| Unit name | Drink: a History (Level I Lecture Response Unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST20047 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Jones |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Humans have been manufacturing and consuming alcohol for over ten thousand years, with production and consumption of drink forming an integral part of sociability, cultural interaction and economic activity in numerous societies. This unit will explore people's relationship with alcohol, by examining how it has been consumed, what has been consumed and how its trade and distribution has been affected by, or influenced, wider historical developments. Aspects of the topic to be explored may include: drinking cultures, changing forms of alcoholic consumption, developments in alcohol manufacture / storage (e.g. bottling and distillation), the influence of globalisation, the temperance movement, the mass production of alcohol, the development of medical thinking on the subject and attitudes towards consumption by children.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed: (1) a wide understanding of some of the major changes in drink production and consumption since prehistoric times; (2) the ability to analyse and generalise about how changes in the way people drink have reflected and shaped wider historical forces; (3) the ability to select pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general issues and arguments; (4) the ability to derive benefit from, and contribute effectively to, large group discussion; (5) the ability to identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically, and form an individual viewpoint.
1 x 2-hour interactive lecture per week.
One summative coursework essay of 3000 words (50%) and one unseen examination of two hours comprising 2 questions out of 8 (50%). Both elements will assess ILOs 1-3, and 5.
Mack P. Holt (ed.), Alcohol: a Social and Cultural History (OUP, 2006)
Ian S. Hornsey, Alcohol and its Role in the Evolution of Human Society (Cambridge, 2012)
James Nicholls, The Politics of Alcohol: a History of the Drink Question in England (Manchester University Press, 2009)
W.J. Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (OUP, 1979)
Susan Rose, The Wine Trade in Medieval Europe, 1000-1500 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013)
