This book explores the significance of alcohol in the Middle East and Maghreb as a powerful catalyst of social and political division. It shows that the solidarities and polarities created by disputes over alcohol are built on arguments far more complex than oppositions on religion or consumption alone. In a region in which alcohol is banned by Islamic rules, yet allows its production and consumption, alcohol has always been contentious. However, this volume examines the different forms of social authority – religious, cultural and political – to offer a new understanding of drinking behaviours in the Middle East and North Africa. It suggests that alcohol, being at the same time an import and product of local industry, epitomises the tensions inherent to the conforming of Islamic societies to global trends, which seek to redefine political communities, social hierarchies and gender roles. The chapters challenge common misconceptions about alcohol in this region, arguing instead that medical discourses on alcohol dependency hide stances on national independence in an imperialist context; that the focus on religion also tends to conceal disputes on alcohol as a social struggle; and that disputes on inebriation are more about masculinity than judging private leisure. In doing so, the volume presents alcohol as a way of grasping the power relations that structure the societies of the Middle East and Maghreb.
Author(s): Elife Biçer-Deveci, Philippe Bourmaud
Series: St Antony's Series
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 233
City: Cham
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Introduction: Alcohol, Public Debate, and the Inescapability of Islamic References
The Üsküdar Affair (2006): A Battle in the Turkish Culture Wars
Alcohol, Social Acceptability, and the Redefinition of the Public Space
From Normalisation to Hiding in Plain Sight: A Literature Survey
Three Misconceptions: Dependency, Religion, and the Vulnerability of the Individual
An Outline of this Book
Bibliography
Part I: Science and Politics
Turkey’s Prohibition in 1920: Modernising an Islamic Law
Introduction
Alcohol Prohibition and the Early Temperance Movement in the Ottoman Empire
Hilâl-i Ahdar and the Idea of Alcohol Ban
The Alcohol Ban Law of 1920
Conclusion
Bibliography
Unknowable Social Problems or Competing Regimes of Truth? Surveying Alcohol in Mandatory Palestine and Syria-Lebanon (1918–1948)
Introduction
Between Social Problems and Economic Development
The Defensive Function of Official Enquiries
Constructing Proof
Miscellaneous Objects of Enquiries
Strategies of Proof
Inadequate Sources of Data
Conclusion
Bibliography
Ordinary Drinking? Place and Politics of Alcohol in Lebanon
Introduction
Alcohol and Advertising: Absolut Civil Love
Alcohol in Lebanon: Trends and Flows
Renewals in Local Production
An “Alcogenic” Country?
The Visibility of Alcohol: Advertising and Branding
Shaping the Flow: Competing Regulations of Alcohol
Political Influence and the Place of Alcohol
Private Companies as a Growing Actor
Drinking Patterns between Performance and Transgression
Performing Gender in Nightlife Venues
Alcohol, Transgression and Invisibility
Conclusion
Bibliography
Part II: Normative Systems and Negotiated Interests
Alcohol and Religious Practices in Meknes (Morocco): Between Rejection and Compromise
Introduction
Daily Religion and Alcohol Consumption
Refrain from Drinking Alcohol During Ramadan
Continue to Drink Alcohol During Ramadan
Alcohol, a “Crossroads Object” Revealing the Variability of Religious Practices in Islam
Bibliography
Morocco 1912–1956: The Most Prohibitive of the French Colonies?
Introduction
The First World War and the Creation of an Original Pattern of Imperial Prohibition
Fighting Alcoholism: A Reason for the French Intervention in Morocco
The First World War, the Rise of French Prohibition
The Interwar: The Climax of French Prohibition in Morocco
The Continuity of Prohibitionist Policies
In Contradiction to the Development of a Local Economy of Alcohol
A Limited Repression Exerted with a Soft Touch
The Impossible Prohibition? (1940–1956)
The Second World War, a New Moment of Prohibition to Muslims
1945 and Beyond: A Lighter Touch
An Enduring Contradiction Between Prohibition and the Reality of Alcohol Consumption
Conclusion
Bibliography
Drinking in Turkey: From Social Coexistence to Ideological Confrontation
The Invisibility of Alcohol in Public Areas: Where Drinkers Are Outcasts
A Scarcity of Places Where Alcohol Can Legally be Bought or Drunk
Concentration and Ostracism in Public Spaces
Campaigns and Stigmatisations
“Alcohol Is the Mother of All Evils”: The AKP Crusade Against Alcohol
Who Drinks, Where, What, and with Whom?
The Lines of Arguments and the Underlying Debate
The Effects of the AKP Crusade on Alcohol: Moving Away from the Social Status Quo
Bibliography
Part III: Contested Spaces
Drinking in Times of Change: The Haunting Presence of Alcohol in Egypt
A Present Absence
Teetotal Sectarianism
A Sober Revolution
A Virgin Revolution
(Dis-)Connected with Alcohol
Conclusions: A Haunting, Travelling Song
Bibliography
Production and Consumption of Alcohol in Ramallah: Steadfastness, Religion, and Urban Rhythms
Introduction
Production of Alcohol in Palestine: Between Sumûd (Steadfastness) and haram (Forbidden)
The Archipelago of Spaces in Ramallah: Distinction and Consumption of Alcohol
Places of Alcohol in Ramallah
Times of Alcohol: Ramallah by Night and by Day, Rhythms, Norms, and Reputation
Conclusion
Bibliography
Part IV: Ambivalences and Anxieties
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
