History 1706 Spring 2020

For Fatigue of Mind or Body.

NAPPI’S

PHARMACOPOEIA
Drugs in Global History, History 1706
___________

A Pleasant Tonic and Invigorator.

___________

Made from the freshest readings, most delicious discussions, and a

healthy dose of stimulating lectures

Recommended for
BOREDOM, GLOBALHISTORY-LESSNESS, DESPONDENCY, ETC.

Prof. Carla Nappi & Co.

Established Spring 2020

With expert teaching associate …

Barry Bookheimer, Esq.

bookheimer@pitt.edu

Dr. Carla Nappi

Dept. of History, Posvar Hall 3904
Easily reached by email at nappi@pitt.edu!
Available for Office Hours Wednesdays from 11 am – 1 pm, and by appointment!

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History 1706 Spring 2020

REFER MADNESS*

What
Welcome to the course! History 1706 explores the
ways in which drugs, and ideas of what a drug is, have
shaped global history since early modernity. Together,
we will explore a pharmacopoeia full of global objects
acquired both over-, behind-, and under-the-counter,
from chocolate and Spanish Fly to Prozac and Red
Bull. As a bonus, the course will also function as an
introduction to historical methodology and historical writing. Each week, we’ll take a drug or
two as case studies to lead us into conversations about what “drugs” are, what they have
been, why that matters, and how understanding the history of substances and their uses can
help guide how we understand and live with our world and our bodies today.

Drug history is a history of the constant and necessary tension between the individual and
the collective, the one and the many, the local and the global. Drugs are media with which we
create ourselves in time and space and in relation to others, and thus in relation to changing
concepts of what is “normal.” (In this course, we will ask: What is the “normal,” and what is
the “human,” and how have they typically been defined in contrast with something else?)
Drugs are technologies with which we tell stories about ourselves, and who we want to be,
and who we might become. They are tools for attempting to transcend selves and
boundaries, and the fears that come with transgressing both. (A history of drugs is a history
of efforts to transcend yourself, to define yourself, to protect yourself.) And, still, one
important aspect of drug history is that there’s no clear definition of what a “drug” is. We’ll
talk about that, as well.

Where/When
Lectures: Mon & Wed, 10-10.50 AM, 332 CL

Discussion Sections: 1. 1011: Thu 9-9.50 AM, 3501 Posvar Hall

2. 1012: Thu 10-10.50 AM, 3501 Posvar Hall
3. 1013: Thu 11-11.50 AM, 3501 Posvar Hall
4. 1014: Thu 12-12.50 PM, 3501 Posvar Hall

Course Objective
In this course, you will learn something about drugs in global history, and about yourselves.
So say we all.

Organization of Course Content

The content is organized roughly chronologically (from early modernity to contemporary
history), but each week we’ll use a particular drug to explore a theme and related readings. It
will be great.

* That’s “refer,” not “reefer,” which we will come to later. This section of the syllabus is for your reference. Get
it? Ha!

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Texts
There is no need to purchase books for the course. Instead, readings will be freely available
for you to download through the course Blackboard site.

The Course Blackboard Site: The course Blackboard site is our virtual classroom
for the semester. It is where you will post your thinkpieces and responses, and where
I will post the weekly guides, reading assignments, and lecture handouts. Log into
my.pitt.edu, click on the link for CourseWeb (Blackboard), and follow the link for
History 1706. The “Course Tools” on the left side of the page lists all of the course
components, including the Discussion Board and Course Documents.

Posting on the Course Blackboard Site:

1. Click “Discussion Board”
2. Click on the topic for the discussion for the week (“Week 2 Discussion Board,”
etc.)
3. To post a thinkpiece, click the link for “Create Thread” and follow the directions.
You can also post attachments.
4. To respond to another colleague’s thinkpiece, click on their thread, hit “Reply,”
and post your response.
If you have tech trouble with the site (logging in, etc.), contact the Pitt IT helpdesk
here: https://www.technology.pitt.edu/247-it-help-desk. If you have other questions
about using the Blackboard site, ask Nappi.

Some of the readings that I’ve chosen for you are meant to help familiarize you with
important aspects of historical analysis. I’ve chosen many because they’re unusual and
inspiring, and they will help us collectively expand what we think of as the possibilities for
doing courageous and imaginative historical work. You’ll note, as we work through the term,
that many of our course texts do not call themselves “history” works in the strict sense, and
that is deliberate: as a historian I strongly support transdisciplinary practice – learning from
and engaging with many different fields. Among other things, this will help you think hard
about what makes something “history.” Some of these texts might be disturbing. Some will
change you. All of them are worth your time.

The Importance of Checking Email

IT IS VITAL that you check your email regularly, as email is the primary medium we
will use to contact you about the course.

Assignments and Expectations:

1. Come to class! Showing up is absolutely crucial. Please give the class your full attention
while you’re there. In lecture and discussion, please do not answer or talk on your
cellphone, text your friends or lovers, conduct dangerous chemical experiments involving
salmon, surf the web on your laptop, hold spontaneous séances to communicate with
your departed pet gerbil, or have private conversations amongst yourselves.

2. Come to class having thoughtfully done the work required for each class session!
Class sessions will include lectures and discussion sections where we’ll extend the issues
that arose in lecture into discussions of the week’s reading materials and the questions
that they help us to think through.

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3. Write weekly thinkpieces (and occasionally thinkpiece responses)! You are

required to post a thinkpiece (AND occasionally also to respond to the post of one
other student) every week, unless otherwise indicated by The Management. Starting in
Week 2 of classes, thinkpieces must be posted each week by Wednesday at 9 am
(unless otherwise indicated by The Management). When they are assigned,
responses can be posted by Thursday at 9 am (unless otherwise indicated).
Thinkpieces are meant for you to have a space to think about the week’s readings and
issues before you come to class. Most thinkpieces will be designed to help you develop a
particular critical reading and writing skill. Aim for about a page worth of material: they
should be roughly 250-500 words. You should feel free to use the space as creatively as
you’d like: raise questions, work through something in the readings that particularly
interested or troubled you, etc. But please be careful and thoughtful in your writing and
show that you’ve done the assigned reading: engage the reading directly and cite pages or
passages where appropriate. Aside from that, be as creative as you wanna be in
approaching these thinkpiece assignments. Do your thing.
The thinkpieces are meant not only for us to have a sense of how you all are
thinking about each week’s material before we meet, but also to make different kinds of
space for us to hear as many voices in our class as possible. By posting on Blackboard,
you’ll be sharing your reflections with each other. The audience for your work is thus the
community of the class: that includes the teaching staff, but isn’t just the teaching staff.
You’ll be writing and thinking for yourselves, for/with your teachers, and for/with each
other.
In your responses to colleagues’ posts, when they are assigned, please be respectful
of each other. This response does not need to be lengthy. It’s intended to encourage you
to begin discussion before you get to class, and to start forming an intellectual
community with each other. Responses should be thoughtful: we’re aiming for
engagement beyond, “I agree,” or “That’s cool!”
You should expect to receive feedback on your writing every two weeks or so. (Each
week, half of you will be receiving feedback.) After the first thinkpiece, we will read your
work on roughly two thinkpieces at a time and offer feedback on what’s working, what
could be better, and what to work on.

4. Complete three self-reflections! The grading system in this course works somewhat
differently from what you might be used to. That’ll be explained below. Because of that,
you’ll write three self-reflections over the term to reflect on your goals for the course
and how you think you’re doing in meeting or transforming them. You’ll check in with
Nappi at the beginning and the middle of the semester about this, and will meet for a
one-on-one conference at the end of the semester to talk about them together.

Approximate Time Spent Outside of Class

You should be spending about 5-6 hours outside of class each week, between (1) slowly and
carefully doing the readings, (2) working on your written work, (3) reading others’ work, (4)
composing one or more responses to that work, (5) thinking deep thoughts about the course
material. If it’s taking longer than that, please come see me and I’ll help. If it’s not taking
that long, it’s probably a sign to slow down and spend more time on the materials. (In that
case, also, come see me: I can help with that, too.)

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On Grading
In this course, you are not competing with one another. There are no exams. You will not
receive letter grades on individual assignments: instead, we will offer feedback in written
form and in discussions with you over the course of the term. You can expect feedback that
looks like: here’s what worked particularly well, here’s what you should work on, next time
try this or that. Nappi will read the thinkpieces each week, and we’ll offer periodic written
responses to your work that will be staggered so that up to half of you will receive that
feedback each week. And here is the really important grading-related thing that you need to
know:

You will decide the final grade that you receive for the course.

You’ll do this with the help of 3 periodic self-reflections, and we will talk about the
final grade together in a one-on-one conference at the end of classes. And please do come to
office hours to talk as often as you’d like. Your final self-grade is not a matter of what you
think you deserve or want: it’s entirely a matter of coming to a decision, with thoughtfulness
and integrity, as to what grade your work has earned, taking the syllabus criteria below as a
guideline.
If you complete all of the work (the reading, the writing, the class attendance and
participation) thoughtfully and on time, that should constitute an A range grade. Here’s
what that will likely look like:
- Showing up: You came to the course sessions regularly. When you absolutely needed to
be absent or late, you communicated this to me or to Barry (for lecture or discussion
section respectively), in advance of the absence wherever possible. You listened
attentively and vocally contributed to the conversation to the degree that you were
comfortable doing so. You developed and reflected on your own goals for the term in 3
self-reflections and in meetings with me, allowing for the probability that your goals
would change over time as you did, and reflecting on that in the context of the course.
- Thoughtful and respectful participation: You (1) kept up with the reading in the course,
and demonstrated that to our community through your (2) generous and respectful
participation in the class discussions, and your (3) thinkpieces and responses. (In this
course we will also acknowledge that not everyone is equally comfortable speaking up in
class, and that’s completely fine. I will work with you to help you develop your comfort
in doing so: just let me know if this is something you’d like to work on this term and
we’ll do it together).
- More on the thinkpiece assignments: You completed all of the required thinkpieces and
responses thoughtfully and on time. You followed the guidelines provided for each
week’s assignment and directly engaged the readings (citing evidence from them as
appropriate).
If, at the end of the semester, you decide to assess your work for the term with a B,
C, or D range grade, it will likely be because you didn’t manage some or much of what is
described above. We’ll talk about that together. If you decide that you have earned a grade of
A+, this should represent extraordinary work above and beyond expectations.
For the purpose of this class, a failing F grade isn’t a grade as much as an
acknowledgment that you did not show up and/or do the work. Submitting work that is
plagiarized – work that is not your own and/or that you have copied from someone or

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somewhere else – effectively constitutes not doing the work and will result in a failure for
the term.
**Important Note**: This self-grading scheme assumes presence and timely
participation. Students who are consistently absent from class and/or who consistently don’t
submit the required work or participate in the self-reflection process will default to a final
letter grade that I will assign, based on the work (including presence and participation) that
the student has completed. In that case, I reserve the right to change or assign a final grade,
where appropriate.

Policy on Late Work

Please hand in your work on time. Being in this course together means that we are agreeing
to doing a number of things that keep our community working, and handing in work on
time is one of those things. Here’s why handing in work on time is important:
- It allows us to provide you with timely and thoughtful feedback. If you don’t
hand in materials on time, we will not necessarily be able to do that.
- It demonstrates respect for yourself and your colleagues, and allows us to benefit
from your contributions to class.
- It keeps you on track in terms of the course workload.

Please hand your work in on time, even if it’s not complete or doesn’t do everything
you wanted it to. Many of us have that experience and have to battle demons of
perfectionism. (Believe me, I get it.) Rather than submit to those demons: please submit
whatever you have when it’s due, and we can sit down together with the little perfectionism
demons afterward and make them cookies and put on some Netflix shows for them to
binge, at least to distract them for a while even if they’re not completely vanquished. If for
any emergency-based reason it needs to be late, let me know ASAP.
With all of that said, I understand that sometimes Life happens and when Life
happens it can be impossible to complete your coursework on time. If Life happens to you,
please contact me as soon as possible and we’ll talk.

Respect and Academic Integrity

This is the language that I am required to put on the syllabus: “Cheating/plagiarism will not
be tolerated. Students suspected of violating the University of Pittsburgh Policy on
Academic Integrity, from the February 1974 Senate Committee on Tenure and Academic
Freedom reported to the Senate Council, will be required to participate in the outlined
procedural process as initiated by the instructor. A minimum sanction of a zero score for the
quiz or exam will be imposed. View the complete policy at
www.cfo.pitt.edu/policies/policy/02/02-03-02.html.”
And this is me in my own voice: Because you are ultimately grading yourself based
on your own sense of what your goals are and what you achieved relative to them
(understanding and embracing the fact that they might change over time), there’s really no
need to consider turning in work that isn’t your own. Honestly and truly. Please don’t do
that. If you find yourself experiencing the kind of stress that, in my experience, most often
leads to plagiarism stemming from a worry that you don’t have the time or ability to
otherwise complete an assignment on time, come talk to me and we’ll work it out. If the
assignments start feeling like a burden or a source of undue stress, come talk to me and we’ll
adjust as needed. In any given semester, most humans experience difficult circumstances of

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one sort or another that get in the way of coursework. That is completely normal. If you’re
having a hard time for whatever reason, please let me know and I’ll work with you to
accommodate it.

Statement on Disability Resources and Services

This is the official language that Pitt requires me to put on the syllabus: “If you have a
disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to
contact both your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 140
William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890/412-624-3346 (Fax), as early as possible in the term.
Disability Resources and Services will verify your disability and determine reasonable
accommodations for this course. For more information, visit
www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/drsabout.”
This is me in my own voice: I’m here to help. Please do let me know if you need any
accommodations at all, for any reason. This course is for you: let me know, any time, how it
can best serve you.

E-mail Communication Policy

Again, required on the syllabus but also it’s true so here goes: “Each student is issued a
University e-mail address (username@pitt.edu) upon admittance. This e-mail address may be
used by the University for official communication with students. Students are expected to
read e-mail sent to this account on a regular basis. Failure to read and react to University
communications in a timely manner does not absolve the student from knowing and
complying with the content of the communications. The University provides an e-mail
forwarding service that allows students to read their e-mail via other service providers (e.g.,
Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo). Students that choose to forward their e-mail from their pitt.edu
address to another address do so at their own risk. If e-mail is lost as a result of forwarding,
it does not absolve the student from responding to official communications sent to their
University e-mail address. To forward e-mail sent to your University account, go to
http://accounts.pitt.edu, log into your account, click on Edit Forwarding Addresses, and
follow the instructions on the page. Be sure to log out of your account when you have
finished. (For the full E-mail Communication Policy, go to
www.bc.pitt.edu/policies/policy/09/09-10-01.html.)”
Y’all, IT IS VITAL that you check your Pitt email regularly, as email is the
primary medium that we will use to contact you about the course. I (Nappi) will be all up in
your inboxes with Very Important (or sometimes Moderately Important) Email Things. I
aim to check email twice per weekday (once in the morning, and once in the late afternoon),
and not on weekends. If you send me an email after 5 pm on Friday, I will most likely
respond Monday morning. Otherwise I aim for a 24-hour response time.

General Education Requirements

This course meets the following University of Pittsburgh General Education requirements:
- Historical Analysis (To fulfill the University of Pittsburgh Gen Ed requirement
in “Historical Analysis,” a course must help you “develop skills and methods by
which to understand significant cultural, social, economic, or political accounts
of the past.” We will do that here, and it will be fabulous.)

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- Global Issues (To fulfill the University of Pittsburgh Gen Ed requirement in

“Global Issues,” a course must help you “examine significant issues that are
global in scale.” We will also do that here, and it will also be fabulous.)

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
This is a tentative plan for the term. The Management reserves the right to alter this as
necessary over the course of the semester, depending on the needs of our class and to
maximize general awesomeness.

The reading and writing assignments will be made available on our course website on
Blackboard at least one week before we discuss them, and will be described on the Weekly
Guide that I will distribute each week. The reason I do this is to keep us maximally flexible:
as we progress through the term, if it feels to all of us that we need more or less of a
particular kind of material or discussion, or if it seems that everyone needs a break, this gives
me the ability to do that for you and to change things up for peak fabulosity.

Week 1 What is a “drug”? I: Introductions

Monday, Jan. 06 INTRODUCTIONS
Wednesday, Jan. 08 CHOCOLATE

Week 2 What is a “disease”?

Monday, Jan. 13 MERCURY
Wednesday, Jan. 15 TOBACCO I

Week 3 Drugs and labor

Monday, Jan. 20 NO CLASS (UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY: MLK DAY)
Wednesday, Jan. 22 SUGAR

Week 4 Drugs and class

Monday, Jan. 27 ALCOHOL
Wednesday, Jan. 29 COCAINE

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Week 5 Drugs and exotica

Monday, Feb. 03 GINSENG
Wednesday, Feb. 05 OPIUM I: OPIATES

Week 6 Drugs and race

Monday, Feb. 10 MARIJUANA
Wednesday, Feb. 12 OPIUM II: OPIOIDS

Week 7 Drugs, ritual, and appropriation

Monday, Feb. 17 PSYCHEDELICS I: LSD
Wednesday, Feb. 19 PSYCHEDELICS II: AYAHUASCA

Week 8 Performance enhancement

Monday, Feb. 24 CAFFEINE
Wednesday, Feb. 26 RITALIN

Week 9 Drugs and the “normal” body

Monday, Mar. 02 LITHIUM
Wednesday, Mar. 04 PROZAC

Week 10 No Class
Monday, Mar. 09 NO CLASS (UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY: SPRING BREAK!)
Wednesday, Mar. 11 NO CLASS (UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY: SPRING BREAK!)

Week 11 Drugs and/as media

Monday, Mar. 16 TOBACCO II: VAPING
Wednesday, Mar. 18 SCREENS & THE INTERNET

Week 12 Drugs and empire, redux

Monday, Mar. 23 GLOBAL DRUG TRIALS
Wednesday, Mar. 25 NO CLASS (PROF. @ ASSOC FOR ASIAN STUDIES CONFERENCE)

Week 13 Drugs, sex, gender

Monday, Mar. 30 BIRTH CONTROL
Wednesday, Apr. 01 VIAGRA

Week 14 What is a “drug”? II: Conclusions

Monday, Apr. 06 PLACEBO
Wednesday, Apr. 08 CONCLUSIONS

Week 15 & Exam Week Wrapping Up

** During the weeks of April 13-17 (the last week of classes) and April 20-24 (exam week),
there will be no lectures or discussion sections: instead we will have final one-on-one
conferences