In public debates around intoxicants, political and medical commentators tend to focus on their biological, neurological, pharmaceutical, and criminological aspects, while the complex historical and cultural roots that have shaped the deeply embedded modern cultures of intoxication are ignored. In contrast, this short conference at the Palace of Westminster brought some of the latest historical and […]
Project Event: Intoxicants and Politics Past and Present
The CPA Room, Palace of Westminster Monday 10 October 2016 One of our key research themes is intoxicants, politics, and governance. We’re especially interested in the role of early modern governors in determining which intoxicants were consumed where, by whom, at what cost; in the relationship between intoxicants and political debate, conflict, and mobilisation; and in […]
Using Your Noggin: Identifying Intoxicating Objects
As the project nears its conclusion, and with data collection from manuscript sources now complete, we’re starting to identify and link to our existing records material artefacts associated with the production, exchange, storage, and consumption of intoxicants. I’m excited to be working on this work package with strand leader Dr Angela McShane; so far we’ve […]
Engagement Party: Intoxicants and Early Modernity Goes Public
Last week saw a welcome break from the Project’s intensive research programme of data creation and writing when we added to our growing roster of public engagement activities with three exciting outreach events in Sheffield and further afield. Wednesday 18 May Public Debate: Intoxicants, Law, and Policy Lead: Professor Phil Withington First up, as part […]
Jolly Good Ale and Old: An Evening of Drink, History, and Song at the Sign of the Sheffield Tap
Last week, as part of the University of Sheffield’s contribution to national humanities extravaganza Being Human Festival 2015 (#BeingHuman15), I managed to combine my interests in early modern drinking and song by organising and hosting a convivial evening of beer, ballads, and banter at venerable railway station watering hole The Sheffield Tap. Over sixty locals with […]
Workshop Report: Material Cultures of Intoxication in Early Modern England and the Netherlands
Back in November, under the auspices of our fifth research strand, the V&A and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands jointly hosted an Anglo-Dutch Workshop and Reception around the topic of Material Cultures of Intoxication: Trade, Taste, and Exchange between the Early Modern English and the Dutch. Background The inspiration for the workshop emerged […]
Material Cultures of Intoxication: Trade, Taste, and Exchange between the Early Modern English and the Dutch
We’re excited to be organising a one-day workshop on Friday 28 November on ‘Material Cultures of Intoxication: Trade, Taste, and Exchange between the Early Modern English and the Dutch’. Jointly hosted by the V&A and the Netherlands Embassy, and drawing on some of our initial findings in our material culture strand (especially derived from our […]
Project Outreach Session: The Eighteenth Century Gin Craze
The project did another bit of outreach on 2 April when I led a session on early modern intoxicants for Year 12 students during a University of Sheffield open day. Organised by Discover Arts and Humanities – a new initiative of the Outreach team and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities designed to introduce GCSE […]