Dorrit van Dalen
Gum Arabic
DORRIT VAN DALEN
The Golden Tears of the Acacia Tree Gum Arabic is a natural product which grows exclusively in the Sahel and has played an ever increasing role in the global economy. In the time of the crusades, Europeans bought the ingredient in Arab countries. Soon, it was not only used in ink or medicine, but also as a symbol of its putative Arab origin, the noble Orient. Later, gum was bought directly in the countries where it was produced, but western dependence on it grew. As European countries were laying the foundations for their colonial empires, their relations with the suppliers of gum contradicted their views of the world. Gum Arabic now stood for trouble. In her search for the meanings of gum Arabic, van Dalen takes the reader from Shakespeare to Bin Laden, from the Industrial Revolution to a veteran of a recent coup d’etat in Chad. In a fluent, at times elegantly written account, bursting with anecdotes, Van Dalen leaves no element of her subject untouched. Full of life and local colour…. – Trouw ... contagious enthusiasm…. Her book is so easy to digest that you are instilled with a desire to learn even more about how the continents of our modern-day world are linked together.
gum arabic THE GOLDEN TEARS OF THE ACACIA TREE
– NRC Handelsblad
What drives history?[..] Dorrit van Dalen provides the most original answer. – Volkskrant
Dorrit van Dalen has worked in West Africa for many years, in international cooperation and as a journalist. She is now affiliated to Leiden University as an anthropologist and arabist.
Dorrit van Dalen knows how to create a riveting tale full of strange happenings and mysterious practices. – Elsevier
CULTURAL HISTORY Publication date October 2019 NUR 694 ISBN 978 90 8728 336 0 e-PDF 978 94 0060 358 5 e-PUB 978 94 0060 359 2 Language English Price € 24.50 £ 22 $ 27.50 Format Paperback 135 x 210 mm Page extent 248 pages Cover design Suzan Beijer Imprint LUP General
HISTORY
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