This volume draws together richly textured and deeply empirical accounts of rice and how its cultivation in the Carolina low country stitch together a globe that maps colonial economies, displacement, and the creative solutions of enslaved people conscripted to cultivate its grain. If sugar fueled the economic hegemony of North Europe in the 18th and 19th century, rice fed it. Nowhere has this story been a more integral part of the landscape than Low Country of the coasts of Georgia, South and North Carolina. Rice played a key role in the expansion of slavery in the Carolinas during the 18th century as West African captives were enslaved, in part for their expertise in growing rice. Contributors to this volume explore the varied genealogies of rice cultivation in the Low Country through archaeological, anthropological, and historical research. This multi-sited volume draws on case studies from Guinea, Sierra Leone, and South Carolina, the Caribbean and India to both compare and connect these disparate regions. Through these studies the reader will learn how the rice cultivation knowledge of untold numbers of captive Africans contributed to the development of the Carolinas and by extension, the United States and Europe. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Atlantic Studies.

In recent decades, the vast and culturally diverse Indian Ocean region has increasingly attracted the attention of anthropologists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and other researchers. Largely missing from this growing body of scholarship, however, are significant contributions by archaeologists and consciously interdisciplinary approaches to studying the region’s past and present. Connecting Continents addresses two important issues: how best to promote collaborative research on the Indian Ocean world, and how to shape the research agenda for a region that has only recently begun to attract serious interest from historical archaeologists. The archaeologists, historians, and other scholars who have contributed to this volume tackle important topics such as the nature and dynamics of migration, colonization, and cultural syncretism that are central to understanding the human experience in the Indian Ocean basin. This groundbreaking work also deepens our understanding of topics of increasing scholarly and popular interest, such as the ways in which people construct and understand their heritage and can make use of exciting new technologies like DNA and environmental analysis. Because it adopts such an explicitly comparative approach to the Indian Ocean, Connecting Continents provides a compelling model for multidisciplinary approaches to studying other parts of the globe. Contributors: Richard B. Allen, Edward A. Alpers, Atholl Anderson, Nicole Boivin, Diego Calaon, Aaron Camens, Saša Čaval, Geoffrey Clark, Alison Crowther, Corinne Forest, Simon Haberle, Diana Heise, Mark Horton, Paul Lane, Martin Mhando, and Alistair Patterson.

Adoption: Connecting Hearts Across Continents is a heartfelt and informative short read book that explores the power of love and the journey of adoption. This book delves into the various aspects of adoption, from legal considerations to the emotional well-being of adoptive families. With a focus on breaking barriers and addressing societal stigmas, this book aims to educate and advocate for the adoption community. The table of contents is thoughtfully organized to provide a comprehensive understanding of adoption. It begins with an exploration of the power of love, emphasizing the profound impact it has on the adoption process. The book then delves into international adoption, shedding light on the unique challenges and rewards of adopting a child from another country. Breaking Barriers is a chapter that highlights the obstacles faced by adoptive families and the importance of overcoming them. Legal Considerations provides valuable information on the legal aspects of adoption, ensuring readers are well-informed and prepared for the process. Domestic Adoption focuses on adopting within one's own country, discussing the benefits and considerations of this type of adoption. Open Adoption explores the concept of maintaining contact with birth parents and the positive impact it can have on the child's well-being. Adoption of Older Children addresses the specific challenges and joys of adopting older kids, while Adoption and Sibling Relationships delves into the dynamics between adopted siblings. Adoption and Identity explores the complex issue of identity formation in adopted children and offers guidance for parents navigating this journey. Exploring Roots encourages adoptive families to embrace their child's cultural heritage and provides resources for doing so. Adoption and Self-Discovery delves into the personal growth and self-discovery that can occur through the adoption process. Adoption and Emotional Well-being focuses on the emotional health of adoptive families and offers strategies for promoting well-being. Attachment and Bonding explores the crucial process of forming secure attachments between adoptive parents and their children. Addressing Trauma provides insights into the unique challenges faced by children who have experienced trauma and offers guidance for supporting their healing journey. Adoption and Society aims to break down stigmas surrounding adoption and promote a more inclusive and understanding society. Supporting Adoptive Families offers practical advice and resources for friends, family, and communities to support adoptive families. Adoption and Future Generations emphasizes the importance of passing on stories and preserving the legacy of adoption. Advocacy and Education encourages readers to become advocates for adoption and provides suggestions for getting involved. The book concludes with a section of Frequently Asked Questions, addressing common concerns and providing expert This title is a short read. A Short Read is a type of book that is designed to be read in one quick sitting. These no fluff books are perfect for people who want an overview about a subject in a short period of time. Table of Contents Adoption: Connecting Hearts Across Continents The Power of Love International Adoption Breaking Barriers Legal Considerations Domestic Adoption Open Adoption Adoption of Older Children Adoption and Sibling Relationships Adoption and Identity Exploring Roots Adoption and Self-Discovery Adoption and Emotional Well-being Attachment and Bonding Addressing Trauma Adoption and Society Breaking Stigmas Supporting Adoptive Families Adoption and Future Generations Passing on Stories Advocacy and Education Frequently Asked Questions Have Questions / Comments?

In this uniquely interdisciplinary work, Lisa Lowe examines the relationships between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- centuries, exploring the links between colonialism, slavery, imperial trades and Western liberalism. Reading across archives, canons, and continents, Lowe connects the liberal narrative of freedom overcoming slavery to the expansion of Anglo-American empire, observing that abstract promises of freedom often obscure their embeddedness within colonial conditions. Race and social difference, Lowe contends, are enduring remainders of colonial processes through which “the human” is universalized and “freed” by liberal forms, while the peoples who create the conditions of possibility for that freedom are assimilated or forgotten. Analyzing the archive of liberalism alongside the colonial state archives from which it has been separated, Lowe offers new methods for interpreting the past, examining events well documented in archives, and those matters absent, whether actively suppressed or merely deemed insignificant. Lowe invents a mode of reading intimately, which defies accepted national boundaries and disrupts given chronologies, complicating our conceptions of history, politics, economics, and culture, and ultimately, knowledge itself.

Contents include: North America: landforms; North America: climate, plants and animals; North America: history and culture; Introducing South America; South America: landforms; South America: climate, plants and animals; South America: history and culture; Continental connections and plate tectonics; Land bridges: the narrow link; Land bridges: dropping seas.

A standard track gauge—the distance between the two rails—enables connecting railway lines to exchange traffic. But despite the benefits of standardization, early North American railways used six different gauges extensively, and even today breaks of gauge at national borders and within such countries as India and Australia are expensive burdens on commerce. In Tracks across Continents, Paths through History, Douglas J. Puffert offers a global history of railway track gauge, examining early choices and the dynamic process of diversity and standardization that resulted. Drawing on the economic theory of path dependence, and grounded in economic, technical, and institutional realities, this innovative volume traces how early historical events, and even idiosyncratic personalities, have affected choices of gauge ever since, despite changing technology and understandings of what gauge is optimal. Puffert also uses this history to develop new insights in the theory of path dependence. Tracks across Continents, Paths through History will be essential reading for anyone interested in how history and economics inform each other.

"The book provides an excellent historical summary of the debates over continental drift theory in this century." —Contemporary Sociology "This is a useful discussion of the way that science works. The book will be of value to philosophers of science . . . " —Choice " . . . will find an important place in university and department libraries, and will interest afficionados of the factual and intellectual history of the earth sciences." —Terra Nova " . . . an excellent core analysis . . . " —The Times Higher Education Supplement " . . . an ambitious and important contribution to the new sociology of science." —American Journal of Sociology " . . . Stewart's book is a noble effort, an interesting and readable discussion, and another higher notch on the scoreboard of critical scholarship that deserves wide examination and close attention." —Geophysics This fascinating book describes the rise and fall and rebirth of continental drift theory in this century. It uses the recent revolution in geoscientinsts' beliefs about the earth to examine questions such as, How does scientific knowledge develop and change? The book also explores how well different perspectives help us to understand revolutionary change in science.