Sacred Rice : an Ethnography of Identity, Environment, and Development in Rural West Africa / Joanna Davidson, Boston University
By: Davidson, Joanna [author].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Oxford University Press, [2016]Description: xiii, 249 pages : illustrations, maps ; picture 21 cm.Content type: text ISBN: 9780199358687; 0199358680.Subject(s): Diola (African people) -- Guinea-Bissau -- Social life and customs | Diola (African people) -- Agriculture -- Guinea-Bissau | Rice farmers -- Guinea-Bissau | Rice -- Social aspects -- Guinea-Bissau | Climatic changes -- Economic aspects -- Guinea-BissauDDC classification: 305.896 Summary: Sacred Rice explores the cultural intricacies through which Jola farmers in West Africa are responding to their environmental and economic conditions given the centrality of a crop - rice - that is the lynchpin for their economic, social, religious, and political worlds. Based on more than ten years of author Joanna Davidson's ethnographic and historical research on rural Guinea-Bissau, this book looks at the relationship among people, plants, and identity as it explores how a society comes to define itself through the production, consumption, and reverence of rice. It is a narrative profoundly tied to a particular place, but it is also a story of encounters with outsiders who often mediate or meddle in the rice enterprise. Although the focal point is a remote area of West Africa, the book illuminates the more universal nexus of identity, environment, and development, especially in an era when many people--rural and urban - are confronting environmental changes that challenge their livelihoods and lifestyles. -- Provided by the PublisherItem type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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SCHOOL OF KISWAHILI AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Welcome to School of Kiswahili and Foreign Langauages Library Nkurumah |
non fiction | 305.896 DAV (Browse shelf) | Available |
includes bibliographic reference and index
Sacred Rice explores the cultural intricacies through which Jola farmers in West Africa are responding to their environmental and economic conditions given the centrality of a crop - rice - that is the lynchpin for their economic, social, religious, and political worlds. Based on more than ten years of author Joanna Davidson's ethnographic and historical research on rural Guinea-Bissau, this book looks at the relationship among people, plants, and identity as it explores how a society comes to define itself through the production, consumption, and reverence of rice. It is a narrative profoundly tied to a particular place, but it is also a story of encounters with outsiders who often mediate or meddle in the rice enterprise. Although the focal point is a remote area of West Africa, the book illuminates the more universal nexus of identity, environment, and development, especially in an era when many people--rural and urban - are confronting environmental changes that challenge their livelihoods and lifestyles. -- Provided by the Publisher
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