YEMEN UPDATE
YEMEN
REVIEWS
- International
Conference Chews Out the Qat Plant
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- Reviewed by Daniel Martin
Varisco
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- Yemen Update
25(1989):13
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- The issue of qat, khat,
miraa or whatever the variant has stimulated more interest
than any other botanical specimen in the Middle East and East
Africa. While it is obviously an important element in the social
and economic framework of Yemen, the cultivation and use of this
plant is also common in a number of parts of the African
continent, especially Ethiopia. It is not surprising, then, that
the first international conference on qat was held on the
continent in Antananarivo, Madagascar in late January, 1983. This
conference was attended by a number of scholars who have studied
qat and its use. Participants came from Saudi Arabia, the
Y.A.R., the U.A.E., Egypt, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Zambia, and Madagascar, as well as from non-chewing countries such
as Switzerland, Sweden, France, Hungary, Italy, Canada and the
U.S.A. The World Health Organization was also
represented.
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- The proceedings of the conference
recently appeared in Arabic (and perhaps elsewhere in English?) in
a volume entitled Al-Qat (Jedda, Tihama Publications,
1407-1987, 330 pp., no index, list of participants, no English
summary). This was edited by two Saudi scholars, Dr. Humad/Hamd
al-Marzuqi and Dr. Ahmad Nabil Abu Khatwa; they have Ph.D.s from
the University of Michigan and Purdue respectively. While all the
papers are in Arabic, references are left in the original
language, as are the notes in most of illustrations. Indeed, much
of the information has been published elsewhere in professional
journals.
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- The focus of the papers is on the
chemistry of qat and the medical effects on the human body.
An excellent bibliography is included with the paper by K.
Szendrei, whose research is available in Western languages.
However, there is an interesting paper by several Saudi authors
from the College of Pharmacy at King Saud University in Riyad. It
is worth noting that they examined qat grown in Saudi
Arabia (for scientific purposes, of course).
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- While information is found for the
region as a whole, most of it is concerned with research conducted
in the African context. There has long been interest in research
in Ethiopia, for example one of the new leaders in the study of
qat in the Ethiopian context is Dr. Abraham Krikorian, in
the Department of Biochemistry at SUNY, Stony Brook. His initial
paper provides a historical survey of research and discovery with
an extended bibliography.
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- The only paper by a trained social
scientist is the discussion of qat marketing and use in
northern Kenya by the anthropologist A. Hjort. For an English
version of this information, see the journal Ethnos 39
(1974): 1-2:27-43 and his monograph published by the University
of Stockholm in 1979. There are a number of short (mercifully so)
"conference" papers by government representatives. One of these
is by a member of the Dept. of Defense at the U.A.E. in Abu Dhabi
(Does this mean a new twist for chemical warfare?) He claims to
have interviewed 112 qat users (including 26 women) in Aden
and lists their responses without even a modicum of analysis.
There is also a sermon by a Saudi on the evils of qat in
the form of the litany oft repeated for popular
consumption.
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- Two Yemeni officials from the Ministry
of the Interior provided a paper on qat in the Yemeni
context. While not apologizing for the use, the paper points out
how it is possible to have a different view on the subject.
Unlike the other papers, the authors refer to a number of benefits
for the use of qat.
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- As for the publication, it will have
limited circulation out of Saudi Arabia and it contains little
that cannot be found in previous Western sources. There are a
number of printing errors in both the Arabic and English. The
Bulûgh al-maram of Qadi al-‘Arash‘ is
attributed to a certain al-Qarshi [sic] on p. 40. Most of
the English errors are in the spelling.
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- No conference would be complete without
its recommendations. This one came up with eight conclusions
which are briefly and dutifully noted at the end of the volume.
These are rather predictable and perfunctory, such as the need for
more study and the need for a second conference. The idea for a
second conference has merit, but certainly not on the same
pedestrian level as the first. The need is to sift through the
quite considerable literature at this point and apply critical
analysis to the issues of medical effects, addiction, social
value, political dimensions and the economic impact of qat. While
it is commendable to include scholars from the entire region, is
it always necessary to have the embarrassing "conference" papers
by uninformed officials? Sadly, while there is much to chew over
the issue of qat, this conference is only a let-down without any
preceding euphoria.
