Histories of wine or beer or vodka often focus either on the production of these alcoholic beverages and their role in national or local economies, or on the ways that drinking is part of celebration. But drunkenness enters the historical record in other ways, too—not just as a social lubricant but as a social ill, one associated with intimate violence or violence to the self and with mass protest. From worries about the Gin Craze to race-based restrictions on consumption, from tax policies to policing, this class will consider the many ways that drunkenness has been accepted, denounced, and legislated in societies around the world.
Histories of wine or beer or vodka often focus either on the production of these alcoholic beverages and their role in national or local economies, or on the ways that drinking is part of celebration. But drunkenness enters the historical record in other ways, too—not just as a social lubricant but as a social ill, one associated with intimate violence or violence to the self and with mass protest. From worries about the Gin Craze to race-based restrictions on consumption, from tax policies to policing, this class will consider the many ways that drunkenness has been accepted, denounced, and legislated in societies around the world.
