Nubian Agricultural Practices, Crops and Foods

Changes in Living Memory on Ernetta Island, Northern Sudan

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8920708
AutoresPhilippa Ryan (0000-0001-6645-9744, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, autor de correspondencia), Maha Kordofani (0000-0003-1334-215X, University of Khartoum), Mohamed Saad (0000-0002-1544-8049, National Centre for Research), Mohammed Hassan (0000-0002-2928-6116), M Dalton (0000-0002-1651-7384, The University of Western Australia), Caroline Cartwright (0009-0002-5257-9862, British Museum), Neal Spencer (0000-0003-2748-6349), N R Spencer (0000-0002-3443-2341, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences)
Año2022
Volumen76
Número3
Páginas250-272
Fecha de publicación2022-06-08
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEconomic Botany (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0013-0001 • E-ISSN: 1874-9364
EditorialSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12231-022-09545-8
OpenAlexW4293077523
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas17

Agricultural practices in northern Sudan have been changing rapidly but remain little documented. In this paper we aim to investigate changes to crops grown in living memory and their uses through interviews with Nubian farmers on the island of Ernetta. By exploring cultivation and crop processing practices, together with associated material culture and foodstuffs, we also seek to explore how agricultural and food heritage are connected, and to better understand reasons for crop changes. Several cereals and pulses that were previously important subsistence crops are now grown as comparatively minor crops. The replacement of the sagia (waterwheel) by diesel pump irrigation, the introduction of commercial crops, and the reduction of the annual flood have led to fundamentally new cropping patterns within household farms. At the same time, each species has its own narrative and timing of change. Shifts in crops grown are paralleled by transitions in foodways, associated material culture, and land use. The project is timely, as much of the information about past crop uses resides in the memories of elderly farmers. The findings highlight the broader global need to document endangered memories of cropping patterns, traditional ecological and food knowledge, including local terms for foods and crops

Agriculture · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Biology · Crop · Cropping · Foodways · Geography · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Sustainability · African history and culture analysis · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Ecology · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology