An exploratory essay is used to investigate a problem, so it’s suggested to remain as objective as possible, not to take sides or persuade. 

For this exploratory essay, I decided to create an outline. By creating this outline, I am able to organize my notes and ideas.

Introduction:

-Introduce what an academic article/essay is. (Add a hook or an interesting statement)

– Explain how an academic article can affect audiences who are reading it (Basically explaining how some academic articles are well written and some that are not)

Body Paragraphs:

Each paragraph must consist of the three most important questions.

-What sources did the author use?

(The author used sources from books, and journals as well. Including data.)

-How did the author use the sources?

(The author uses the sources by incorporating data from journals that have done research on the topic as well as citing sources that had to do with the Columbian Exchange.)

-How effective were the sources to the author’s goal?

(The source was quite effective by how even the readers can interpret the scenarios of what could have happened in the past which resulted to 

My Final Essay

A Source overview of the African Rice in the Columbian Exchange

The academic article, “African Rice in the Columbian Exchange,” by Judith A. Carney discusses the idea that many do not recognize the importance of Africans domestications in the Americas. Carney provided sources explaining how there was a use of domestication of rice, African methods in rice cultivation methods, and the intercontinental exchanges between Asia and Africa. These sources that Carney presented helps evaluate Carney’s academic article since there is a substantial amount of research which can help prove her position along with her claims to support her stand. In order to understand Carney’s use of evidence, by articulating and analyzing the evidence can prove whether or not Carney’s sources were credible.

During a 7,000 to 2,000 years ago, Africa was flourishing rich crops and plants due to the climate around. To support this statement, Carney mentioned Jack Harlan’s book named “Crops and Man.”  Harlan’s work indicates that it is a secondary source rather than a primary source since there was mostly information on describing the evolution of crop plants and how it developed. This source was additional proof/information for Carney to continue on about Africans helping to establish a base for the Columbian exchange for their rice and riches. Carney also included a data table from Harlan’s book to address what types of plants were domesticated around the time period. This specific data information is relevant to Carney’s claim since the evidence proves that African domesticating is beneficial to the Columbian exchange since some of the goods from the Africans transported across different areas.

According to Carney, the African plant diffusion during the Atlantic Slave trade was known to be Africa’s second major era of crop exchanges however, Carney believes that the attention of the Columbian exchange was mostly towards the plant diffusions rather than the importance of African slaves at the time. Therefore, Carney wanted to spread light on how the African domestications benefit the Columbian exchange greatly.  In order for Carney to support and explain the importance of the African domestications, she referenced from a book by Marvin Miracle named “Maize in Tropical Africa,” in which Carney discusses the arrival of Columbus in the Americas and how there was maize planted in West Africa. This book is known to be a primary source since Marvin Miracle did visit Africa for 15 months around the year of 1966 which was also the year the book was published. In addition to visiting Africa, Marvin’s visit also consisted of a study tour in Africa to gather more data on his research of Maize. The evidence Carney used in Marvin’s source was able to provide back up to her claim about Africa’s influence on the Columbian exchange by how Carney listed several different foods that were also brought up by the Africas. 

Carney discusses how many speculated that the African Domestication of rice was originally from Asia, but there was no firm evidence on the Portuguese voyages traveling to Asia. The center area of rice cultivation was actually Spain. In order to support this claim Carney included evidence from a book by Andrew M. Watson named,” Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World.”  The evidence Carney includes explains that the center for the cultivation was in Spain since the Muslims were able to develop a crop in Valencia around the tenth century. In addition, Watson’s work is a secondary source since there was a page of the author giving thanks to the scholars that helped him along the way with writing this book. This evidence implies that there is a sense of credibility since this is a secondary source containing multiple opinions from scholars and perspectives which can provide a form of actual evidence. Adding on, Carney also believes that scholars studying the Columbian Exchange were oblivious to the presence of rice and how it transported in the Americas to Europeans which carried the riches from Asia to Africa before the development of cereal as a crop on the Atlantic basin. In order to demonstrate the view of a scholar, she included evidence from Orlando Ribeiro’s work named “Aspectos e problemas”. Carney cited Orlando’s statement by how he starts to state a list of food from the intercontinental plant exchanges to how Africa did not provide anything significant to the exchange. Ribeiro’s work is a primary source because it was all in Spanish. In addition. Ribeiro provided a scholar’s perspective of the exchange, therefore initiated Carney’s use of this evidence. The evidence Carney used,  help explain her statement of how scholars studying the exchange was bias about Africa’s lending hand to the Americas. 

African methods of rice cultivation were to establish the important roles of Africans in setting up the rice in South Carolina. In order for Carney to prove her position, Carney cited her own sources to establish a broader understanding of her stance. In her article, Carney discusses how Carolina’s tidal rivers cultivation was going along with the African practice of sowing rather than the usual Asian way of transplanting. This is a secondary source from Judith A. Carney called “Landscapes of technology transfer: Rice cultivation and African continuities” because this source was from Carney’s previous research materials. In addition, Carney provided two pieces of evidence from her own works rather than a primary source. Although many can speculate her bias by using her own sources, readers can also conclude that Carney did thorough research by providing more back up to her own position using her old research as evidence. Adding on, after citing her own work Carney continues with more information regarding the technologies of African plowing system spreading through the Atlantic basin to South Carolina. This additional information concludes that Africa’s plowing system influenced many different parts of the world. 

The overall analysis of the work of Judith Carney’s academic article explains that the majority of her sources were credible by how Carney mostly included evidence from books and journals. In addition, Carney was also able to make a lot of connections to the sources’ evidence which can help back up her statement on Africa’s influence on the intercontinental exchange. Lastly, Carney does seem familiar with the sources she used since she was able to give a thorough analysis of each evidence and how this evidence and source was able to connect with the Columbian exchange.