Trans-mountain Moonshine: Liquor, Identity, and Resistance in the Appalachian and Carpathian Mountains

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of the local production of liquor – or hooch – as a means of cultural reproduction and participation in the informal economy within rural areas, and what this has implied for both state control and local resistance. I examine these issues comparatively, looking at the informal production of moonshine in Appalachia, and ţuica in Carpathian Romania. A global comparative lens helps to illuminate the changing nature of state-society relations in the context of rural peripheries and the increasing globalization of local culture and lifeways.