Judith A. Carney

About the Author

Judith A. Carney is a distinguished geographer and historian whose groundbreaking research illuminates the profound African contributions to the agricultural landscapes of the Americas. With a career spanning decades at institutions like the University of California, Los Angeles, Carney has meticulously traced the transatlantic journeys of crops, peoples, and knowledge systems, challenging Eurocentric narratives of New World development. Her seminal work, Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas, reveals how enslaved Africans brought advanced rice-growing techniques from West Africa, transforming the economies and environments of the colonial South. Carney's interdisciplinary approach blends historical analysis, botanical evidence, and oral traditions, earning her accolades for reshaping understandings of the African diaspora and environmental history. Through her scholarship, she underscores the resilience and ingenuity of marginalized communities in shaping global food systems.