Topic for Winter 2023: COFFEE, LIQUID MODERNITY
Prerequisites: None
This course provides a history of the modern world through the medium of a single commodity: coffee. Reading materials move from examining basic biology of the coffea plant, including coffee's physiological and psychoactive effects on humans, to the development of cultivation techniques and its significance as an export commodity for 'Global South' nations. We will also investigate the forms of sociality that have emerged around the production and consumption of coffee, from diverse labor forms to the stimulating milieus of Enlightenment salons and Starbucks.