Murathi Antony Kimani2026-03-092026-03-092025-11https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/32678A Thesis Submitted To the School of Law, Arts, and Social Sciences in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) of Kenyatta University. November, 2025 supervisors Pius Kakai Felistus KinyanjuiThis study examines women’s participation in the brewing enterprise from 1890 to 2010, situating it within the urban context of Nairobi. Its specific objectives were: to evaluate how socio-cultural norms shaped the brewing and consumption of alcoholic beverages among precolonial Kenyan societies; to assess how indigenous brewing transitioned from rural to urban contexts and became commodified in Nairobi between 1900 and 1928; to analyze the factors that enabled African women brewers in Nairobi to sustain and adapt their brewing enterprises amid intensified colonial repression between 1929 and 1963; and to explore how local and global political-economic dynamics influenced the transformation and resilience of women’s brewing in Nairobi from 1964 to 2010. The study investigates the gendered socio-economic factors that underpinned the emergence of women’s brewing enterprise in Nairobi and examines how women brewers exercised agency within the constraints of the city’s shifting political economies. An integrated theoretical framework drawing on the articulation of modes of production and the concept of women’s agency was employed. Methodologically, the study adopted a historical research design grounded in qualitative analysis. Data was obtained from primary and secondary sources and verified for authenticity, consistency, and reliability. It was then presented thematically and chronologically in line with the research objectives. Findings reveal that both colonial and post-independence policies criminalized and stigmatized indigenous brewing, but women transformed it into a vital livelihood strategy, generating income amid persistent structural constraints. Women brewers thus emerged not as passive participants but as active agents who negotiated repression, commodification, and urban transformation to assert autonomy and sustain livelihoods, which significantly shaped Nairobi’s social and economic landscape. The study recommends further research on the intersection of men’s and women’s roles in brewing, on women’s strategies for reinvesting income within the indigenous alcohol economy, and on the evolving linkages between small-scale and industrial beer production. Comparative studies between Nairobi and other African cities could also illuminate broader regional dynamics in women’s brewing practices and how these relate to wider urban informal economies. Such inquiries would also help preserve and valorize women’s brewing knowledge as a crucial resource for reclaiming cultural dignity and advancing the broader project of economic and intellectual decolonization. This study contributes both to scholarship and practice by advancing the historiography of gender and urban Africa and informing contemporary policy debates on alcohol regulation, informal enterprise, and women’s entrepreneurship in African citieenThesis