Shebeen

Shebeen in Joe Slovo Park, Cape Town

A shebeen (Irish: síbín) was originally an illicit bar or club where excisable alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Scotland, Canada, the United States, England, Zimbabwe, the English-speaking Caribbean,^[1] Namibia, Malawi,^[2] and South Africa. In modern South Africa, many "shebeens" are now fully legal.^[3][4]

South Africa

In South Africa and Zimbabwe, shebeens are most often located in townships as an alternative to pubs and bars, where under South Africa apartheid and separately during some of the Rhodesian era, indigenous Africans were barred from entering pubs or bars reserved for those of White European descent.

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 alcohol brewing to women.^[5] The Shebeen Queens would sell homebrewed and 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.^[6] 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.^[7]

Shebeens also provided music and dancing, allowing patrons to express themselves culturally, which helped give rise and support the musical genre kwaito.^[8] Currently, shebeens are legal in South Africa and have become an integral part of South African urban culture, serving commercial beers 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 joints for African Americans in the rural Deep South of the USA. They represent a sense of community, identity, and belonging.

Today, they appeal to South Africa’s youth, and are mostly owned by men. Shebeens are bouncing back as South Africans try to preserve some of their cultural heritage.^[9]

United States

In the United States, the word shebeen saw general use by Irish immigrants who worked in the anthracite patches of Pennsylvania.^{[citation needed]}

Newfoundland

Like many traditional Irish words, shebeen has persisted in Newfoundland. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English defines shebeen, also sheebeen and sheveen, as an "unlicensed place where illicit liquor is sold." In the 1880s, the proliferation of shebeens was a hot topic, pitting temperance advocates against those who considered the shebeens harmless fun.

On January 5, 1888 the Twillingate Sun reported: "A policeman entered a shebeen and found a number of persons drinking. A panic ensued, and there was a general stampede. The transgressor of the law, on being brought before the magistrate, pleaded that he was merely entertaining a few friends. The Judge duly remarked he thought it a strange way to entertain friends, when the said friends tried to hide themselves and their drinking utensils away, on the approach of a constable."

In April of 1898, the Chief Steward of the S. S. Bruce raged in response to a St. John's Evening Telegram story querying whether his ship was "a floating shebeen."

See also

• Bothy
• Cuca Shop – a similar establishment in Namibia
• List of public house topics
• Speakeasy
• Sly-grog shop (or shanty)

References

1. Sansone, Livio. The Making of Suriland, in Caribbean migration to Western Europe and the United States: essays on incorporation, identity, and citizenship, Temple University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59213-954-5, p177
2. Mzungu, Watiposo. "Can Malawi succeed in regulating sanitation in shebeens?". The Nation. Nation Publications Limited. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
4. [1]
5. Athol Fugard (5 August 1993). The Township Plays: No-Good Friday; Nongogo; The Coat; Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island. Oxford University Press. pp. 229–. ISBN 978-0-19-282925-2. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
6. Stanley-Niaah, Sonjah (2007). Katherine McKittnick and Clyde Woods (ed.). "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto" Black Geographies and the Politics of Place. Cambridge: South End Press.
7. Vusi Mona. "Shebeens". Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
8. Richard Poplak. "Words Are Weapons". CBC News. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
9. 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