For Heineken, "rising Africa" is already a reality: the profits it extracts there are almost 50 per cent above the global average, and beer costs more in some African countries than it does in Europe. Heineken claims its presence boosts economic development on the continent. But is this true? Investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen has spent years seeking the answer, and his conclusion is damning: Heineken has hardly benefited Africa at all. On the contrary, there are some shocking skeletons in its African closet: tax avoidance, sexual abuse, links to genocide and other human rights violations, high-level corruption, crushing competition from indigenous brewers, and collaboration with dictators and pitiless anti-government rebels. Heineken in Africa caused a political and media furor on publication in The Netherlands, and was debated in their Parliament. It is an unmissable exposé of the havoc wreaked by a global giant seeking profit in the developing world.
This volume on beer in Africa focuses on the making and unmaking of self in the inchoate, dark, exalted and sometimes upsetting context of bars, shebeens and other formal and informal drinking occasions. Beer in Africa takes the production and consumption of fermented drinks as its point of entry to investigate how local actors deal with the ambivalent and the hazy, and how this ambiguity stands as the sine qua non of social life and daily practice.
From beer’s porridge-like beginnings through to the cutting edge craft beers being poured across the country today, African Brew tells the story of South African beer. Join a pint-studded journey through seven provinces to meet the brewers, taste their beers and learn exactly what goes into that beverage you wouldn’t dream of braaiing without. There is also a section that covers up-and-coming breweries. Delve deeper into food and beer pairing with delectable recipes from top South African chefs, each dish paired with a local lager or ale. And for those who don’t know the difference between the two, African Brew hopes to turn the beer novice into a connoisseur with tasting notes and troubleshooting tips showing you what to look for in your preferred pint.
Beer connects commercial, social, and political history in this sobering look at the culture of drinking in South Africa. Beginning where stories of colonial liquor control, Mager looks at the current commerce of beer, its valorizing of male sociability and sports, and the corporate culture of South African Breweries.
The consumption of indigenous beer is a widespread and long-standing feature of many African societies, a practice of both historical and contemporary significance. Among the rural, Xhosa-speaking people of South Africa''s Eastern Cape province, maize beer became increasingly important in the context of early twentieth century colonialism, and a range of new beer drinking rituals developed. This coincided with state neglect of black rural areas and with economic and demographic changes that led to the emergence of co-operative relations within neighbourhood groups as a vital element of homestead production. With the entrenchment of the apartheid regime from the late 1940s onward, the maintenance of a rural homestead, agricultural practices, and an agrarian lifestyle became one way to resist the injustices of apartheid and fuller incorporation into the wider society. In this respect, beer rituals became a crucial mechanism through which to develop and maintain rural social and economic relations, to inculcate the values that supported these, and to provide a viable though fragile view of the world that afforded an alternative to the disillusionment and suffering associated with black urban areas. Using an anthropological analysis based on a combination of Bourdieu''s practice theory with the anthropology of performance, this book demonstrates the way beer drinking rituals worked towards these aims, the various types of rituals that developed, and how they sought to instill a rural Xhosa habitus in the face of almost overwhelming odds. This book is part of the Ritual Studies Monograph Series, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. Named a 2006 "Outstanding Academic Title" by CHOICE Magazine. "[T]his vivid, comprehensive study of patterns and variations within a single society makes the subject come alive as few other studies have done." -- CHOICE Magazine "McAllister''s focus on the community-building role of beer drinking rituals in Xhosa society greatly contributes to the growing body of anthropological literature on alcohol. This book is a must read for serious scholars of African anthropology, colonial and postcolonial studies." -- Journal of Anthropological Research "This is a respectful book about beer drinking and this respect is inherent in the author''s attitude toward research. Patrick McAllister discovered while researching labour migration and ritual that he should be led by what Xhosa considered as ritual and not what the researcher defines as ritual. From this new perspective, the importance of beer drinking became obvious and this gives the book the hallmark of good anthropological work: we get to know the logic of a society that is very different from our own." -- Development and Change "Overall, the book interprets beer drinking rituals with anthropological acumen, and it succeeds in revealing how these individual rituals adapt to and reflect broader historical changes." -- Modern African Studies "I came to this book expecting a useful monographic account of beer drinking and labour migration in the Shixini district in the Eastern Cape, perhaps pulling together material previously scattered in several publications. The book does indeed provide this, but in fact delivers much more... Despite my familiarity with much of the ethnogrpahic material, I found it fascinating reading." -- Journal of Southern African Studies "McAllister shows, with a great deal of finesse, how to take a small-scale study and use it to cast light on a much broader set of topics... McAllister provides a deep ethnography that builds upon the work of earlier ethnographers of Xhosa-speakers, including Philip Mayer and Monica Wilson. Like that of his predecessors, his work shows a profound respect and affection for rural culture and the people who practice it." -- H-SAfrica
Presents a comprehensive survey of the culture and customs of Rwanda describing its volcanoes, mountains, and natural resources as well as its diverse religious and ethnic societies.
The production of beer today occurs within a bifurcated industrial structure. There exists a small number of large, global conglomerates supplying huge volumes of a limited range of beers, and a plethora of small and medium breweries producing a diverse range of beers sold under unique brands. Brewing, Beer and Pubs addresses a range of contemporary issues and challenges in this key sector of the global economy, and includes contributions by research specialists from a variety of countries and disciplines. This book includes the marketing and globalization of the brewing industry, beer excise duties and market concentration, and reflections upon developments in brewing and beer consumption across the world in order to explore the wide-reaching influence of this industry. Alongside these global topics more localised themes are presented such as market integration in the Chinese beer and wine markets, beer and brewing in Africa and South America, and turbulence and change in the UK public house industry, which demonstrate how the consumption of beer in pubs and other social environments make the beer industry integral to local communities and regions worldwide.
Honorable Mention, 2019 MLA Prize for a First Book Sole Finalist Mention for the 2018 Lora Romero First Book Prize, presented by the American Studies Association Exposes the influential work of a group of black artists to confront and refute scientific racism. Traversing the archives of early African American literature, performance, and visual culture, Britt Rusert uncovers the dynamic experiments of a group of black writers, artists, and performers. Fugitive Science chronicles a little-known story about race and science in America. While the history of scientific racism in the nineteenth century has been well-documented, there was also a counter-movement of African Americans who worked to refute its claims. Far from rejecting science, these figures were careful readers of antebellum science who linked diverse fields—from astronomy to physiology—to both on-the-ground activism and more speculative forms of knowledge creation. Routinely excluded from institutions of scientific learning and training, they transformed cultural spaces like the page, the stage, the parlor, and even the pulpit into laboratories of knowledge and experimentation. From the recovery of neglected figures like Robert Benjamin Lewis, Hosea Easton, and Sarah Mapps Douglass, to new accounts of Martin Delany, Henry Box Brown, and Frederick Douglass, Fugitive Science makes natural science central to how we understand the origins and development of African American literature and culture. This distinct and pioneering book will spark interest from anyone wishing to learn more on race and society.
"Sample a beer in Hong Kong that tastes like bacon. Discover an out-of-the-way brewery in Vermont that devotees will drive hours to visit. Travel to a 500-year-old Belgian brewery with a beer pipeline under the city streets. This ... atlas meets travel guide explores beer history, geography, and trends on six continents - plus, you'll learn what to drink and where to go for the greatest beer experiences across the globe"--Publisher's description.
