In Teaching ‘Proper’ Drinking?, the

author brings together three fields of scholarship: socio-historical studies

of alcohol, Australian Indigenous policy history and social enterprise

studies. The case studies in the book offer the first detailed surveys of

efforts to teach responsible drinking practices to Aboriginal people by

installing canteens in remote communities, and of the purchase of public

hotels by Indigenous groups in attempts both to control sales of alcohol and

to create social enterprises by redistributing profits for the community

good. Ethnographies of the hotels are examined through the analytical lens of

the Swedish ‘Gothenburg’ system of municipal hotel ownership.

The research reveals that the community governance of such social

enterprises is not purely a matter of good administration or compliance with

the relevant liquor legislation. Their administration is imbued with the

additional challenges posed by political contestation, both within and beyond

the communities concerned.

‘The idea that

community or government ownership and management of a hotel or other drinking

place would be a good way to control drinking and limit harm has been

commonplace in many Anglophone and Nordic countries, but has been less

recognised in Australia. Maggie Brady’s book brings together the hidden

history of such ideas and initiatives in Australia … In an original and

wide-ranging set of case studies, Brady shows that success in reducing harm

has varied between communities, largely depending on whether motivations to

raise revenue or to reduce harm are in control.’ -

Professor Robin Room, Director, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe

University