Courses

Mind-altering plants, fungi, and their derivatives have been important—and controversial—aspects of human culture for thousands of years. Few societies have avoided all psychoactive substances, just as most have regarded some with contempt. One group’s sacred plant can be another’s abomination. Some scholars think alcohol production was a significant factor in the rise of urbanism and civilization, and others have recently found evidence of more potent substances in ancient ceramic vessels. Major social and economic developments have been connected to the spread of mind-altering substances. Coffee, for example, has been linked to the flourishing of Sufi mysticism in the Muslim world and the rise of capitalism in northwestern Europe.

This course takes a deep dive into the history and geography of more than a dozen natural psychoactive substances. It avoids synthetic drugs, although it will touch on those derived from natural substances, such as cocaine and morphine/heroin. Familiar means of altering one’s mental state, in both subtle and overwhelming ways, will be emphasized, with detailed explorations of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, opium, coffee, and tea. But we will also consider more obscure and regionally restricted substances, such as fly agaric, kava, and qat. The focus will be on anthropological considerations and geohistorical analysis, avoiding moral and medical evaluations. Lectures will be richly illustrated.