Drinking crisis? change and continuity in cultures of drinking in sub-saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a brief historical survey of drinking cultures in Africa; from the nineteenth century to the present. It questions the notion of a pre-colonial past of harmonious `integrated'drinking; and suggests that while there has been substantial change in drinking cultures there are also substantial continuities; notably in ideas of temperance. Striking features of change havebeen the introduction of large-scale commercial production - which has brought increasingly globalized marketing strategies to Africa; the commoditization of `traditional' beverages; and thegrowth in consumption of spirits; often produced on an artisanal basis by illicit small-scale distillers. The last decade has also seen the increasing diversion of non-beverage industrial spirits into beverage use. The paper argues that there is no clear evidence of an overall `drinking crisis' affecting the whole of Africa; and that it is not safe to assume that modern drinking is necessarilyworse than pre-colonial drinking. But the paper also notes that there are substantial gaps in our knowledge of current drinking cultures in Africa; and that there is clear evidence of `risky' drinking in several parts of Africa. This may not be a completely new phenomenon; but it does present public health challenges