Food Traditions and Landscape Histories of the Indian Ocean World: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections (2015)
Rangan, Haripriya (Author)
Alpers, Edward A. (Author)
Denham, Tim (Author)
Kull, Christian A. (Author)
Carney, Judith (Author)
Environment and History
Volume: 21, no. 1
Issue: 1
Pages: 135-157
Edition Details: Article in a special issue: “Transoceanic Exchanges”
Language: English
Environmental histories of plant exchanges have largely centred on their economic importance in international trade and on their ecological and social impacts in the places where they were introduced. Yet few studies have attempted to examine how plants brought from elsewhere become incorporated over time into the regional cultures of material life and agricultural landscapes. This essay considers the theoretical and methodological problems in investigating the environmental history, diversity and distribution of food plants transferred across the Indian Ocean over several millennia. It brings together concepts of creolisation, syncretism, and hybridity to outline a framework for understanding how biotic exchanges and diffusions have been translated into regional landscape histories through food traditions, ritual practices and articulation of cultural identity. We use the banana plant - which underwent early domestication across New Guinea, South-east Asia and peninsular India and reached East Africa roughly two thousand years ago - as an example for illustrating the diverse patterns of incorporation into the cultural symbolism, material life and regional landscapes of the Indian Ocean World. We show that this cultural evolutionary approach allows new historical insights to emerge and enriches ongoing debates regarding the antiquity of the plant's diffusion from South-east Asia to Africa.
...MoreArticle Watkins, Case (2015) African Oil Palms, Colonial Socioecological Transformation and the Making of an Afro-Brazilian Landscape in Bahia, Brazil. Environment and History (pp. 13-42).
Similar Citations
Book
Veen, Marijke van der;
(2011)
Consumption, Trade and Innovation: Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir Al-Qadim, Egypt
(/isis/citation/CBB001421569/)
Chapter
Rosanna Tuteri;
(2019)
Silvae, calles, vineae et segetes nei paesaggi antichi d'Abruzzo tra Sabini e Peligni
(/isis/citation/CBB625438045/)
Chapter
Reddy, Seetha N.;
(2003)
Food and Fodder: Plant Usage and Changing Sociocultural Landscapes during the Harappan Phase in Gujarat, India
(/isis/citation/CBB001422469/)
Book
Amrith, Sunil S;
(2013)
Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants
(/isis/citation/CBB001421571/)
Chapter
Miller, Laura J.;
(2003)
Secondary Products and Urbanism in South Asia: The Evidence for Traction at Harappa
(/isis/citation/CBB001422468/)
Article
Tello, Enric;
Valldepera, Natàlia;
, Anna Ollés;
Marull, Joan;
Coll, Francesc;
Warde, Paul;
Wilcox, Paul Thomas;
(2014)
Looking Backwards into a Mediterranean Edge Environment: Landscape Changes in El Congost Valley (Catalonia), 1850--2005
(/isis/citation/CBB001421413/)
Book
Swindell, Ken;
Jeng, Alieu;
(2006)
Migrants, Credit and Climate: The Gambian Groundnut Trade, 1834--1934
(/isis/citation/CBB001422392/)
Article
Spengler, Robert N., III;
(2014)
Niche Dwelling vs. Niche Construction: Landscape Modification in the Bronze and Iron Ages of Central Asia
(/isis/citation/CBB001421944/)
Book
Sarah Johnson;
(2016)
Farming
(/isis/citation/CBB317786685/)
Chapter
Potts, Daniel T.;
(2012)
Technological Transfer and Innovation in Ancient Eurasia
(/isis/citation/CBB001422685/)
Book
Madella, Marco;
Lancelotti, Carla;
Savard, Manon;
(2014)
Ancient Plants and People: Contemporary Trends in Archaeobotany
(/isis/citation/CBB001422461/)
Book
Sluyter, Andrew;
(2012)
Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500--1900
(/isis/citation/CBB001421797/)
Article
Rodriguez, Veronica Perez;
Anderson, Kirk C.;
(2013)
Terracing in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico: Cycles of Resilience of an Ancient Land-Use Strategy
(/isis/citation/CBB001421929/)
Chapter
Possehl, Gregory L.;
(2003)
The Indus Civilization: An Introduction to Environment, Subsistence and Cultural History
(/isis/citation/CBB001422462/)
Book
Blouin, Katherine;
(2014)
Triangular Landscapes: Environment, Society, and the State in the Nile Delta under Roman Rule
(/isis/citation/CBB001422645/)
Chapter
Pottage, Alain;
Sherman, Brad;
(2011)
Kinds, Clones, and Manufactures
(/isis/citation/CBB001221560/)
Chapter
Giorgio Bejor;
(2019)
Agricoltura e produzione del cibo, campagna e città: qualche osservazione dagli scavi di Nora (Sardegna)
(/isis/citation/CBB799805492/)
Chapter
Arnaldo Marcone;
(2019)
Agronomia e modelli di sviluppo a Roma tra la fine della Repubblica e l'Alto Impero
(/isis/citation/CBB028357822/)
Chapter
Fabio Fabiani;
Emanuela Paribeni;
(2019)
Tecniche e impianti per la produzione dell'olio in epoca romana: esempi fra Toscana e Liguria
(/isis/citation/CBB594516453/)
Chapter
Lucia Capogrossi Colognesi;
(2019)
L'economia agraria romano-italica tra fine Repubblica e Principato
(/isis/citation/CBB994859599/)
Be the first to comment!