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Alcohol and drugs are substances that are produced, marketed, sold and consumed globally – yet the ways they have been conceptualized and dealt with around the world and throughout human history are strikingly different. Most of the world’s population today has experience of taking at least one of the psychoactive substances, and their abuse is often presented as a major contemporary problem – yet there is a clear lack of attention towards the various historical and cultural forms that alcohol and drug use can take.
This graduate seminar will provide an introduction into the history of alcohol and drugs with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Due to the global nature of the topic, the seminar will feature readings on various geographic locations across the continents, and there will be plenty of opportunities to draw transnational comparisons. The students will be introduced to different ways of writing the history of alcohol and drugs, including history of policy, social history, cultural history, history of crime and law, and the history of medicine. Given that this course forms a part of the seminar program of the IMPRS Moral Economies, we would be particularly interested in exploring the ways in which various actors throughout modern history have linked alcohol and drugs to (im)morality and emotions. Finally, we will consider the influence that the historical experience exercises upon our perceptions and policies regarding alcohol and drugs today.
Students with different regional and chronological specializations are encouraged to bring this knowledge to the class and to comment on similarities, differences, connections and entanglements within the history of alcohol and drugs. Prior exposure to the field is not necessary, but the participants are expected to be familiar with historical methods and primary source analysis. For some sessions, the readings will be supplemented by audio-visual material (music, movies, images).
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