Expert in the History and Economics of Black Rice to Speak
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2004
CONTACT: Kathleen McPartland
Tel: 530-898-4260
Jacquelyn Chase, Geography
530-898-5587
Expert in the History and Economics of Black Rice to Speak
Judith Carney, professor of Geography at UCLA and author of “Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas” will speak at California State University, Chico on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in Harlen Adams Theatre. The talk is free and open to the public.
Carney, a specialist in environment and development in West Africa, is a President’s Visiting Scholar. During her visit to campus, she will also speak at the Anthropology Forum on Sept. 23 at 4 p.m. in Ayres 120. Her talk is titled Lemurs and Locomotives: The Politics of Conservation in Madagascar.
Carney is a Guggenheim fellow and a recipient of a grant from the American Council on Learned Societies. In recognition of the creativity of the research that led up to the publication, the University of California awarded Carney the President’s Research Fellowships in the Humanities in 1998-99. She has been invited to participate in MIT’s History and Social Study of Science and Technology Program, and was keynote speaker at the University of Michigan’s Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial events in 2002. Carney has been interviewed widely on national news, including The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
Carney’s research demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Europeans did not bring rice to America via Asia, but West African slaves did. Through her exploration of crops, landscapes and agricultural practices in Africa, she shows the critical role Africans played in the system of rice production, one of the most profitable plantation-based economies.
Los Angeles Times reviewer Allan Jalon said that Carney’s book
“…sets out to discredit for good an old Southern recipe for history that depicts slaves as mere laborers who dumbly performed work their masters conceived. … After years visiting West African rice fields, then digging in archives on both sides of the Atlantic, she has emerged with evidence that early slave traders sought and seized Africans who had the abilities to grow a specific African rice.”
Jacquelyn Chase, Department of Geography, said, “Dr. Carney is an inspiring lecturer whose talks pack the rooms at the Association of American Geographers meetings each year. She is a role model for young women who want to study geography in the United States and for all female academics. Her empathy with people of varied backgrounds and experiences and her enthusiasm for knowing people’s life stories draw others to her.”
Chase said that Carney’s work is significant for anyone interested in how people and culture shape the environment and in the history of slavery and of agriculture.
The Office of the President, the Department of Geography and Planning, and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences are the sponsors of Carney’s visit.
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