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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The only money a woman can claim: a history of distilling in Bunyoro
Author:Willis, JustinISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:Uganda Journal (ISSN 0041-574X)
Volume:46
Period:December
Pages:1-16
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Uganda
East Africa
Subjects:women
illicit trade
alcoholic beverages
Development and Technology
economics
Historical/Biographical
Labor and Employment
Economics, Commerce
history
Women's participation
Distilling
informal sector
Bunyoro (Uganda)
External link:https://www.ajol.info/index.php/uj/article/view/23026
Abstract:Drawing particularly on evidence from fieldwork in Bunyoro, in northwestern Uganda, the author describes the history of making and selling distilled alcohol in Uganda, commonly named 'waragi', a derivative of the Turco-Egyptian term 'arrack'. He shows how colonial legislation which attempted to control the manufacture and sale of African-made fermented drinks such as grain beers and banana wine, and the differential access which men and women had to cash, encouraged small-scale commercial production of distilled spirits during the colonial period. Distilling was, overwhelmingly, a woman's activity. The illicit making and selling of 'waragi' was one of the few ways women could earn cash. Attempts to formalize this commerce after independence, notably through the 1964 Enguli Act, failed because of the State's preference for male producers, and the weakness of the State itself. The illicit production of 'waragi' has continued to grow, though its character has altered. More men are now involved and business is geared to long-distance trade. Notes, ref., sum.
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