One remarkable idea about the book, Resurrecting the Granary of Rome, discusses the narrative accounts of people during the Roman era. Diana Davis, the author, cannot refrain from detailing the anecdotes of deforestation and stories of desertification in North Africa based on the point of view of the Roman era. Such narratives of ecological deterioration in the Maghreb, for instance, explain the events and the present conditions of the country even today. However, the United Nations gathers pieces of evidence to summon the truth concerning the issues and appeal to these vague stories to rationalize some ecological preservation and expansion ventures in the scorched and semi-dry lands in North Africa. On the contrary, the current investigation of this study evidently reveals that deforestation, overgrazing, and desertification in North Africa and other neighboring countries do not cause the change in the ecology of lands. Although the recent research fails to support the claims that deforestation, overgrazing, and desertification further cause the change in the environmental landscape, Davis particularizes the landscape issues and environmental decays by operating a scientific basis of various versions of the narratives.
Essentially, Davis in her book depicts the groundbreaking inquiry of the French’s serious impact in the region. She reports “in Chapter 1 – Imperial Stories and Empirical Evidence” that many blame the indigenous people for the environmental declines due to their ecological activities (Davis 1). She further explains that the involvement of the French and many others such as the Arab nomads exists during the colonial era in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia reveals the alarming conditions and the landscapes of the North African lands (Davis 2). The participation of the French and many other external forces reinforce the change in environmental structures of the regions that allow critics exemplify the cause of the environmental degradation. Based on the historical accounts, certain imperial expansion negatively contributes to the people especially those underprivileged ones who suffer the consequences of colonial actions.
Additionally, Davis boldly refines her argument regarding the French’ colonial power leads to the reflective alterations in the landscape. In Chapter 2 – Nature, Empire, and Narrative Origins, “she accumulates some positive narratives of several travelers, missionary stories, consul reports, scholarly readings of the Greek and Roman classics, and commercial contacts concerning the good conditions of the land and its people” (Davis 16). Many of these people, according to research, offer a reliable information that the Algerian communities maintain the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the landscape (Davis 17). However, during the French’ appearance, all these positive views about the beauty of the landscape and the fertility of the soil in North Africa change. Hence, the refined argument of Davis leads to the discussions of the French and their imperial power that reflects on the modification of the environments.
In Chapter 3 – Idealism, Capitalism, and the Development of the Narrative, Davis notes on the writing of the colonialist writers who settle and transform the environmental narrative. Due to the emerged theory and practice of French forestry, she shows the strategic political dealings in France and Algeria that lead to any agricultural makeover and its uses of land use in Algeria (Davis 45). However, all those dealings between France and Algeria change when the former becomes a part of the latter. In that condition, she confirms that the French’s colonial forces change the agricultural structures and the environmental declines (Davis 46). In fact, such idea evidently discloses certain idealism, while French succeed in expanding the entrepreneurial and industrial system. In fact, the French government takes over Algeria and its people and lands. In Chapter 4 – The Triumph of the Narrative, Davis emphasizes that the new French government facilitates to dismantle the Algerian Insurrection, curbs of the Algerians’ conditions, and imposes will for the Algerians to follow. She stresses how the French under the Third Republic develop, expand, and spread the entrepreneurial and agricultural construction that causes many people in Algeria to lose their possessions until the French succeed in modifying the forestry laws and cultivation. Hence, the French create changes in economic, political, and environmental aspects that reshape the agricultural framework of North Africa.
Furthermore, Davis in Chapter 5 on “Narrative, Science, Policy, and Practice” and in Chapter 6 on “Decolonization, the Colonial Narrative, and Environmental Policy Today” mainly conveys a message how the French successfully reshapes and transforms North Africa. Davis points out that French’s political powers and military forces allow them to conquer Morocco and Tunisia for hundreds of years and bring environmental policies and narratives to the new territory (Davis 131). The new French government in Algeria and in some countries such as Morocco and Tunisia settles within and enforces property laws including the lands. At some points, the decline of the agricultural conditions is due to French venture in the Maghreb (Whited 43). Based on the narrative, the declensionists erroneously accuse the North Africans and others like the pastoralists for denuding the environment even without basis (Davis 165). The colonial era allows the Algerians to rationalize the account to appear the French as good despite their harsh treatment of the Algerians. Even if there are various reasons why North Africa suffer the environmental decays, many others do not know the logic that exists within and behind it.
Indeed, Resurrecting the Granary
of Rome clarifies ecological issues about the economic, ideological,
and political goals of the French’ conquests and plans in the region. The
French’s imposing project in North Africa, particularly in the arid lands, remains
present for further global environmental projects. The recent research, indeed,
nosedives its claims to support the theories that deforestation, overgrazing,
and desertification become the reason for
environmental change. As Davis describes, the landscape issues and ecological
decays that operate within the scientific grounds of various versions of the
narratives lie within them.
Works Cited
Davis, Diana K. Resurrecting the granary of Rome: environmental history and French colonial expansion in North Africa. Vol. 58. Ohio University Press, 2007.
Whited, Tamara L. “Resurrecting the Granary of Rome: Environmental History and French Colonial Expansion in North Africa.” Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 9.3 (2008).
