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A Tropical Flour: Manioc In The Afro-Brazilian World, 1500-1800, Joseph Leestma

Latin American Studies ETDs

This research follows the movement of the American tropical root crop manioc [Manihot esulenta] throughout the Afro-Portuguese world between ca. 1500 to ca.1800. In addition to tracing the spatial movement of the plant, this thesis will also show how manioc was culturally redefined as an African crop and how this effected its reception and meaning upon returning to the New World from Africa. In tracking the geographical diffusion of the plant from the Americas to Africa, this research relies upon primary sources on the exploration of Brazil and Africa by European travelers and accounts of the early era of the …