Editing Shebeen (section)

==South Africa==

Originally shebeens were operated illegally by women who were called Shebeen Queens and were themselves a revival of the African tradition that assigned the role of [[women in brewing]].<ref name="Fugard1993">{{cite book|author=Athol Fugard|title=The Township Plays: No-Good Friday; Nongogo; The Coat; Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ybn4VLRLTMcC&pg=PA229|accessdate=9 September 2013|date=5 August 1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-282925-2|pages=229–}}</ref> The Shebeen Queens would sell [[Homebrewing|homebrewed]] and [[Moonshine|home-distilled]] alcohol and provided patrons with a place to meet and discuss political and social issues. Often, patrons and owners were arrested by the police, though the shebeens were frequently reopened because of their importance in unifying the community and providing a safe place for discussion.<ref>{{Cite book| first= Sonjah | last= Stanley-Niaah| author-link=Sonjah Stanley Niaah|title= "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto" Black Geographies and the Politics of Place | editor= Katherine McKittnick and Clyde Woods | place= Cambridge | publisher= [[South End Press]] | year= 2007}}</ref> During the apartheid era, shebeens became a crucial meeting place for activists, some attracting working-class activists and community members, while others attracted lawyers, doctors and musicians.<ref>{{cite web|author=Vusi Mona |url=http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/mg/saarts/pop-shebeens1.htm/ |title=Shebeens |accessdate=2008-02-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810101927/http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/mg/saarts/pop-shebeens1.htm |archivedate=August 10, 2007 }}</ref> One reason the government allowed the shebeens to remain open was because some of Shebeen Queens were informers for the police.

Shebeens also provided music and dancing, allowing patrons to express themselves culturally, which helped give rise and support the musical genre [[kwaito]].<ref>{{cite news| author=Richard Poplak| url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/kwaito.html| title=Words Are Weapons | accessdate=2008-02-26| work=CBC News}}</ref> Currently, shebeens are legal in [[South Africa]] and have become an integral part of South African urban culture, serving diverse commercial brands from beer, cider to whisky as well as [[umqombothi]], a traditional [[African beer]] made from [[maize]] and [[sorghum]]. Shebeens still form an important part of today's social scene. In contemporary South Africa, they serve a function similar to [[juke joint]]s for African Americans in the rural Deep South of the US. They represent a sense of community, identity, and belonging.

Today, most alcoholic beverages' target market is the affluent black African class (particularly male), whose persona is perceived to be  educated, tied to the high end job market and a step up in the social ladder. As well as appealing to South Africa's youth, most shebeens are owned by black men. Shebeens are bouncing back as South Africans try to aspire to better economic conditions in order to preserve some of their cultural and economic affairs.<ref>Stanley-Niaah, Sonjah. "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto." In Black Geographies and the Politics of Place, ed. by Katherine McKittrick and Clyde Woods, 193–217. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2007</ref>