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Drink in History (Syllabus)
Dr. Jeffrey Pilcher's syllabus for his undergraduate course, Drink in History, at The Citadel.
B. Ann Tlusty, Bacchus and Civic Order (Charlottesville, Va., 2001).
Wolfgang Shivelbusch, Tastes of Paradise (New York, 1993).
Catherine Murdoch, Domesticating Drink (Baltimore, 1998).
Tony Collins and Wray Vamplew, Mud, Sweat, and Beers (Oxford, 2002).
Additional required readings can be found online. From The Citadel homepage, click Library then go to Reserves/Course Materials. First look up the instructor, then search down for the course heading and appropriate reading.
Assignments
Grade Scale. A = 400 - 360; B = 359 - 320; C = 319 - 280; D = 279 - 260; F = 259 - 0.
All missed assignments must be made up within two weeks after the due date. Failure to do so will result in a grade of “0” for that assignment.
Take-Home Examinations, worth 100 points each, will consist of double-spaced, type-written essays of at least three pages in length. The question will be handed out a week before the due date. You are encouraged to consult with the writing center for questions of style and clarity, but the content must be entirely your own work. Collaborating on take-home exams, or otherwise use the words or ideas of others (including materials from the world wide web) without giving proper credit, will be considered as plagiarism. Students must sign their essays, and that signature is understood to mean the work is that of the student presented in accordance with academic canons. Exams are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day and will have ten points deducted for each weekday late.
Classroom participation and reading quizzes will count for 40 points. It is impossible to participate properly, offering informed comments, without reading the assignments before class. Coming to class unprepared or failing to participate shows disrespect to your fellow student leaders. Those who sleep in class, disrupt the class, read non-class materials, dispute grades, or create a hostile environment for others will be asked to leave and marked absent.
Student Leadership Assignment. Students will pair up to lead the class discussion over two of the assigned readings. The discussion should begin with a quiz of three or four short answer factual questions to summarize the reading. Your goal is to find questions that will be easy to answer for those who have done the reading and difficult for those who have not.
In addition, you will prepare a series of about ten discussion questions analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s thesis, evidence, and historical reasoning. In contrast to the quiz, the point here is not to find a “right” answer to one question and then immediately proceed to the next. Instead, try to encourage different perspectives from students. Class discussions should run at least fifteen minutes, although there is nothing wrong with taking the entire period to consider a topic fully.
Each leadership team is encouraged to meet with the instructor before the presentation. Be sure to divide up the workload so you each ask discussion questions and participate fully in the exchange. The discussions will be worth 30 points each for a total of 60 points.
Schedule Assignments & Readings
Monday, August 30 McGovern, “Archaeological Hunt”
Wednesday, September 1 Martin, “Women and Alcohol”
Monday, September 6 Tlusty, 1-47
Wednesday, September 8 Tlusty, 48-79
Monday, September 13 Tlusty, 80-114
Wednesday, September 15 Tlusty, 115-57
Monday, September 20 Tlusty 158-212
Wednesday, September 22 Taylor, “Drinking”
Friday, September 24 Schivelbusch, xiii-14
Monday, September 27 Schivelbusch, 15-94
Wednesday, September 29 Leclant, “Coffee and Cafés”
Monday, October 4 Thompson, “Councils of State”
Wednesday, October 6 Schivelbusch, 96-146
Friday, October 8 First Take Home Exam Due
Monday, October 11 Schivelbusch, 147-203
Wednesday, October 13 Guy, “Rituals of Pleasure”
Monday, October 18 Herlihy, “Battling Booze”
Wednesday, October 20 Schivelbusch, 204-28
Monday, October 25 Murdoch, 3-41
Wednesday, October 27 Murdoch, 42-87
Monday, November 1 Murdoch, 88-113
Friday, November 5 Second Take Home Exam Due
Monday, November 8 Murdoch, 114-58
Wednesday, November 10 Murdoch, 159-79
Monday, November 15 Collins and Vamplew, 1-38
Wednesday, November 17 Collins and Vamplew, 39-68
Monday, November 22 Thanksgiving Vacation
Wednesday, December 1 Collins and Vamplew, 69-90
Friday, December 3 Collins and Vamplew, 91-125
Monday, December 6 Orozco, “Gabriel Espíndola Martínez”
Thursday, December 9 Final Take Home Exam Due
History 495 Take Home Examination One: Due October 8, 2004
Question: Wolfgang Schivelbusch associated coffee with the rise of capitalism among the Protestant bourgeoisie, as opposed to the chocolate consumed by a Catholic aristocracy. Does the experience of London and Paris support such a religious interpretation of social and economic change?
Instructions: Answer this question with a type-written essay of at least three pages in length. It will be worth 100 points and will be graded on the following scale:
Clear Thesis Statement (10 points). You must write a thesis statement summarizing your answer to the question. The rest of the paper must then support that thesis. Indicate your thesis by either italicizing or underlining it.
Answers Question (40 points). Whatever answer you give must be supported with evidence, so describe the contexts of coffee consumption in the two cities. Your evidence should be drawn from Tastes of Paradise and “Coffee and Cafés in Paris.” Check with the instructor before using any other sources. Remember that the use of unattributed sources constitutes plagiarism.
Historical Understanding (20 points). This paper will give you an opportunity to examine historical causation. How might coffee have contributed to the rise of new economic and social systems? What other factors might have contributed to such change?
Using primary quotes cited in the two essays will raise your grade significantly, but copying down secondary sources, the words of Schivelbusch or Leclant themselves, will not. Moreover, excessive use of secondary sources, stringing together one quote after the next by the two modern historians at the expense of your own ideas, will cause your grade to be lowered significantly.
Format (10 points). Justify the type on the left side only and use one-inch margins all around. Do not leave additional blank lines between paragraphs. Use 12-point typeface and pick a proportional font such as Times New Roman rather than Courier. Number the pages, staple them together, and do not fold them in any manner. Sign your essay to indicate that it is your work presented in accordance with academic standards.
Citations should be given in parenthetical form, i.e., “First, Gentry, Tradesmen, all are welcome hither,/and may without affront sit down together” (Schivelbusch, 52) or “conversation obligatorily accompanies coffee or tea, it is even their real reason for existing” (Leclant, 91). Single space and indent block quotes of 40 words or more. Your bibliography, which does not count toward the three-page minimum, should have the following format:
Leclant, Jean. “Coffee and Cafés in Paris, 1644-1693,” In Food and Drink in History, edited by Robert Forster and Orest Ranum, translated by Elborg Forster and Patricia M. Ranum. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.
Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, translated by David Jacobson. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
History 495 Take Home Examination Two: Due November 5, 2004
Question: Did the eighteenth-century commercialization of alcohol undermine communal solidarity in the Americas? Compare and contrast the social significance of drink in colonial British North America and New Spain.
Instructions: Answer this question with a type-written, double-spaced essay of at least three pages. It will be worth 100 points and will be graded on the following scale:
Clear Thesis Statement (10 points). You must write a thesis statement summarizing your answer to the question. The rest of the paper must then support that thesis. Indicate your thesis by either italicizing or underlining it.
Answers Question (30 points). Whatever answer you give must be supported with evidence, so describe any changes in the way people drank in both societies. Your evidence should be drawn from “Councils of State,” “Drinking,” and your own lecture notes. Collaboration after the exam has been passed out will be considered cheating.
Historical Understanding (30 points). In this essay, you should demonstrate the basic historical skills of context, chronology, and change over time. Context is needed so that your readers understand the historical evidence -- specific examples and pithy primary source quotations -- you provide in support of your conclusion. Use ample ethnographic details describing the situations in which people drank, their favored beverages, and their behaviors while drinking.
Chronology is likewise essential to historical argumentation. At the most basic level, if you argue that one event caused another, make sure the cause preceded the effect. Whenever possible, give precise dates rather than vague statements about the past. Pay attention to change over time such as new forums for drinking and new types of alcohol.
Avoid excessive secondary sources. Stringing together one quote after the next by the two modern historians (as opposed to colonial documents cited in their texts) at the expense of your own ideas will cause your grade to be lowered.
Note: Please do not refer to Mexican Indians as “tribes.” Unlike North American Indians, they inhabited settled, agrarian communities. Use “village” or “community.”
Format (10 points). Justify the type on the left side only and use one-inch margins all around. Do not leave additional blank lines between paragraphs. Use 12-point typeface and pick a proportional font such as Times New Roman rather than Courier. Number the pages, staple them together, and do not fold them in any manner. Sign your essay to indicate that it is your work presented in accordance with academic standards.
Citations should be given in parenthetical form, i.e., “in the Mixtec Alta, a witness stated that ‘a wife should not drink while her husband is drunk.’” (Taylor, 62). Single space and indent block quotes of 40 words or more. Put lecture materials in your own words. Do not attempt to quote or cite the instructor. Your bibliography, which does not count toward the three-page minimum, should have the following format:
Taylor, William B. Drinking, Homicide, and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1979.
Thompson, Peter. Rum Punch and Revolution: Taverngoing and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
Grammar and organization (20 points). Your essay will be graded using the same abbreviations as the first exam.
History 495 Take Home Final Examination: Due December 9, 2004
Assignment: Write a short ethnographic study of a particular drinking culture in contemporary America. This essay should be at least three (but preferably more) type-written, double-spaced pages. It will be worth 100 points.
Research: To conduct your ethnographic research, you should spend at least two hours (but preferably more) in a location where people drink, either a coffee shop, bar, or social club of some kind. Do not drink alcohol while completing this assignment. Instead, observe the behavior of other people. Take notes on the social composition of the clientele. Record their age, class, and gender. Do they come in groups or individually? How do they interact with other customers and with employees? What do they drink (and eat)? What other activities take place within the establishment? What do they discuss? What can you learn about American society from observing these activities?
Write-up: The format for this paper should be the same as any academic paper. Write an introduction outlining the importance of your research. Provide a clear thesis statement describing what your ethnographic research has revealed about contemporary American society. Use the body of your paper to support this thesis. Write one or more paragraphs setting the scene, describing the location of the drinking establishment and the drinks that are served. Describe the occasion at which you make your observations. How does the clientele -- and their behavior -- change at different times (happy hour, closing time)?
Grading Scale
Clear Thesis Statement (10 points). Indicate your thesis by either italicizing or underlining it.
Ethnographic Observation (30 points). The essence of ethnographic work is to convey in words a living culture. Describe objectively who people are and how they behave. Consider also the physical environment and how people interact with it.
Analytical Skills (30 points). You should use the historical insights gained in the class to inform your analysis of contemporary drink. Pay particular attention to the dynamics of gender and class. Do people build a sense of solidarity through their drinking behaviors? Draw comparisons with past societies.
Format (10 points). Justify the type on the left side only and use one-inch margins all around. Do not leave additional blank lines between paragraphs. Use 12-point typeface and pick a proportional font such as Times New Roman rather than Courier. Number the pages, staple them together, and do not fold them in any manner. Sign your essay to indicate that it is your work presented in accordance with academic standards. Citations to class readings or other materials should follow the same format as previous essays. Be sure to include a bibliography of sources used (but not lecture notes).
Grammar and organization (20 points). Your essay will be graded using the same abbreviations as the first exam.
Posted by David Fahey on February 1, 2005 at 09:40 AM in Syllabi | Permalink
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