I wonder if Stuart McCook could be persuaded to share
his syllabus - on or off line.

I find that my freshman World Civ students pop awake
for the lectures about changing consumption patterns
for coffee and alcohol during the industrial
revolution. Likewise, discussions of chocolate and
(legally defined) drugs seem to make the connections
between international economics, global politics, and
everyday life more real to them.

I teach a course called: "Drug Wars and International
Politics" and have considered courses revolving around
coffee, chocolate, sugar etc. These kinds of course
draw many students who register for the wrong reasons
but stick around for the right ones.

Bruce A. Erickson
Le Moyne College

--- David Fahey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> David M. Fahey
> Miami University
>
> Here is a course description from the University of
> Guelph (Canada):
>
> Chocolate, Coffee, and Globalization
> This course explores the social, cultural, and
> environmental shape of
> globalization through the study of two tropical
> commodities: coffee and
> cacao. While coffee originated in Africa and cacao
> in tropical Latin
> America, both commodities are now produced
> throughout the tropics, and
> consumed globally. We will explore the commodity
> chains that link
> producers in tropical Latin America, Africa, and
> Asia with consumers
> around the world, particularly in Europe and North
> America. The course
> will begin with the domestication of these plants,
> and follow their
> evolution from traditional goods with religious
> significance, to
> expensive luxuries available to only the wealthiest
> Europeans, to the
> inexpensive, commonplace foods they are today. The
> course will draw on
> perspectives from history, anthropology, and the
> environmental
> sciences.
>
> This course also aims to help students develop
> critical skills in
> research and reading, such as finding, evaluating,
> and identifying
> primary and secondary sources. Students will learn
> how to develop their
> analytical voices, through short writing
> assignments, classroom
> discussion, and doing a short research paper.
>
> Stuart McCook teaches in the Department of History.
>



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