Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals: Power, Practice and Performance in the South African Rural Periphery (Ritual Studies Monographs)

Colonialism and apartheid stimulated varying responses among Xhosa speakers in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. Among some, a rural homestead, agricultural practices, and an agrarian lifestyle became a primary means of resisting social injustices and incorporation into the wider political and economic system. In this respect, maize beer rituals became crucial for developing and maintaining rural social and economic relations, inculcating the values that supported these, and providing a viable view of the world that afforded an alternative to the disillusionment associated with black urban areas. This book demonstrates the way beer drinking rituals worked toward these aims, the various types of rituals that developed, and how they sought to instill a rural Xhosa habitus in the face of almost overwhelming odds. This book is part of the Ritual Studies Monograph Series edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, University of Pittsburgh.