Haya worldview and ethos: An ethnography of alcohol production and consumption in Bukoba, Tanzania
Carlson, Robert Geoffrey
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/20217
Description
Title
Haya worldview and ethos: An ethnography of alcohol production and consumption in Bukoba, Tanzania
Author(s)
Carlson, Robert Geoffrey
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Whitten, Norman E., Jr.
Department of Study
Anthropology
Discipline
Anthropology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Anthropology, Cultural
Sociology, Social Structure and Development
Language
eng
Abstract
This dissertation is a study of alcohol production, consumption, and exchange among the Haya, a Bantu-speaking people who live west of Lake Victoria in northern Tanzania. It is based on field research conducted near Bukoba, administrative center of the Kagera Region (summer 1984, reconnaissance; January-June 1986), and archival research in Tanzania and London (December 1985; July 1986). The research location comprises what was Lesser Kyamutwara Kingdom before Tanzanian Independence in 1961.
Part I reconstructs Haya worldview and ethos on the eve of colonial contact in the nineteenth century. Subsistence patterns and ecology, gender relations, hierarchy, and kingship in Lesser Kyamutwara Kingdom are described. The thesis that banana beer is utilized to mediate among symbolic domains (e.g. clans, ancestors, and the king), to facilitate status transitions, and to create cultural integration is presented. The symbolic mediating role of banana beer is based on correspondences between a repetitive pattern of altered consciousness that Haya associate with alcohol use, and the cultural order. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic principles are employed to analyze the correspondences. Haya define four states of consciousness that are characterized by incremental increases in loss of self-control. The last two stages of intoxication are viewed negatively because they indicate a loss of self-control.
Part II focuses on transformations in Haya cosmology, socio-political structure, economy, and values during German and British colonial periods, when Haya began distilling banana beer and were introduced to European alcoholic beverages. Description and analysis of commoditization of alcoholic beverages and British alcohol control laws constitute central themes of Part II.
The use of banana beer as symbolic mediator and as a commodity in contemporary daily life is described in Part III. Haya associate the role of alcoholic beverages as commodities with increases in drunkenness. The contrasting uses of alcoholic beverages reflect differences in the relationship between the individual and the cultural order. The commoditization of alcoholic beverages exploits experience of all levels of intoxication and negates maintenance of self-control, an important traditional value. The analysis of structural processes that undergird the roles of alcoholic beverages suggests directions for future research in other cultures.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
