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Nina S. Studer

This depiction of the former sultan of the Ottoman empire as an absinthe enthusiast is particularly interesting if we consider that Abdul Hamid II apparently did not drink alcohol as an adult.

On this, see, for example Abdulhamit Kırmızı's 2022 article "The Drunken Officials of Abdülhamid II: Alcohol Consumption in the Late Ottoman Bureaucracy" (journals.openedition.org/remmm)!

journals.openedition.orgThe Drunken Officials of Abdülhamid II: Alcohol Consumption in the ...Much is written on the alcohol ban in Islam and its formal regulations in Muslim countries. Nevertheless, the established ideal, official and legal views have stood in the way of research on practi...
#DrinkingStudies#Orientalism#OttomanEmpire
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Nina S. Studer

Another sketch about Abdul Hamid II by Paul d'Espagnat in "Le Sourire", this time from October 1908 - i.e. just a couple of months after the Young Turk Revolution! Abdul Hamid II states: "Oxygénée Cusenier, dear Sir, a pure marvel! In the three months that I have been taking it, it has had such an effect on me that from an Old Turk, I have become a Young Turk!"

This image shows a sketch, black on yellowish paper. It shows two men, seated. The wall behind them shows vaguely "Oriental decorations" and a painting of a man in uniform. The man on the right is wearing Western clothes and holds a top hat in his hands. He is bearded and looks towards the second man, the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. Abdul Hamid II leans on a table with his right arm. He is wearing a fez and a uniform, his legs are crossed. On the table next to him is a bottle and a glass of absinthe with an absinthe spoon on top. Below them, it says: "Oxygénée Cusenier, dear Sir, a pure marvel! In the three months that I have been taking it, it has had such an effect on me that from an Old Turk, I have become a Young Turk!" The image has been printed in "Le Sourire", on the 24.10.1908, p. 10.
#DrinkingStudies#Orientalism#Absinthe
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Nina S. Studer

Many of these sketches promise that women will be more attracted to a man who drinks "Oxygénée Cusenier". This one shows two Muslim men, smoking a water pipe. One of them says: "By Allah! my hundred and twenty wives have been crazy about me since I started drinking that delicious liqueur of the infidels: Oxygénée Cusenier."

The sketch thus combines Orientalist prejudice about Muslims with the alleged advantages of this specific absinthe - fascinating!

This image shows a sketch, black on yellowish paper. It shows two men. One lies on several pillows, while the other, on the right, sits on a low stool. The one on the left wears a turban, the one on the right a fez. Behind them is a little table with two bottles. The one on the right is leaning forward, smoking a water pipe. The caption below them says, in French: "By Allah! my hundred and twenty wives have been crazy about me since I started drinking that delicious liqueur of the infidels: Oxygénée Cusenier." This image was published in "Le Sourire", on the 02.03.1907, p. 10.
#DrinkingStudies#Orientalism
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Nina S. Studer

This caricature by the lithographer Victor Ratier shows the French King Charles X & Hussein Dey, the last Dey of Algiers, who both lost their power in 1830. Here, they are depicted as lamenting, presumably, smoking a waterpipe & drinking a bottle of alcohol that I cannot identify!

This caricature is freely accessible via Gallica, by the way! gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1

This is a colour drawing. It shows a greenish umbrella, with two men sitting cross-legged below it on pillows. They both seem to wear some sort of turban. The one on the left is the French King Charles II. He wears a yellow turban, a white and blue uniform and black boots. He looks towards the figure ont he right and seems to speak. The figure on the right is Hussein Dey, the last Dey of Algeria. He is wearing a red, yellow and white-striped turban, a red jacket over a yellowish shirt, white trowsers and yellow shoes. Charles X holds a pipe in his hand, while Hussein Dey has his in his mouth. In front of them, on a carpet, is the water pipe, two half-filled glasses and a bottle of alcohol. The caricature has the title "The Decamped Ones (You Too)" in French.
#DrinkingStudies#FrenchColonialism#Orientalism
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Nina S. Studer

He added that from the point of view of sorcery "the Maghreb occupies a truly privileged place in all of Islam".

The French conviction that the belief in sorcery was particularly widespread in the Maghreb, was also connected to notions of asynchronous developments between Europe & "Islam", i.e. the conviction that colonised Muslim countries should be compared to medieval Europe.

#FrenchColonialism#Orientalism#History
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Nina S. Studer

The French colonial power believed that sorcery & belief in magic was particularly widespread in the Maghreb. The jurist Louis Milliot, for example, wrote in his 1910 dissertation on the "Condition of the Muslim Woman in the Maghreb" that "Islam condemns witchcraft & the occult sciences but, in reality, witchcraft & magic have always found adepts there & at each stage of the history of Muslims we meet soothsayers, sorcerers or magicians." #FrenchColonialism #Orientalism #History

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Nina S. Studer

Other #ColonialAdverts for "Clacquesin" were, of course, in French only. This one here - from 1921 - simply claimed that "Clacquesin is the most invigorating, the most refreshing, the most pleasant of aperitifs", whereas the advert for "Bénédictine" next to it stated that it "strengthens delicate stomachs"! This was often portrayed as one of alcohol's main advantages in the hot climates of France's colonial empire.

This image shows two adverts, side to side. On the left is an advert for the French aperitif Clacquesin, claiming that it "is the most invigorating, the most refreshing, the most pleasant of aperitifs". The one on the right is for the French aperitif Bénédictine, which is described as "strengthening delicate stomachs". These adverts can be found in "Alger-Programmes, le petit Echo des théâtres et concerts de l'Algérie", published on the 10.12.1921, p. 1.
#DrinkingStudies#FrenchColonialism#Orientalism
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