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Distilling the Influence of Alcohol: Aguardiente in Guatemalan History

Online ISBN:
9780813043432
Print ISBN:
9780813041629
Publisher:
University Press of Florida
Book

Distilling the Influence of Alcohol: Aguardiente in Guatemalan History

David Carey Jr. (ed.)
David Carey Jr.
(ed.)
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Published:
7 October 2012
Online ISBN:
9780813043432
Print ISBN:
9780813041629
Publisher:
University Press of Florida

Abstract

Despite its persistence and prevalence in the lives of most Central Americans, alcohol has received relatively little attention in Central American historiography. As a commodity that was produced and consumed locally (and often illicitly), aguardiente (distilled sugar cane spirits or rum) was frequently at the center of economic, political, and social conflicts between local communities and the state. The proceeds from alcohol manufacturing filled government coffers, fueled local economies, and fortified family livelihoods. Yet in a region where historians have emphasized the impact of such export and subsistence commodities as coffee and corn, scholars have neglected the crucial role of alcohol. With an eye toward shedding new light on ethnic, gender, class, and state-subaltern relations, Distilling the Influence of Alcohol explores the ways that the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol have shaped Guatemala’s colonial and national history. With its indigenous, European, African, and Asian influences and diverse mix of peoples—Mayan, Garifuna, Creoles, and Ladinos (non-indigenous Guatemalans)—Guatemala presents an excellent case study to examine how the alcohol economy provided a site of critical social interaction among the contested categories of ethnicity, race, class, and gender.

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