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Abstract
A culture of hedonism that attaches a high value to leisure has prevailed in much of Uganda. Having in the past been associated only with Somali and Yemeni migrants, khat consumption has spread among all ethnic groups and to all parts of Uganda. The locus of consumption has moved from the living room to video halls, alleyways and the “ghettos” of both urban and rural areas. Khat chewing, which takes several hours if the full sequence of effects is to be achieved, is viewed as “idling” by mainstream society, and as an affront to the core Ugandan values of hard work and education. There are two types of consumer: 1) the traditional users, “maqatna”, who chew khat accompanied by soft drinks; 2) the “mixers” who combine khat sessions with alcohol and/or cannabis use. The “mixers” have abandoned the rules and rituals of consumption that pertain in other khat-using settings. Many Ugandans confuse cannabis and khat, condone alcohol use, and brand khat chewers as, at best, idlers, and at worst violent criminals.
Keywords:
Acknowledgements
This research is part of an ESRC funded study, “Khat and Social Identity in Uganda” (RES-062-23-0560). All khat-chewing partners and other informants are thanked for their co-operation and for sharing their views on khat. The two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their useful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.
Notes
1. Definition from the CitationConcise Oxford Dictionary .
2. CitationParker, “Normalization as a Barometer,” 206.
3. CitationParker, “Normalization as a Barometer,” 206.
4. In 2007, as a part of an ESRC study on “Khat and Social Identity in Uganda,” most of the main khat production areas were visited. In addition, interviews and participant observation were carried out with numerous khat farmers, traders and consumers across the country. Key informant interviews were conducted with senior policemen, teachers, health workers and NGO workers. The Western region, covering the districts supplied by khat from Kabarole District, was selected as a case study area in 2008. During fieldwork I was accompanied by a fieldworker who also acted as interpreter when necessary, but most interviews were conducted by me in English or Swahili
5. Anderson et al., Khat Controversy.
6. CitationGebissa, Leaf of Allah.
7. Anderson, Khat Controversy.
8. Anderson, Khat Controversy. Also, CitationKlein and Beckerleg, “Building Castles of Spit.”
9. Rockel, Carriers of Culture.
10. David Anderson, pers comm.
11. Anderson et al., Khat Controversy.
12. Willis, Potent Brews.
13. CitationEggling, Indigenous Trees.
14. Anderson et al., Khat Controversy.
15. Interviews with elderly pioneers of the khat trade: Zakaria in Mbale in 2007; Sulemain in Fort Portal 2004; Ali Karama in 2004.
16. Interview with Yahya, 2007
17. Interview with Mohammed, 2004.
18. Gebissa, Leaf of Allah.
19. CitationGoldsmith, “The Somali Impact,” 476
20. CitationGoldsmith, “The Somali Impact,” 472
21. CitationAnderson et al., Khat Controversy.
22. CitationCarrier, Kenyan Khat.
23. CitationGriffiths et al., “A Transcultural Pattern,” 283
24. CitationGriffiths et al., “A Transcultural Pattern,” 283
25. Carrier, Kenyan Khat; Klein and Beckerleg, “Building Castles of Spit.”
26. CitationCarrier, “Miraa is Cool.”
27. Carrier, Kenyan Khat.
28. CitationMcCurdy et al., “The Emerging Heroin Epidemic.”
29. In Uganda most people, including senior police officers, call cannabis “opium.”
30. CitationBusinge, “Why Katwe,” 10.
31. Klein and Beckerleg, “Building Castles of Spit.”
32. CitationGoldsmith, “Symbiosis and Transformation.”
33. Names of people in the case studies have been changed to preserve anonymity.
34. See CitationLeopold, Inside West Nile, for an exposition of the complexities of Nubi identity and ethnicity.
35. CitationBeckerleg, “Khat in East Africa,” Klein and Beckerleg, “Building Castles of Spit.”
36. CitationBeckerleg and Sheekh, “View from the Refugee Camps.”
37. “Bunkenki” means literally “walking on tiptoe” in Luganda. In popular usage the word denotes a state of anxiety about contemporary life.
38. CitationCandia and Asiimire, “Drugs.”
39. Willis, Potent Brews.
40. CitationZinberg, Drug, Set and Setting, 7.
41. CitationWillis, Potent Brews.
42. CitationFabien, Out of Our Minds; CitationRockel, Carriers of Culture.
43. CitationKlein, “Khat in the Neighbourhood,” 824
44. CitationGebissa, “Scourge of Life,” 790.
45. CitationGebissa, “Scourge of Life,” 789.
46. CitationBeckerleg, “What Harm?”
47. CitationKazosi, The Life of Prince Badru.
48. CitationKyomuhendo and Mcintosh, Women, Work and Domestic Virtue, 54.
49. CitationWeber, The Protestant Ethic.