New FORAGENCY publication: “Banana beer in Belgian Burundi: a social metabolist history of intoxication (1916–1962)”
In this exciting open access paper published in the Journal of Eastern African Studies, FORAGENCY PhD candidate Thijs Costers traces the ways in which colonisation transformed banana beer in Burundi. Through the framework of energy circulations, inspired by eco-Marxists such as Fischer-Kowalski, he analyses the importance of beer in the Burundian social metabolism. The article zooms in on three different steps in its life cycle: production, distribution and consumption. In doing so, Thijs shows that metabolic dynamics were an important concern for colonial authorities. Finally, by demonstrating the ways in which consumption practices were changed by commercialisation processes, he sheds light on the importance of trade in determining vernacular social dynamics.