Intoxication in colonial Central Africa

This doctoral research investigates how the local production, trade and use of intoxicants (e.g. cannabis, palm wine, banana beer, hallucinogenic mushrooms) could contribute to escaping colonial encroachment in two ways. First, by generating incomes outside of wage labour. Second, by temporarily alleviating the psychological and physical burden of colonialism. It also considers intoxication as a field of tensions between colonial actors and colonized communities, by investigating the judicial, scientific and cultural discourses and practices they generated. Incorporating many different methodologies such as archival work, fieldwork and material culture research, as well as different theories, such as decolonial thought and more-than-human approaches, this PhD attempts to further our understanding of indigenous practices of foraging.