New Lectures in History (300-0-22)
Topic
Cannabis: Global History
Instructors
Lina M Britto
Harris Hall 302
Meeting Info
University Hall 101: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
This course examines the history of cannabis in a global perspective to understand how and why a plant that has been crucial to most civilizations for millennium became one of the most consumed intoxicants in human history, and one of the most demonized, criminalized, controversial and profitable commodities of the modern world. We consider archeological evidence to explore the earliest uses and meanings of the plant in antiquity and how it spread from Central Asia to the rest of the planet. We also examine various types of historical works to comprehend what roles cannabis played in the rise of maritime empires and the formation of a global capitalist world. Then, we revisit some of the urban and rural cultures in various parts of the world that modernized the plant's uses and meanings in the 20th century; and study scientific, legal, and pop-culture materials to elucidate what was at stake in the most heated controversies and campaigns against and in favor of the plant at the time. We conclude analyzing the most recent debates and policies on decriminalization and legalization in North and South America in a comparative perspective and their socio-economic, political, and environmental implications. We address these topics reading history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and journalism; and watching and analyzing critically songs, advertisement, literature, feature films, and documentary movies.
Learning Objectives
The objective is for students to get to know the depth of the history of humanity's relationship with one of the most consumed psychoactive plants on Earth and comprehend how and why the history of cannabis defies rigid conceptualizations at various levels, such as North and South, centers and peripheries, legality and illegality, femininity and masculinity, black and white, archaic and modern, etc. Ultimately, students learn, apply, and practice interdisciplinarity, and get comfortable with indeterminacy, contingency, flows, transitions, and plurality in history.
Evaluation Method
Oral presentations, response papers, Canvas discussion forum, final research project.
Class Notes
Concentration: Americas
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area
Associated Classes
DIS - University Hall 412: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM
DIS - Harris Hall L05: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
DIS - Harris Hall L04: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM