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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Ports have served as transshipment points for narcotics of all kinds for centuries. In a joint project, schoolchildren, historians from the University of Oldenburg and the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History investigated the routes taken by coffee, tobacco and the like and how their consumption changed. The exhibition "Cocoa, Coffee, Tobacco - Intoxicants in the Past" will celebrate a digital opening on YouTube and Facebook on Saturday, 3 April, from 11.30 am. Afterwards, the results will be on display in the Kogge Hall of the DSM in Bremerhaven until 3 October 2021.
In 2020, the world's major ports saw a record turnover of illicit drugs. Cocoa, coffee and tobacco are no longer among them, but four hundred years ago they were smuggled and traded in the ports as mind-expanding substances. In the collaborative project Intoxicating Spaces: The Impact of New Intoxicants on Urban Spaces in Europe 1600 to 1850 (www.intoxicatingspaces.org), researchers from the University of Oldenburg, together with three other European universities, are investigating how the consumption of new intoxicants such as cocoa, tea, coffee, sugar and tobacco gave rise to new public spaces and shaped new forms of sociability during this period.
The researchers analyse the role of important port cities such as Amsterdam, Hamburg, London and Stockholm in the first heyday of global trade. Also in focus are the constantly changing attitudes towards intoxicant consumption and the often exploitative structures and trade relations that shaped the production, trade and consumption of mind-expanding substances.
Historians Prof. Dr. Dagmar Freist and Dr. Gabrielle Robilliard from the University of Oldenburg have been working with schools, museums, NGOs and international organisations over the course of the project period from 2019 to 2021. Students from Oldenburg researched the topic at the University of Oldenburg and the DSM. The DSM will show their ideas and creative contributions in the exhibition "Cocoa, Coffee, Tobacco - Intoxicants in the Past" from April in the Kogge Hall.
"The special thing about this project is that pupils have linked the results of an ongoing EU research project with our exhibits and implemented them artistically. In this way, the public can look at the topic of historical intoxicants from the perspective of young people and see the museum objects in a new light," says Birte Stüve, head of the Education and Outreach Department at the DSM.
The pupils of Oldenburg's Cäcilienschule created an interactive map depicting the transport of coffee and cocoa in the 19th century. Interested visitors can learn from historical characters - a pharmacist and a coffee house owner - how the goods were transported and sold.
The group from the Old Grammar School in Oldenburg devoted themselves to the question of how the consumption of tobacco, coffee and cocoa changed since the 18th century and wrote their findings in a fictional diary. In it, 18-year-old Joe reports on his visit to a coffee house. The students had made him up as a fictional historical character. By the way, women were not allowed to enter this type of restaurant at that time.
"We would like to thank the pupils from Oldenburg and the teachers Sabine Conrad from the Altes Gymnasium and Ina Maria Goldbach from the Gymnasium Cäcilienschule for their perseverance. They have successfully completed the project under the difficult conditions of the pandemic and with a small but fine exhibition," says Stüve.
The exhibition "Cocoa, Coffee, Tobacco - Intoxicants in the Past" can be visited at the DSM from April until 3 October. Interested visitors should check the DSM website (www.dsm.museum) in advance for the current visiting rules.
The show is sponsored by the European network Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA).
Prof. Dr. Dagmar Freist dagmar.freist@uni-oldenburg.de
Dr. Gabrielle Robilliard gabrielle.robilliard@uni-oldenburg.de
https://www.dsm.museum/en/press-area/digital-exhibition-opening-intoxicants-in-p...
Tobacco box from Holland, around 1700.
DSM
DSM
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Tobacco box from Holland, around 1700.
DSM
DSM
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