Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the changing role that traditional alcohol has in dispute settlements in rural Uganda. While traditional practices are understood as remnants from the past, I argue that these practices are a product of contemporary relationships and flows of information within and beyond Uganda.

Paper long abstract:

This paper ethnographically explores the way in which meanings and practices of traditional alcohol shape local legislative practices in Kisoro District, south-western Uganda. Historical and ethnographic literature on alcohol in Africa has clearly shown the importance of alcohol in regulating social, economic and political life. This traditional heritage is still visible in today's settings, as home brewed beers take up a central role in settling disputes within clan communities, rituals as well as celebrating and maintaining (new) relationships among other things.

However, the place of alcohol within clan structures has come under scrutiny, especially by younger generations who increasingly question the role of alcohol in disputes settlements in their localities. Alcohol thus becomes a contested issue through which narratives of tradition and modernity play out. I argue that local contemplations of these concepts shape and affect interactions at the village level. While clan structures are often seen as remnant of tradition, in this paper I show how local contemplations of terms like tradition, modernity and development shape the clan organisation of the Bakiga people in Kisoro District. By looking into the relationship between traditional alcohol, clan practices and bureaucracy, I show how clan structures mirror certain features and criteria that a modern institution is imagined to need in contemporary Uganda.