Gum Arabic

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.