Alcohol in the Maghreb and the Middle East since the nineteenth century : disputes, policies and practices / Elife Biçer-Deveci, Philippe Bourmaud, editors

Elife Biçer-Deveci is a Postdoctoral Fellow at St Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK, and a Fellow of the Postdoc Mobility Grants of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

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This book explores the significance of alcohol in the Middle East and Maghreb as a powerful catalyst of social and political division. It shows that the solidarities and polarities created by disputes over alcohol are built on arguments far more complex than oppositions on religion or consumption alone. In a region in which alcohol is banned by Islamic rules, yet allows its production and consumption, alcohol has always been contentious. However, this volume examines the different forms of social authority - religious, cultural and political - to offer a new understanding of drinking behaviours in the Middle East and North Africa.