence
of
transplanting
on Carolina
floodplains.
Also evident
were
parallel
tech-
niques
of
production
ike water
control
by
sluices
constructed
rom
hol-
lowed
tree trunks,
a
comprehensive
understanding f tidal ebb and flow
to
prevent
ieldoverflooding
while
enabling
cultivation
n areas
occasionally
3The introduction
f
rice
to South
Carolina
occurred
during
he
1690s
(Salley,
1919).
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Rice Cultivation n
the Americas
531
menaced by saltwater
ntrusion,
and
the
widespreaduse of long-handled
hoes for
weeding (still
used
in
African
rice
farming).4
But rice
could become a
valuedexportcroponlywhen it was
processed
to
remove
the
indigestible
hulls.5Until the advent
of
water-drivenmills dur-
ing
the
second
half of the
eighteenth
century,
ice
millingwas
performedby
hand
in the
Africanmanner
with
a
woodenmortar
and pestle
(Wood,1974b;
Carney,1996b).
The
hulls were
removedthrough
winnowing he cereal in
fanner
baskets,woven in the same
way as those
for analagouspurposes n
the Senegambian ice areaof
West Africa(Rosengarten, 997).6
A focuson theenvironmentalspectsof ricecultivation nd thematerial
cultureof infrastructure
nd
milling
hus
brings
new
insights
o the
recovery
of
perhaps
a
significant
narrative
f the
African
diaspora.
The next section
explores
he crucial ole of the
Cape
Verde slandsas
transfer
oints
of
slaves
and
cropping ystems
betweenWestAfrica and
the
Americas.
THE CAPEVERDEISLANDSAND
AFRICANRICE
There are
several
reasons that
suggest
African
rice
played
an
impor-
tant role
in
establishing
he
crop
in
the Americas.
The first involves a re-
view of the
history
of rice in
the
Cape
Verde Islands while
the
second,
addressed
n the
following
section,
examines he
documented
presence
of
glabenima
n
regions
of Africansettlement
n
the Americas
where cuisines
based
on rice retain
enduring ignificance.
From the mid-fifteenth
entury,
ettlement
of
the
Cape
Verde Islands
and
especially
Santiago,
unfolded amid
an
active trade with West
African
coastal
peoples
for
waxes,hides,indigo,
foodstuffs, alt,
and slaves
(Brooks,
1993, pp. 130,279).
Since
the ninth
century
he littoraland off-shore
slands
4The task laborsystem,
another eature
of
plantation
ice cultivation
n
South Carolina,may
also provide ndirectevidence
or Africanagency
n the crop'sestablishment. his labor
sys-
tem, found
only
on rice
plantations, ssigned
a
daily
ieldtask for completion,
whichfor
the
robust and healthy
could
mean a shortened
abor
day.
In
the more
pervasivegang
labor
system
of
plantation
lavery,
bondsmenworked
daily
from dawn to dusk. The unusual
ap-
pearance
of the
distinctive ask
labor
system
on rice
plantations erhaps
represents
he resi-
due
of a
complexpattern
of
negotiation
n
establishing
Carolinarice
plantations
n which
slaves provided
he
know-how o
grow
rice in exchange
or
circumscribed
emandson their
daily labor (Carney,1993).
5Rice consumption
ependsupon removing
he hull
that
encloses he
grain
withoutbreakage
in the process.
Burkhill
1935ii,
p. 1601)
summarizeshe
problemposed by rice milling
by
comparing
ts
processing
with that
of other cereals:
Europeanmilling machinery
or rice
could not be adaptedsimplyfromthat used for other cereals, for in the millingof wheat
the object
is to
get
the
finest of
powders;
but in
the
millingof rice,
the object is to keep
the
grain
whole as much as
possible.
6Rosengarten
1997, pp. 273-311) argues
hat the
baskets
of native Americans
were plaited
and twilled,
not the
coiled type
subsequently sed for rice winnowing,
whichwas and remains
identical o that
found in the Senegambian ice region.
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532
Carney
14'
8~~~~~
NE
GA
L
M
A L l
GINEA
0
6)
~ ~ ~
G
l
~ ~~~
E
e
l
/ A
16~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'
I'a,
4' PmtL . 4
'e
Fig. 2. Locationof initial European radingnetworkswith West Africanrice societies,
ca.
sixteenthand seventeenth enturies.
of the Upper GuineaCoastfrom GuineaBissau o SierraLeone had served
as an importantrossroadsor the long-distancerade n
salt (Fig.2) (Brooks,
1993,p. 80). Wet rice cultivation upported
hisvast tradingnetwork, ut the
crop only emerged mportant s a tradegood with the arrival f the Portu-
guese. By 1479,the principal thnic groupsof the region-the
Baga, Diola,
Balanta,
Bullorn/Sherbro,
nd Temni-were
alreadymarketing heir dietary
staple to the Portuguese Rodney, 1970, p. 21; Carreira,
1984, pp.
27-28;
Brooks, 1993,pp.
276-296).7
Theirprominence n initialAfrican-Portuguese
tradingnetworks,
however,was not to endure;by the end of the eighteenth
7Thecommercial ingua rancaof this Biafada-Sapiradingnetwork ormed rom related an-
guages of the West Atlantic inguistic roup.The groupsmentioned n the text are charac-
terized by wet rice cultivation, oosely-groupedacephalous societies with weak social
stratification, nimism,
and matrilineal escent
patterns.Early
references o
them appear n
accountsby
Eustachede la Fosse
(ca. 1479),
ValentimFernandes
ca. 1506-10), Andre
Al-
vares de Almada (ca. 1594) and Andre Donelha (ca. 1625) (Rodney, 1970, pp. 6-45, 112;
Brooks, 1993, p. 80, 275-279).
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Rice Cultivation in the
Americas
533
century,hundredsof thousands
of wet rice farmers
had becomecaptivesof
the Atlantic
slave trade (Brooks,
1993, pp. 174,
292-296).
At the
beginningof the sixteenth
entury,Valentim
Fernandes,drawing
upon earlier
mariners'
ccounts,ascribed he
introduction f both rice and
cotton cultivation in
Santiago to the wet rice
area of the Guinea coast
(Ribeiro,1962, p. 147).The
emergenceof a sugar
cane and
grazingecon-
omy on the island
during
this
period
proceeded
in
tandemwith
the culti-
vation of
African domesticates like
yams,
sorghum, millet, rainfed and
swamp
rice
(Brooks,
1993, pp. 139-147; Ribeiro,
1961, pp.
143-145; Dun-
can, 1972,p. 168;Blake, 1977, pp. 91-92).
Thus, by the
sixteenth
century, the initial
period of the
Columbian
Exchange, the
Cape
Verde Islands were
already serving as an
ex-officio
ag-
ricultural
esearch
tationfor
plant
experimentation. uropeans
hips regu-
larlyprovisioned
here for
voyages o the
Americas Ribeiro,1962;
Duncan,
1972;
Brooks,1993).
The
return
voyagesservedto
introduceAmericancul-
tivars, ike maize and
manioc,
to West
Africa,but
these were
preceded by
an active rice
trade,
well
in
place by
1514
(Blake,
1977, pp. 91-92).
Rice
appearson
cargo
lists of
shipsdepartingCape
Verde
in
1513-15
(Ribeiro,
1961, pp.
146-147).
In
1530, just
30
years
after
Cabral
claimed Brazil for
Portugal,a
ship
left
Santiago,
for
Brazil, carrying
rice seed in
its
cargo
(Brooks,1993, p. 149).
In
subsequent
decades other vessels delivered
seed rice to the state
of
Bahia,
an
important
ocus for the
sugar plantationsystem
in
Brazil's
Northeast
(Ribeiro,
1962, pp. 143-144;Duncan,
1972,p. 167).
In
1587,
Ba-
hian
planter,
Gabriel Soares de
Sousa,
noted the
important
role of the
Cape
Verde
Islands or animaland
crop
introductions o Brazil.He attrib-
uted the
widespread
cultivation
of
rainfed
and
swamp
rice to seed rice
brought
rom
Cape
Verde,
while
noting
slave
preference
or
yams
and
foods
of Africanorigin,the use of mortarand pestle for food processing,and
the
triumph
of
African
dietary preferences
among
the slave
population
(Ribeiro,1962, pp.
152-156).
Thus,
several
facts
dating
from the fifteenth
century
raise
questions
about
the
longstanding
iewthat rice
origins
n the Americasderived
solely
from
Asianvarieties.
These
include he
antiquity
f
rice
cultivation
long
the
Upper
Guinea
Coast,
Portuguese
ettlementson African islands and
the
coast that were
dependentupon
African
ood
surpluses,
he
widespread
x-
change
of rice between
West
Africa
and the
Cape
Verdean
archipelago,
nd
its early
cultivationon
Santiago Rodney, 1970, pp.
74-88; Carreira,1984,
pp. 47-62;Brooks,1993,pp. 147, 260).Thisactive rade n riceresulteddur-
ing the sixteenth
century
n
repeateddeliveriesof
rice seed to the
Brazilian
plantation
ector. While
trading
ontactwith
Asia
was
developing
over
this
same
period,
he more
frequent oyages
between he
African
coast and
Cape
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534
Carney
Verde,as well
as their geographical
roximity
o the Americas
uggesta key
role for
African
rice in the crop's
diffusionacrossthe
Atlantic.8
Yet Portuguese
cholarship
mirrored
he generalizedview
that
Africa
provided
ittleof value to
the globalfood
larder Figueiredo,
1926;Ribeiro,
1962).
One leading
Portuguesescholar
assigned
the early cultivation
in
Cape
Verdeof the inferior nd miserable
ood staples,
orghumand
findo
(Digitaria
exilis),
a West African
origin;
however,the more
significantcul-
tivation
of rice
in the
archipelago
and along the
West Africancoast
he
attributed
to
Portuguese
mariners introducing
rice culture from
India
(Ribeiro, 1962, pp. 27, 49). Apparentlyunawareof the French botanical
scholarship
hat was documenting
he existence
of an independent
African
rice species,
Ribeiro's
researchnonetheless
echoed the more generalized
view that
Asian
rice
spearheaded
he
crop's
diffusion
throughout
he At-
lantic
basin.9
But as
the historical
esearch
on South Carolina eveals,
rice
cultivation
depends
upon
knowing
how to mill
the
grain
without
breakage.
n
failing
to
assign
rice
an
African
origin,
Ribeiro
missedan
important
inkage.
Puzzled
by
the early
diffusion
of the
Africanmortarand
pestle
rather han the
Por-
tuguese
hand
mill
for cereal
processing
n both
Santiago
and
Brazil,
Ribeiro
emphasized he suitability f the mortarandpestle for millingsorghum,an
Africancrop (1962,p.
23).
But the
Portuguese
devicewould
permit
sorghum
milling,
although
not
rice. The diffusion
of rice culture
throughout
he
At-
lantic
basin depended
crucially
herefore
upon
an
appropriate
evicefor
its
processing.
Until
the
second
half
of the
eighteenth
century
his was
the
mor-
tar
andpestle,
a
device
that
requires
kill n
striking
he rice without
breaking
the
grain
nto
fragmentsCarney,
1996b).
In not
considering
he African
ori-
gin
of
rice,
Ribeiro
missed
the
significance
f slaves n
diffusing
mortar
and
pestle
processing
echniques
o the Arnericas.10
8Curtin 1984,p. 143), for instance,arguesthat during he periodfrom 1500-1634,only 470
Portuguese
hips
returned
rom
voyages
o the
Indian
Ocean,
less than
four
per
year.
Despite
acknowledgment
f
an
African
ice
species,
he
assumption
hat
Asian
rices displaced
African
varieties
along the
West
African
coast
during
he mid-fifteenth
entury
s
still
widely
held.
However,
Richards
1996,
pp.
211-212)
argues
that
documentation
or
significant
e-
placement
of glabemima
y
sativa rices
is evident only
from
the colonial
period
in the
late
nineteenth
century.
1?During
his
period,
Asian
rice-growing
ocieties
used
several
ypes
of devices
for processing
rice. These
included
the
mortar
and
pestle
as well
as
a
foot-operated
ulcrum
o which
a
pestle
was attached
o one end. Raising
he fulcrum
with the
foot allowed
the
pestle
to
fall
into
a mortar
(namely,
a
hole
in
the
ground
or floor), thereby
removing
he grain's
hulls.
This
device
was widespread
n
Asia
(Grist,
1968,
p. 216a)
and is described
as
being
used
in
Japan
in The Tale
of
the
Genji,
written
about
1000 years
ago.
But the
Asian device
would
not have workedfor processing
laberima
rice which,as the NRC (1996) studydiscusses,
breaks
more
readily
with mechanical
milling.The
potential
for
examining
he
relationship
betweenmigration,
ice
cultivation,
nd the
technology
or
the
crop'smilling
becomes
evident
by contrasting
pecific
ethnic
migrations
f rice farmers
o the
Americas.For example,
n a
rice-growing
egion
of
Belize
where descendants
of
Indian indentured
aborersgrow
rice
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Rice Cultivation
n
the Americas
535
THE
DIFFUSION
OF RICECULTIVATIONO
THE AMERICAS
Botanists
spearheaded
nterest n the historyof rice
cultivation n Bra-
zil. The crop'spresence
so early n the country's ettlement
n fact led
one
Brazilianbotanist,
Hoehne (1937), to claim that rice
cultivationpreceded
the arrival
of Europeans
n
1500. Interpreting
eportsfrom the sixteenth
century
on Amerindianofferings
of rice to the
Portuguese
as evidencefor
its domestication,
ubsequent
esearch howedthat thiswas a wild rice
spe-
cies,
not the
sativahe claimed
(Oliveira,
1993).11While Hoehne's views
on
pre-Columbian ice cultivationprovedincorrect,his work did providein-
dependent
confirmation
or rice cultivation
n
Brazilduring the sixteenth
century,
about a 100
years
earlierthan its sustained
cultivation
n the
U.S.
South.12
Historical
documentspertaining
o Brazil
prior
to the mid-eighteenth
century
make
frequent
reference
to
rice, especially
a red-hulledspecies,
over
a broad
area from the
Northeast to
the Amazon (Primeiro,1818;
Marques,1870;
Chermont,1885;
Alden, 1959;
Nunes
Dias, 1970;
Viveiros,
1895;
Barata, 1973;Hemming, 1987;
Oliveira,1993;
Acevedo, 1997). Red
rice
again
surfaces
in commentaries
during
the second
half
of the eight-
eenthcentury,when a riceplantation ystemdeveloped n the easternAma-
zon
with
backing
rom
metropolitan
apital.
The
objective
was
to
develop
Amazonian
export
markets
o
Portugal
and
thereby
reduce
dependency
on
Carolina
rice
imports
as the American
colonies
headed into
the
Revolu-
tionary
War
(Nunes
Dias, 1970;Acevedo, 1997).
This led to the creation
from
the 1760s
of
tidal-irrigated
ice
plantations
n
the
Amazonianstates
of
Amapa,Para,
and
Maranhao,
he introduction
f
high-yielding
Carolina
white
rice seed
(a
sativa
variety),
water
millsfor rice
processing,
he
import
of
more
than
25,000
slaves
(many
from the
rice-growingegion
of Guinea
Bissau),and,in 1767,the firstexportsof milled rice to Portugal Primeiro,
1818, p. 192; Gaioso,
1970; Klein, 1982).
But the
continued
cultivation
of red rice aroused official
concern. In
a
1772
decree,
the
Portuguese
administration
mandated
a
year's jail
sen-
tence
and
fine for whites
planting
he red
rice and 2
years
of
imprisonment
for
slaves
and
Indians
who did
(Marques,1870, pp.
435-436; Barata,1973;
Acevedo, 1997).
While
the reasons
for this
legal
action
remain
unclear,
t
may suggest
that
the red
variety
was a
glabenima,
whichbreaksmore
easily
in
milling(NRC, 1996)
and when mixed with
the
improvedvariety,
would
alongside
heirAfro-Belizean eighbors,
trikingdifferences
re evident n milling.
The
mor-
tar and pestle
is used
by
the latter,while the former elyupon
the fulcrum
processing
method
knownto
their nineteenth-century
orebears Carney, ieldwork).
This was
likely 0. glumaepatula (Oliveira,
1993).
Rice
was planted n Virginia
n the period
from 1622 to 1647 but
failed to develop nto a
plantation
rop (Gray, 1958, pp. i, 26).
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536
Carney
have resultedin a higher
percentageof broken rice
and thus lower
prices
in European
markets.
Africanrice may also
figure in discussionsof
early varietiesplanted
in the U.S.
South. Guinearice is listed
among the initial varieties
grown
by slaves
n theirgardens
n
South Carolina,
he toponym uggesting
a West
Africanorigin (Drayton,1802;
Allston, 1846). A cultivatedred rice
is re-
corded by
Lawson
in
1709 (1967, p.
729) and in
1731 (Salley, 1919, pp.
10-11). In
anotherareaof plantation
lavery,Surinam,
he Dutchgovernor
noted
in
1750 the advantages
of rice varieties cultivated
there compared
to one type found in South Carolina: the rice in Essequibo has not the
red husk which gives
so much trouble
in
Carolina o
get off (Oka, 1961,
p. 21). This
maywell indicate the advantages
of sativaover glaberrima
a-
rieties
in
milling.
Certainlyby
the
mid-eighteenth
entury,rice exportmar-
kets were
based on
Asian varieties.The
high-yielding
Carolina white and
gold that
made the colony's production
world-famousand which were
introduced
o the Amazon,
were
sativa
varieties(Salley,1919).
0.
glaberrima
was
certainly
ntroduced
o
Georgia
in 1790
by
Thomas
Jefferson,
whose
request
for rainfed rice
varieties from slave
merchants
resulted
in a shipment
of seed rice
from
Guinea
Conakry.Jefferson asked
for
rainfed
varieties,
hoping
to stimulate
upland
rice
planting,
which
would reduce
the
death toll
of
slaves
exposed
to malarialfloodplaincul-
tivation
(Betts, 1944;
Peterson, 1984).13
The merchants'
descriptions
of
the
African
upland
rice
systems
echo those
of Dutch
geographer,
Olfert
Dapper,
who
noted
150
years
earlier
similar features
and the short-du-
ration
characteristics
hat
distinguish
glaberrima
ice
(Richards,
1996, pp.
214-222).
Archival
vidence
rom
South
Carolina
onfirms
he cultivationof mul-
tiple
varietiesof rice from
the
1690s,
some
definitely
of Asian
provenance,
otherspossibly romAfrica(Salley,1919).The dominanceof the high-yield-
ing sativa
varieties
in
plantation
production
rom
the
mid-eighteenth
en-
tury, undoubtedly
contributed
to
the
disappearance
of earlier
varieties
which
may
have
included
glaberrima.
Since
upland
rice was no
longer
cul-
tivated
by
the
time of
the
American
Revolution,
Jeffersonhad
to
reintro-
duce
varieties
rom
WestAfrica.Buthis
emphasis
on rainfedvarieties
ailed
to alter
the
course
of
floodplain
rice
expansion
and
they, too, disap-
13In
fact,
Jefferson's
amousquote,
The
greatest
servicewhich
can
be renderedany country
is to add
an useful
plant
to its culture,
was
made in partial
reference
o rice.
He regarded
the
olive tree and the
introduction
f
dry (rainfed)
rice cultivation
nto South
Carolina
of
equal importance swriting he Declaration f Independence ndfreedomof religion Betts,
1944,
p. vii).
Jefferson
attributed
he lack
of success
n
diffusing
his
Africanrainfed
variety
to
the fact
that
there were not
.
. .
the
conveniences
or husking t, perhaps
an
indirect
reference o
the
mechanized
milling ystems
hat had
replaced
he earlier
mortar
and pestle,
more suitable
orglabemima
milling
(Betts, 1944,
p.
381).
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Rice Cultivation n the Americas 537
peared.14Displacementof glabemima rom initial cultivationsites in the
Americas, gnorance
until
well into this centuryof the existence of a sepa-
rate rice species
in
Africa, and the subsequent
ocus of scholarshipon ex-
port crops and sativa varieties, all contributedto the broader research
failure to
consider the linkage of rice
introduction o Africa and slaves.
That glabermimarossed the Atlantic duringthe period of the slave trade
is not in doubt since French botanistsrecoveredglaberimavarieties (the
hulls smooth and of a red-black olor) in
Cayenne FrenchGuiana)during
the 1930s
and
from
a
formersugarand indigo plantationarea of El Sal-
vador duringthe 1950s (Vaillant,1948; Porteres,1955b,c, 1960; Richards,
1996, p. 218).But few scholarsoutside botany ook notice of their findings.
The glaberima reported
in
Cayenne
was collected from descendants
of
escaped
slaves
(maroons)
who from the
1660s fled coastal sugar plan-
tations for
freedom
in
the rainforest
(Price,
1983).
The rainfed
varieties
from Cayenne found by Vaillant (1948) were examined by Porteres
(1955b,c,1960)
and determined
dentical o
others collected
by
the French
in
Guinea Conakry,Liberia,
and the
Ivory Coast,
where
they
are
known
as
gbaga, aga,
or
bagaye
after the
Baga
with whom
they
remain
ndelibly
associated.
Even
though
the
Baga subsequentlydisappeared
rom
many
West
Africanareas
planted
to these
varieties,
heir role as
expert
rice farm-
ers survived
n
the
varietalname.Their
farmingpractices
also endure
in
a
detailed
description
and sketch of the
Baga
rice cultivation
system
re-
corded,
ca.
1793, by
a slave
ship captain
who observed
them in
Guinea
Conakry Fig. 3).
The
discovery
f
Baga
varietiesof
glaberima
rice in
Cay-
enne bears
witness
to
their
role
duringslavery
n
pioneering
the
crop
in
the
Guianas.15
The
significance
of rice as a
foodstaple among
maroon
communities
of
the Guianas
was
already
evident
during
the
eighteenth century
when
Europeanmercenarieswere sent to recapture hem;maroonsfrequently
cultivated
ice
in forest
clearings
and inland
swamps Price
and
Price, 1992).
The
cereal's
importance
n maroon
history
s
captured
n
the
legends
of
their descendants
(Hurault, 1965;
Price, 1983).
In the area of
Cayenne
where
Vaillant
found
the
Baga
varieties,
the maroons claimed that
rice
14EarlyU.S.
collections rom the twentieth entury
do not indicate he
presence
of glabemima
varieties Richards,
1996).
15Fromthe sixteenth
century, he Dutch began establishing rading
posts in Baga areas
for-
mally dominated
by Portuguese
mariners
Carreira,
984, pp. 27-28; Brooks, 1993, p.
276).
Dutch merchant leets increasingly
ominated
rading
networks
o Brazil
and took over direct
tradeto Brazil rom 1584.By 1621,one-half
o two-thirds f the trade rom Europe o
Brazil
was transportedn Dutch ships (Boxer,1965,p. 23). The Dutchplantation conomyof Suri-
nam, which dates to about 1630,
was
the outcome of the failure of a similar attempt to
establisha foothold
in
Brazil
(Boxer,
1965). On the exportof slavesfrom the rice-growing
region
of GuineaBissauto Brazil,especially he Amazonduring he
eighteenthcentury, ee
Boxer (1969, pp. 192-3) and Vergolinoand
Figueiredo 1990, pp. 49-51).
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538
Carney
-
8/12/2019 African Rice
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Rice
Cultivation n
the
Americas
539
1ORJH
-
/A IQ
R'I
il
A FRICA A
B d -
2et4r
Srina
L
E G
E N D
r6ayepn,
0.
glaberrina
found
K'
.
in botanical
collections
|J
}
0
glaberrima
suspected
A
from
historicalvidence
AME
RI~1
70
Judith
Ca(ey,
1997
Fig.
4. Areas
of documented nd
suspected
presence
of 0.
glabemima.
to the arrival of the Javanese and
Indian
indentured laborers
who estab-
lished it as a cash
crop
between the
1870s and 1930s
(Panday,
1959;
Lunig,
1969)
but little else is said.
A
great
deal more archival
research is
needed
on the food
systems
of
plantation
economies.
Botanical
collections of
glabenima
document its
presence
in
two
loca-
tions of the Americas, while archival materials
suggest
it was
grown
else-
where.
These documented and
suspected
locales of
glaberima
introduction
are
presented
in
Fig.
4. Whether
glaberima
proved
the initial rice
variety
brought
across the
Atlantic
may
never
be known.
However,
the evidence
from this review of archival and botanical
sources indicates that
glaberima
was
in
fact introduced to
the
Americas
during
the
period
of the Atlantic
slave trade.
CONCLUSIONS
In
1637,
the Dutch
launched an
expedition
to
northeast Brazil
to de-
velop
its
colony
at
Pernambuco.
Among
the
savants
accompanying
the
gov-
ernor-designate,
Count
Maurits of
Nassau,
was
the Dutch
physician,
Willem
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540
Camey
Piso,whose 7-yearstay
resulted n
the
first
truly
scientific
studyof
the ge-
ography
and
botany
of
Brazil.
While
rice
interested
Piso
for its
presumed
medical
properties,
his
account
indicates
that
the
crop
was
already
culti-
vated
in
Brazil
by the
time
of
Dutch
settlement.
Piso's
compendiumalso
mentions the
planting
of
several
other
crops,
like okra
and
ginger,
which
he
claimed
came to
Brazil
from
Angola
(Piso,
1957).
As
plantation
slavery
consolidated
over
the next
centuries, he
role of
slaves in
adapting
African
crops
to
diverse
environments
f the
Americas
faded
from
commentaries.
Trying
o
recapture
lementsof
that
historycen-
turies laterdemandsa multidisciplinaryerspective,particularly dditional
research n
botany,historical
archaeology, nd
the
archives
of
countriesof
the
Americas
where
rice
cultivation
developed.
A
crucial
research
need is
to
examine
existing
germplasm
collections
in
key
rice-growing
ountries
(e.g.
Brazil,
Surinam,and
Cuba) to
detect
the
presence of
glaberima. Given the
historical
ignificanceof
maroons
in
these
areas and
the
enduring
significanceof rice
cultivation
among their
descendants,
collections
may
well
include
African
rice.
A
series of
proce-
dureswould
facilitate
pecies dentification:
laberrima
can
be
differentiated
from sativa,after 3-4 weeks' growth,by the shape of its ligules (Duncan
Vaughan,
personal
communication);
lternatively,
he
two
species
can
be
identified
throughgenetic
analysis.16
A
second research
need
addresses the
field
of
historical
archaeology.
While
glaberrima
has been
found
and dated in
archaeological
xcavations
in
Niger,
West Africa
(McIntosh
and
McIntosh,
1993),
no
archaeological
research o date has
sought
to
locate
Africanrice in
the
Americas
(Leland
Ferguson,
personal
communication).
Earlyspecies
planted
n
the
Americas,
however,
should be well
preserved
n
the
perpetually
wet
soils of
rice re-
gions.
A
well-designed
archaeological
esearch
program
hould
uncover
rice
samples that in turn can be subjectedto phytolithanalysis,a technique
that enables identification f rice
species
and
varieties.17
Historical
archae-
ological
research combined
with
paleo-ethnobotanical
phytolith
analysis
16Arecommended
rocedure
s
to make a
preliminary
orting
of
germplasm
materialon the
basis of
color,
since
glabemima
s of red or
red/purple-black
ue.
Promising
ice
varietiescan
then be
outgrown
n
the
field with
suspectedglaberima
samples
subsequently ubjected
o
the more
expensivegenetic
analysis.
Note
that more than 2000
rice
varietieswere
collected
in Brazil
during
he 1970sand 1980s.Of
these,
about
5%
possess
the
phenotypic laberrima
color
(Fonseca,personal
communication).However,
his color
can also
indicate
degeneracy
in the
seed of certainsativas
Vaughan,personal
communication).
17Phytolithnalysis xamines he
silica signature hat
distinguishes ll
grasses Pearsall,
1989;
Pearsallet al., 1995;Zhao, et al., 1998).A pioneer in refining he techniques,Pearsallhas
been
workingwith phytolith
analysis
of
wild
and
domesticatedAsian rice
species and has
identifiedspecies as well as
varieties.She
believes that such
techniquesare
also capableof
distinguishingAsian from African
rice, although
he basic research
has not
yet been done
(Deborah
Pearsall,personal
communication).
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Rice Cultivation n the Americas 541
consequentlyoffers considerablepromise for uncovering he early history
of
rice in the
Americas.
Research
n
the archivesof other important ice-growing reas of the
African
diaspora
should
be
conductedwith the
objectiveof identifyingmi-
cro-environmentslanted
and the
specificsoil and watermanagementprin-
ciples
that characterized
each
system.
Such
an approach facilitates
cross-cultural
omparison.
A related
concern is
to situate rice cultivation
within the particular
emandsof its
milling, hus linking he crop'sunusual
processingrequirements
o the
transfer rom Africa of an indigenousgen-
dered technology.The value of such an approach s to illuminateorigins
and diffusionof
specific farmingcomplexesas well as the transferof gen-
dered knowledgesystems
n
food
processingand preparation.
Finally, here s the
need
for a betterhistorical nderstandingf the trans-
Atlantic
networks hat
facilitated he
delivery
of African
ood staples to the
Americas.
Eighteenth-century
bservers f
plantation
conomies
attribute ul-
tivation
nd
subsequent
iffusion f
sorghum Sorghum icolor)
ndAfrican
oil
palm(Elaeis uineensis)
n the Americas o
introduction
y
slave
ships(Grime,
1976),therebydrawing
ttention o the
importance
f
the role
of
commerce
and scientific
ocieties or
the
delivery
f
economically
seful
plants.However,
less
explored
are
the number f accounts hat claimAfrican laves
directly
n-
troduced
rops
ike okra
Abelmoschussculentus),ams Dioscoreaayenensis),
and
cowpeas
or
black-eyed eas (Jigna unguiculata)
o the Americas
Grine,
1976).
Like
rice,
these
cropsmay
also
have
provisioned
lave
ships
boundfor
the
Americas.
And like
rice,they
became
irmly
stablished
n slave
provision
gardens,
which
provided
he locus or the
survival
f
many
African
ropsamong
Black
populations
f the
Americas.18 historical ocus on the food
crops
of
slave
societiesas
well as the
dispersal
f African
dietary taples
across he At-
lantic
might
lluminate
he
networks
hatenabled laves o
obtain eeds of their
favoreddietary taples.A shiftin the research ocus on slave societiesfrom
cash to
food
crops
would
undoubtedlymprove
ur
understanding
f the
role
of
Africans
n
establishing
heircultivarsn the Americas.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author
hankfully cknowledges
he
financial
upport
of the Wen-
ner-Gren
Foundation or
Anthropological
Researchas well
as the Interna-
181n1753,
for instance,
Sloane
(Vol. I, p.
333)
records
attempts
o
maintainrice
cultivation
in provisiongardensby Jamaican laveson sugarplantations: Thisgrain s
sowed by some
of the
Negros
in their
gardens,
and small
plantations
n
Jamaica,
and
thrives
very
well in
those that are
wet,
but because of the
difficulty
here is
in
separating
he
grain from the
husk, 'tis
very much neglected,seeing the
use of it may be
suppliedby other grains,
more
easily
cultivated
and
made
use
of with
less labour
quoted
n
Grim6,1976, p. 154).
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542
Carney
tional Studies
and
Overseas
Programs nd
Latin
AmericanStudies
Center
of UCLA for
funding
this
research.
She is
also
grateful or
the
comments
and
insightsof Paul
Richards,
Duncan
Vaughan,
Leland
Ferguson,Deborah
Pearsall,as
well
as the
anonymous
reviewers
of
the
manuscript.
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