African Ethnobotany in the Americas

by Voeks, Robert; Rashford, John

• ISBN13: 9781461408352
• ISBN10: 1461408350
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-26
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

This book will provide the first comprehensive examination of ethnobotanical knowledge and skills among the African Diaspora in the Americas. Leading scholars on the subject explore the complex relationship between plant use and meaning among the descendents of enslaved Africans. With the aid of archival and field research carried out in a range of Old and New World locations, contributors will explore the historical, environmental, and political-ecological factors that facilitated/hindered trans-Atlantic ethnobotanical diffusion; the role of enslaved Africans as active agents of plant and plant knowledge transfer; the significance of cultural resistance in refining and redefining plant-based traditions; the principal categories of plant use that resulted; the exchange of knowledge among Amerindian, European and other African peoples; and the changing significance of African and African-American ethnobotanical traditions in the 21st century.