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Articles

Vol. 17 No. 1-2 (2025)

Tonto – Archiving Memory of a vital socio- cultural Local Brew with a rich Vocabulary facing Extinction

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70060/mak-mawazo-2025-238
Submitted
March 26, 2026
Published
December 31, 2025

Abstract

This article examines tonto as an indigenous drink, its rich and specialised vocabulary, the indigenous knowledge process of making it, and the materials as well as the social and/or gender relations, rituals, and traditions associated with its making. Tonto is part of indigenous knowledge that has faced the wrath of forces of ‘modernity’ and its imperatives. According to Mulumba (2017), tonto is a short form of tontomera – (which means “Do not bump into me because of your drunkard state”). For centuries, tonto as a drink has been at the centre of all socio-political and economic activities among the Banyankore and other tribes, such as Baganda. However, key societal changes have significantly minimised the place of, and more or less demonised, tonto and its rich heritage in the social milieu. The specific interest of this article is that the rich heritage of tonto and the language associated with its production and consumption is rapidly disappearing and will soon become extinct. Fewer and fewer people are engaged in its processing and consumption, and the vocabulary for it is so specialised that inactive use will gradually lead to its extinction. The information was generated through extended conversations with purposively selected participants in the Bushenyi District. In essence, this archival initiative aims to preserve the specialised vocabulary associated with tonto and its threatened language register.