Drinking pito: conviviality, popular culture and changing agricultural production at the rural–urban interface in Brong Ahafo, Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines the spread of consumption and commercial brewing of pito (sorghum beer) from its production base in the northern savanna region of Ghana to the southern transition zone in Brong Ahafo and the resulting drinking culture. It draws on fieldwork conducted in Brong Ahafo and northern Ghana to discuss the connections among rural migration, ecological and economic changes and how these affect consumption patterns in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Focusing on the vibrant drinking activities of two pito bars, it shows that when viewed through the lens of political economy and contemporary Ghanaian history, the spread of consumption of pito can provide a window into social transformation and the construction of inter-ethnic relations and identities while speaking simultaneously to an emerging northern Ghanaian middle class

Keywords:

• Pito
• conviviality
• social transformation
• rural migration
• Brong Ahafo
• Ghana

Notes

1. Bryceson (2002) defines modalities as the norms, attitudes, and values associated with patterns of drinking and intoxication.

2. The names of surveyed bars (see Table 1) is illustrative of this trend.

3. Such categories include Dagati pito, Konkomba pito, Kassena pito, Kusasi pito, Frafra pito etc.

4. Interview, July 2005.

5. Interview, 2005.

6. Interview, July 2005. For a discussion of the mother-daughter dyad in beer brewing (see Luning, 2002).

7. For fascinating discussion on Lenga as a central concept in beer drinking among the Mossi and Bisa of neighboring Burkina Faso see Saul (1981).

8. Fabian (1998)