Warwick Drinking Studies Network

The Warwick Drinking Studies Network is an interdisciplinary research group that brings together scholars who work on any aspect of drink and drinking culture in any society and in any time period.

***You can now follow us on twitter:@drinkingstudies***

Welcome to our website - simply click on the following links to take you to the section you are interested in:

UPCOMING EVENTS - here you will find information on forthcoming events organised by the network, as well as any other events that may be of interest to network members.
RECENT EVENTS - here you can find information on recent events hosted by the network, which includes podcasts, conferences reports, and more. Ideal for catching up on what happened at events you may have been unable to attend.
ITEMS OF INTEREST - this section includes various items that may interest network members, such as recent publications in the field of drinking studies and significant news stories.
RELATED WEBSITES - a list of websites with content relevant to drinking studies.
NETWORK MEMBERS - a full list of our network members, including contact details and research interests.

If you would like to join the network, or have any questions, please contact Mark Hailwood: m.hailwood@exeter.ac.uk

Upcoming Events:

PhD Student Summer School: 'Contested Substances: Drug and Alcohol Studies as a Multi-disciplinary Field of Research', in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 17-21st 2013.

Current graduate students may be interested to note that The Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, hereby invites applications for a PhD summer course entitled: Contested Substances: Drug and alcohol studies as a multi-disciplinary field of research. The PhD course will take place in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 17-21st 2013. A flyer can be found here.

The deadline for applying and submitting an application is March 15th, 2013. Participation will be limited to 25 participants.

Further information about the preliminary course schedule, list of readings, requirements for the application etc. will be on the course website: www.crf.au.dk/contestingsubstances which will be opened from January 7th 2013. Network members Geoffrey Hunt and Mark Hailwood will be amongst the lecturing team.

For further information please contact Karina Holm kh@crf.au.dk or Vibeke Asmussen Frank va@crf.au.dk

If you would like me to advertise an event you are organising here on the website, or if you come across an event you think network members may be interested in, please email me the details at m.hailwood@exeter.ac.uk.

Recent Events:

Warwick Drinking Studies Network International Conference 2013:

'Biographies of Drink', 9-10 February 2013

Thanks to a generous grant of support from the Economic History Society, the network hosted a major two-day international conference in February of 2013. Papers from a variety of disciplinary perspectives examined issues surrounding the consumption of alcohol - such as governance, material culture, and the relationship between drink and identity - in a series of case studies, or “Biographies of Drink”. You can view the programme here: Biographies of Drink Programme (PDF Document) .

We hope to produce a publication of conference proceedings in due course, so watch this space.

Warwick Drinking Studies Network Symposium 2011:

Drink and the Life Cycle, 23 September 2011

On the 23rd September 2011 the network held it's second major symposium at the University of Warwick. The theme for the day was 'Drink and the Life Cycle', and the two panel sessions - each of three papers - and the plenary address given by Professor Gill Valentine from the University of Leeds, addressed the different relationships to alcohol of different ages groups across from a range of disciplinary, geographic and historical perspectives. The resulting discussions were particularly thought-provoking - in particular the implication that the attitudes towards alcohol consumption of young people in contemporary Britain do differ considerably from preceeding generations and from historical patterns. If you would like to find out more about the themes and discussions that arose at the symposium then you can read Deborah Toner's excellent conference report, attached here (PDF Document)

. A copy of the programme is attached here

Podcast Available: 'Drinking Matters: Why Alcohol is More Than Just a Problem'

On the 5th May 2011 the Warwick Drinking Studies Network hosted a 'Windows on Research' event at the Wolfson Research Exchange in Warwick University Library. There were two main aims for the event - to publicise the progress the network has made since its inception in September, with a view to attracting new members - and to encourage debate amongst participants on the way alcohol is generally perceived in broader public debates and policy discussions. It was suggested to attendees - of whom there were over fifteen, from a range of disciplinary backgrounds - that the role alcohol plays in society tends to be portrayed in a negative light within public discourse (that is, as a 'problem') when it fact the work of many scholars interested in drinking cultures both past and present often demonstrates that alcohol consumption also serves a number of 'positive' functions. Participants were then invited to bring to bear their own research findings to either confirm or contest this premise. The ensuing discussion was both stimulating and wide-ranging - and you can hear it for yourself in the form of a podcast, available here to listen to or download [approx. 1 hour long]:

Download

Mark Hailwood has also written a brief blog, containing some further information on the event, available here.

Items of Interest:

NEW WARWICK DRINKING STUDIES PUBLICATION:
Special Edition of the journal Brewery History

The ne Brewery History 150 twork is delighted to announce the first publication to emerge under it's banner: a special peer-review edition of the journal Brewery History (Issue 150), subtitled: 'Developments in the Brewing, Retail and Consumption of Alcohol in Early Modern England'. The edition showcases the work of four early career scholars, each network members, working in the field of early modern drinking studies. Kristen Burton explores the introduction of hops and commercial brewing to England in this period; Matthew Jackson offers a fresh interpretation of the role of the female publican in France and England; Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin reconstructs the spatial and material culture of guild feasts; and Mark Hailwood examines seventeenth-century understandings of the effects of alcohol.

The edition is edited by network co-ordinators Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner, and their introduction can be viewed for free here. A copy of the journal will set you back just £4.50, and they can be ordered here.

** An earlier special edition of Brewery History on 'Brewing Cultures in Early Modern Towns', edited by the network's Beat Kümin, has just been made free to access here.**

Radio 4's Thinking Allowed - Speical Programme on Intoxication:

In a special programme, Laurie Taylor explores the role and meaning of both alcohol and drugs in human life. The programme features the network's Chris Hackley, and is available to listen to here. The programme lasts for 30 minutes.

Professor Chris Hackley on Channel 4 News, responding to new government guidelines on alcohol consumption:

Network member Chris Hackley appeared on Channel 4 News on 10th January 2012 to offer an expert opinion on MP's recommendations that individuals should observe two 'non-drinking days' a week. You can watch the relevant feature here.

TV series 'Pub Dig' - featuring the network's Beat Kümin:

The History Channel and Channel 5 have collaborated on a mini-series on excavations at historic pubs. The series has now finished, but the episdoes are available on the Channel 5 website until April 2013. Episode four focuses on the Olde Reindeer at Banbury, and features an interview with Beat. For the episodes, click here.

Network members participate in TV show discussion of student alcoholism:

On Monday 24th October network members Chris Hackley and Matthew Jackson took part in a TV show discussion of student alcoholism. The discussion featured on Warwick students' online TV channel SIBE, and included students, a police officer, a charity worker and academics. Discussants explored questions about both the way students consume alcohol, and how it is promoted on campus. You can watch the discussion by clicking here. (It begins about 15 minutes in).

Is the alcohol message all wrong?

Kate Fox, social anthropologist and author of popular social science books, has attracted some attention with a recent Radio Four proramme and BBC News website article, in which she argues that current debates about alcohol consumption in the UK completely overlook the extent to which drunken behaviour is culturally determined. As the issues raised go to the heart of many of the discussions we have had at recent network events - the balance between positive and negative discourses about alcohol consumption; the relationship between the biological and the cultural in the analysis of drinking behaviours; and the challenges of creating a productive dialogue between scholarly research into drinking and wider public debates - network members will undoubtedly find something interesting in these items.

Alcohol the most harmful drug of all?

A recent review published in the Lancet has suggested that alcohol is the most harmful drug, based on a multicriteria analysis. Network members may well be interested in reading more here. The issues raised by the review are particularly pertinent in relation to our recent discussion about alcohol as more than just a problem - see the podcast in the recent events section.

Major New Publication in Drinking Studies:

Publication of a new four volume collection of (translated) primary sources on the history of the early modern public house.

Thomas Brennan (General Editor), Public Drinking in the Early Modern World 1500-1800: Voices from the Tavern (4 vols, London: Pickering and Chatto, 2011). Volume 1: France, ed. T. Brennan; Volumes 2-3: The Holy Roman Empire, eds B. Kümin and B. Ann Tlusty; Volume 4: America, eds D. Hancock and M. McDonald. Content and availability.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation Publication: 'Young People and Alcohol'

In December 2010 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a report on young people and alcohol. The report explores the influence of both existing cultural attitudes around alcohol, and new and emergent attitudes, that separate younger drinkers' consumption from that of other age groups. Given that our 2011 symposium focused on issues of the different relationship to alcohol of differerent age groups, this report may be of interest to network members. It can be accessed here.

Please email me if you come across any items of interest or recent publications that you would like me to add to this section: m.hailwood@exeter.ac.uk

Related Websites:

Alcohol and Drugs History Society:

Network members may be interested in visiting the website of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society - a North American based research network which has its own journal, annual conference and blog. It is an excellent resource for keeping up with the latest North American publications and conferences in the area of drinking studies.

AHRC Taverns Project:

The website for a cross-chronological project that's recently started called "Taverns, locals and street corners: Cross chronological studies in community drinking, regulation and public space." It's a collaborative, AHRC Connected Communities pilot study, with case studies from early modern Florence, Enlightenment London and Bristol today. It includes a regular blog on their findings.

British Sociological Society Alcohol Study Group:

Website of the recently established BSA Alcohol Study Group, including information on upcoming events.

Club Historians:

Network member Ruth Cherrington runs this website on working men's clubs, both past and present, which includes a section on academic interest in drinking - including several references to the network.