The Mystery of Black Rice: Food, Medicinal, and Spiritual Uses of Oryza glaberrima by Maroon Communities in Suriname and French Guiana

During plantation slavery, African rice ( Oryza glaberrima Steud.) was widely cultivated in the Americas but was soon replaced by Asian rice ( Oryza sativa L.). Maroons, descendants of Africans who escaped slavery in Suriname and French Guiana, continue to cultivate African rice. Genomic research li...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human ecology : an interdisciplinary journal 2024-08, Vol.52 (4), p.823-836
Main Authors: Pinas, Nicholaas M., Jackson, John, Mosis, Noeki André, van Andel, Tinde
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Black people
Crop
Cultivation
Environmental Management
Farmers
Food
Funerals
Genomics
Geography
Maroons (People)
Medicinal plants
Migration
Oral history
Oryza glaberrima
Plantations
Rice
Seeds
Slavery
Social Sciences
Sociology
Swamps
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Summary:During plantation slavery, African rice ( Oryza glaberrima Steud.) was widely cultivated in the Americas but was soon replaced by Asian rice ( Oryza sativa L.). Maroons, descendants of Africans who escaped slavery in Suriname and French Guiana, continue to cultivate African rice. Genomic research linked this rice to an O. glaberrima variety in the Ivory Coast. Based on interviews with 99 Maroon farmers, of whom 23 cultivate black rice, we describe its diverse uses as (ceremonial) food, offerings, spiritual medicine, and its role during funerals. Maroon oral history accounts on the origin of black rice differ among and within communities: enslaved women brought it from Africa or took it from the plantations where they worked; escaped slaves found it in the savanna; or ancestors encountered it in interior swamps. These multiple and sometimes contradictory accounts of the origins of black rice are related to the diverse ethnic and geographical backgrounds of the Africans brought as slaves to Suriname and their different histories with the crop after marronage. Various characteristics of black rice, including its ability to compete with weeds and grow on poor soils, its shattering seeds, and its visibility to birds explain how this African domesticate survived in the wild in the Amazonian forest. The migration of Maroons to cities, their engagement in gold mining, and their evangelization may lead to the loss of black rice knowledge and practices.
ISSN:0300-7839
1572-9915
DOI:10.1007/s10745-024-00528-y