Conflicts over Land and Water in Africa
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Almost a decade ago this journal published a special issue on drugs and drug 'control' in Africa.At the time it was one of the very few general sources on this theme, and soon after one of these -the reports of the Paris OGD (Observatoire Generale de Drogue) -ceased publication.Now we have two books on just one drug, khat ('miraa' in Kenya), each copiously referenced and a tribute to the work of younger researchers.Like the special issue, each explores a large range of issues -well expressed in Carrier's phrase 'the social life of a stimulant'from the pharmacology of the drug itself, through its production, its social, cultural and economic impact, to political and social issues arising from its use.Here we re-enter the area of control and its justification, both in Africa and elsewhere, since khat has become a global commodity, minor, but widespread; a few minutes on the Internet will yield several sites offering bundles of khat, albeit at rather high prices.The two studies differ in scope and style, Anderson et al. covering the Horn and East Africa from a variety of social science and anthropological perspectives, providing us, in its own words, with the 'first analytical study of the chain of production, distribution and transnational consumption of khat'.Carrier's absurdly costly book is almost wholly about Kenya, and at root a piece of cultural ethnography.However, both are part of a larger study, the ESRC funded 'Cultures of Consumption' project headed by Prof. Frank Trentmann, and they do integrate neatly.This is just as well, for Carrier's book is substantially empirical in content, often reading like well-ordered (and entertaining) field notes, and avoiding much analytical digression, even in the introduction and conclusion.The one chapter that does not fit this pattern, on 'Miraa (khat) and the War on Drugs', is more of an opinion piece, well founded and argued, but less scholarly in conception.What Carrier does do very well is to flesh out the lines of analysis and argument in the other study, often with vivid and insightful examples.Each study needs the other to work best, as the discussions of the cultural context of khat consumption, and of the role of trust in its trade demonstrate: Carrier's accounts are essential to grounding and assessing the many references to these themes in Anderson et al.Khat consists of leafy twigs from bushes and mature trees of Catha edulis, available in a great variety of qualities and styles, and consumed by chewing the leaves, tips and bark of the twig, which releases the alkaloids cathinone and cathine (plus others), promoting euphoria and alertness -and an urge to talk to others.It is used as part of many rituals, to aid and enhance social interaction, to stay awake and alert, or simply to ease physical labour (by, for example, farmers).It occurs wild quite widely, but is cultivated mainly in Ethiopia and Kenya, and consumed mainly by Yemenis, Ethiopians, Somalis, Kenyans and other East Africans,
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2976374577