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The Food of Elders, the “Ration” of Women: Brewing, Gender, and Domestic Processes among the Samburu of Northern Kenya
Author(s) -
Holtzman Jon
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.1041
Subject(s) - brewing , cash , position (finance) , sociology , political science , gender studies , business , food science , biology , finance , fermentation
In recent years, many Samburu women have begun to brew beer and liquor for sale to elders—including their own husbands. Drawing on “cooperative conflict” approaches to domestic processes, the essay examines brewing in reference to the economic and cultural position of men and women within Samburu households and society at large. Focusing in particular on the issues posed to each gender by the differential control of key resources by the other—food by women and cash by men—the essay views brewing as a negotiated structure through which men and women address the particular gender‐based problems they encounter in daily life. [ gender, family, brewing, Africa ]