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A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.
The Scarcity Slot is the first book to critically examine food security in Africa’s deep past. Amanda L. Logan argues that African foodways have been viewed through the lens of ‘the scarcity slot,’ a kind of Othering based on presumed differences in resources. Weaving together archaeological, historical, and environmental data with food ethnography, she advances a new approach to building long-term histories of food security on the continent in order to combat these stereotypes. Focusing on a case study in Banda, Ghana that spans the past six centuries, The Scarcity Slot reveals that people thrived during a severe, centuries-long drought just as Europeans arrived on the coast, with a major decline in food security emerging only recently. This narrative radically challenges how we think about African foodways in the past with major implications for the future.
The Scarcity Slot is the first book to critically examine food security in Africa’s deep past. Amanda L. Logan argues that African foodways have been viewed through the lens of ‘the scarcity slot,’ a kind of Othering based on presumed differences in resources. Weaving together archaeological, historical, and environmental data with food ethnography, she advances a new approach to building long-term histories of food security on the continent in order to combat these stereotypes. Focusing on a case study in Banda, Ghana that spans the past six centuries, The Scarcity Slot reveals that people thrived during a severe, centuries-long drought just as Europeans arrived on the coast, with a major decline in food security emerging only recently. This narrative radically challenges how we think about African foodways in the past with major implications for the future.
Price: $34.95
Pages: 244
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Series: California Studies in Food and Culture
Publication Date:
08 December 2020
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520343757
Format: Paperback
"The book provides an accessible way to understand the foodstuffs and foodways in the region and contains an impressive review of the food literature written in English. It is also methodologically exemplary for food archaeology analyses. I highly recommend this book to a large audience interested in West Africa, to specialised archaeobotanists, and also to archaeologists who will here be shown the potential of food archaeology."
Amanda L. Logan is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University.