Coffee and the Nighttime: History and Politics, 1400-2020
HIST 56
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Since the fifteenth century, individuals and societies in different parts of the world adopted a gradually but unmistakably quickening tempo in their everyday lives and started to make more uses of the nighttime –for socializing, for entertainment, and for work. In this reconfiguration of the architecture of day and night, people turned to various psychotropic substances such as coffee to help them better manipulate times of activity and repose. They have also created new social institutions such as coffeehouses, which turned into public spaces for engagement with new forms of arts and politics. The course offers a history of these developments until our own time of “living 24/7” in terms of their social, economic and political consequences. Biological aspects such as addiction and pressures on our circadian rhythms will also be explored in the context of histories of sleep and nocturnal activity.
Course Notes
This course meets the "Pre-1750" and "Beyond North America" History Concentration requirement. Former course number "HIST 1018."
Class Notes
This class requires students to enroll in an untimed, placeholder section during registration and to submit time preferences. Sections will be assigned immediately after registration based on student interest and preferences.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
