Comparing Rice Fields

In this post I explored the many similarities and differences between the rice coasts of both the Eastern coast of North America and the Western "Rice Coast" of Northern Africa. In the reading by Judy Carney, it is proposed that it's quite possible for black slaves to have brought rice farming along with them from their home. Upon examining a few of the rice fields from both locations I've noticed a few similarities. One is that both of these rice fields operate on estuaries where salt water and fresh water meet. Some fields in North America look like the older fields found on the "Rice Coast," but I've found that they most of the time look a bit different. For example, almost all fields in North America have some sort of general polygon shape to them, but the majority of the ones I observed in Africa did not exist in really any discernible shape, but more of a geometric pattern. They are also bigger most of the time. In my findings, I would assume that as the Africans started fields in North America, they began to become more skilled an organized. In that case, the diffusion of this technology would be considered relocation diffusion. However another possibility would be that the slave masters wanted the Africans to continue to grow rice(for them), but wanted to rigidly change the format in which they made their fields. In that scenario, the diffusion would be more aligned with stimulus diffusion. Upon arriving and bringing along their technology and methods to farm rice, the Africans also probably encouraged expansion diffusion, helping create the "North American Rice Coast."