Qat, Khat and Miraa: transnational flows.

For this week’s selected readings, the overarching theme is engagement with empirical examinations of object’s/objects’ usage. (Given the overt varying nature of miraa illustrated in Carrier, I find the tension between conceptualizing khat as singular object problematic.) We move from not only from the theoretical to the empirical, a move from previous examination of theoretical foundations within material cultural studies, but also temporally, from the engagement with objects and object agency and biography within a temporally-specific context placed within a historical moment (and examined in another specific, or discrete temporal moment), to a contemporary engagement with the object - here, khat (qat, miraa). While all three readings deal very consciously with contemporary qat use, there are three clearly distinguishable elements which each scholar addresses. A political dimension is covered in Wedeen’s examination of democratic performativity in Yemen. Symbolic identity construction through the use of qat amongst the Somali diaspora in the United Kingdom (though not all), as well as the socioeconomic problems and contestations occurring regarding the role of qat in this community’s well-being (although, generalization here too must not be ignored) and resultant tensions over the legality of the substance in negotiations over national membership in the UK, taken up by Klein. Finally, Carrier’s examination of Kenyan khat, miraa, and value leads to considerations on the commercial aspects of qat, both related to Nyambene Hills and the Meru specifically, and the international trade more generally (as is necessary in examinations of commercialism within globalizing economic and object flows).

Despite the different foci these articles engage, clear overlap permeates across each work, illustrating, I would argue, the interconnectivity of multiple dimensions within studies of qat, which extrapolate to the study of objects’ usage and movement more generally. This overlap is both ‘national’ - in examining miraa, the Kenyan, or more accurately, the Meru, context cannot be disassociated from that of the Somali diaspora in the UK. As such, not only does our object here, qat, cross boundaries between peoples, it crosses international nation-state boundaries, rural-urban boundaries, among a variety of other dimensions I do not mention here.

A further element of commonality is the role of qat in identity performance. This is most visible in Carrier and Klein’s pieces. In the former the role of ancestry and heritage of qat production and consumption among the Meru, as well as the significance of place within this commercialization. In Klein, identity construction takes a more central role.

A final element of comparison is the development of a “culture of consumption” (Klein 2007, 52: 59). Klein argues that the constructed myth of qat consumption amongst UK Somalis has resulted in problematic usage resulting from a lack of socially molded norms of balanced consumption. In Wedeen, this “culture of consumption” is the main focus point. For Wedeen, this culture of “qat chews” is tied to the performance of democratic values. This must be viewed within the overarching context of the chapter in question “The Politics of Deliberation.” Wedeen’s central argument entails of re-conceptualization of democracy by “deromanticizing the ballot box” and focusing instead on performative aspects of democratic values.

1) What are other examples of (an) object(s) like qat?

(While this is a truly simple question, I am curious as to your thoughts)

2) How can we reconcile the gender component, in Wedeen and Klein particularly, with the positive and arguably negative arguments made by these scholars?