Tea at Trianon: Alcohol Consumption in African Hunter-Gatherers

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, November 5, 2021

Alcohol Consumption in African Hunter-Gatherers

From Phys.org:

Although traditionally primarily reliant on subsistence foraging, they are currently in the midst of a socioeconomic transition. Increased logging and local conservation initiatives have meant many Mbendjele BaYaka have moved to more permanent, sedentary settlements seeking alternative employment with an increase in alcoholism as a detrimental consequence.

Problems associated with alcohol use have long been identified as a major health risk facing Indigenous communities worldwide, however, research and data on consumption patterns and health consequences of alcohol use and abuse are virtually non-existent for African hunter-gatherers, most likely due to difficulties in working with dispersed communities in remote areas.

In a new study published today in PLOS ONE, an international team of researchers present data demonstrating that the prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption among transitioning hunter-gatherer populations such as the Mbendjele BaYaka is significantly higher than in other segments of the Congolese population, highlighting an urgent need for targeted public health interventions. (Read more.)