ANTH 2057 - The Anthropology of Drinking: From Water to Wine

Drinking is fundamental to our lives as human beings. We drink for biological reasons - to quench our thirsts and for physical nourishment - but drinking also has a deep cultural resonance across almost all human societies for a range reasons, and it is this significance that will be explored in this course. What we drink, and how, matters. From water to wine, coffee to kava, and all manner of other substances, drinking is often a crucial and meaning-laden part of our social worlds. It is important in processes of social cohesion, identity construction, and symbolic boundary-making. It is present in ritual and religion, medicine, economic exchange, and ideas of leisure, enjoyment and relaxation. And in some cases, drinking is also subject to social stigmatization, and can be linked to notions of moral impurity, pathology, and social disorder. Anthropology is an evolving and expanding field, and the study of drinking as a cultural phenomenon extends across a number of academic disciplines. While students participating in this course are not be required to have a background in anthropology, they will be expected to familiarise themselves with anthropological perspectives in addressing the subject matter. Throughout the course students will be introduced to a range of theories, and these will be used as ‘lenses’ through which to view and interrogate the cultural positioning of drinks and drinking. Ethnographic writing and film will be employed to examine and illuminate various ways drinking is performed and understood, and the functions and social relations of drinking will be analysed across a variety of cultural settings, including within contemporary Australia.