African Nationalism, Municipal Beer Outlets and Shebeens in Salisbury, Rhodesia, 1960s–1980

Abstract

Scholars writing on the alcohol industry in Rhodesia have generally viewed beer drinking in urban areas as a social phenomenon. This has led them to overlook links between beer drinking and politics, yet, in the 1960s and 1970s, politics and beer drinking were intricately linked. This article examines the intersection between nationalism and alcohol drinking in Salisbury, Rhodesia. This approach not only bridges studies on African nationalism and the alcohol industry, but also allows us to examine one aspect of Zimbabwean nationalism that has not yet been examined: shebeens as hubs of African nationalism. More broadly, this approach also allows us to examine the contribution of urban dwellers to the liberation struggle, a subject that has hitherto received little scholarly attention. Using primarily Salisbury Council documents and interviews with contemporaries, the article argues that the 1960s and 1970s municipal beer outlets boycott campaigns not only reduced the profitability of the state-run beer halls, but also spurred the growth of the shebeen industry, as political activists appropriated some shebeens, turning them into political institutions. These shebeens became sites where political activists met not only to drink, but also to evade state surveillance, to disseminate information and to appeal for, and collect, financial and material support that went towards supporting freedom fighters.