Dr Neil Carrier, University of Bristol /Gordon Omenya, 'Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Kenya'

This paper will introduce an ongoing project exploring livelihood, developmental and policy issues relating to cannabis in four African countries (Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya). It will focus in particular on the Kenyan and wider East African dynamics of cannabis production, use and trade. As well as exploring key early findings of the research project, the paper will place the contemporary dynamics of cannabis in East Africa within its historical context, as well as showing how the current global context of liberalising cannabis policy has affected perceptions of cannabis in Kenya, and led to cannabis being debated and even praised much more openly than in the past.

Bio: Neil Carrier is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bristol. His work has focused strongly on the theme of drugs in East Africa, with earlier research focused on the stimulant known as khat, although he has also studied broader themes of photography and film, urban development and transnational trade. He is currently co-I of the UKRI-supported project Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Africa

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