Black Science: Amílcar Cabral’s Agricultural Survey and the Seeds of African Decolonization

Abstract

This essay studies the scientific practices of the African revolutionary Amílcar Cabral as Black Radical Tradition challenges to historical agency. His graphs on land use and soil erosion, produced for the Portuguese colonial administration of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa, prophesied the independence of peoples otherwise put outside of history. Cabral’s graphs point to the underappreciated contribution of specific forms of knowledge to the history of decolonization and challenge the historian of science to write history of Black science. This is distinct from consoling narratives of Black people in science or traditional critical accounts of science and racism. Instead, fully engaging the Black Radical Tradition, the history of Black science foregrounds scientific practices that historically enacted Black agencies.