New generation drinking: The uncertain boundaries of criminal enterprise in modern Kenya
During the 1990s, a new kind of alcoholic beverage began to appear in Kenyan bars. The ‘new generation’ drinks, as they came to be known, disturbed an established boundary between the formal and informal sectors, and between legitimate enterprise and criminal endeavour. They invaded the formal spaces of licit drinking, finding their way on to the shelves of bars between the bottles of Tusker and Bond 7; they shamelessly appropriated the physical markers of respectable business, with labelled bottles and advertising. And they were cheap, since they avoided the burden of taxation which had pushed lager beer and whisky beyond the financial reach of many drinkers. (more…)
