Negative Space: Africa
- The African Dagga Cultures
- If Indian use of an unapproved drug was a problem, there’s no question that Africans would get in trouble from their white masters for using it. White leaders in South Africa forbid the sale of any portion of the hemp plant to “any coolies whatsoever”.
- Africans and Alcohol
- Surveys of African cultures indicates that societies that drink more have fewer alcoholics. Some of the indicators of a healthy relationship with alcohol seem to be viewed through biased lenses: as though, if seen among the Irish or Italian immigrants, would be considered indicators of an unhealthy relationship. I wonder, for example, what a researcher would say about Irish giving their children beer before they’ve been weaned.
- Drunks, Brewers, and Chiefs: Alcohol Regulation in Colonial Kenya, 1900-1939
- Charles H. Ambler writes about the rise of prohibition in colonial Kenya; as is often the case, prohibition was meant to keep other races from partaking of recreational drugs.
More Information
- Heart of Darkness
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“Paul Kenyon’s Dictatorland is entertaining, informative, and superficial. He attempts no explanation as to why what started with promise ended in disaster, but his book is nonetheless a useful introduction to modern Africa.”
