HIS 492 Poisons, Drugs, and Panaceas Source: From a 16th-century Chinese pharmacopeia (Library of Congress) Prof. Yan Liu Email: yliu253@buffalo.edu Mode of instruction: In person (Note: The first two weeks of class and classes after Thanksgiving are offered online, real time via Zoom: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/91828842032) Class time: Location: Office hours: Tu 2:20PM - 4:50PM Bell 138 Mon 3-5PM, or by appointment (Zoom link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/3458940373) Course Description: What is a poison? How do we understand the effects of a poison on our body? And most importantly, how do we make the best use of these potent matters that can benefit us and the society at large. These are some of the fundamental questions to the history of medicine, and driving ones for this course. Examining the history of poisons through twelve case studies, we will explore the complexity of drug materiality by contemplating the intimate relations between poisons, medicines, and panaceas. We will learn how the experiences of the body shaped the conceived values of poisons. We will examine the circulation of toxicological knowledge across social and geographical domains. Using specific poisons as the anchor of our analysis, we will explore the social fabric and cultural milieu in which particular ideas and practices of poisons emerged, flourished, or diminished. One key aspect of the course is to introduce a comparative perspective to the study of medical history. By studying above topics in both European/American and Asian contexts, we will identify surprising parallels, striking differences, and hidden connections between these traditions. Finally, we will ponder how knowledge of poisons in the past illuminates our notions and habits of ingesting and experiencing drugs today. 1 Learning Outcomes: 1. To obtain historical and historiographical knowledge You will acquire the basic knowledge of the history of medicines and a series of approaches to study the subject by reading both primary and secondary sources. In each week, by focusing on a particular poison/medicine, you will think through a number of questions, issues, and methods that will enhance your understanding of the drug from diverse cultural perspectives. 2. To develop critical thinking skills You will critically evaluate the readings by situating them in proper contexts and identifying both their merits and flaws. You are also encouraged to contemplate how disciplinary, professional, and personal background shapes the production of scholarship. The skills will be cultivated through class discussion and writing assignments. 3. To develop writing skills You will develop your skills to write in scholarly styles, with proper citation practice. Specifically, you will learn how to articulate arguments, organize ideas coherently and logically, and express them in clear, concise prose. Part of class discussion will explore various styles that scholars develop for their writing, which could serve as models for you. 4. To develop oral communication skills You will practice your oral communication skills through active participation in class discussion, leading a class discussion, and presenting your research project. As oral communication is central to facilitating mutual understanding and fostering new ideas, you will learn how to do it in a productive, comprehensible, and civil manner. Assignments: • Weekly responses (20%) The course requires attentive reading of the assignments. You will produce a short response (1-2 paragraphs long, ~300 words) to each week’s readings, and post it on UBLearns by 9 PM on Mondays before class. The response should contain both a brief summary of the readings and your reflection on it. At the end of the response you should raise two questions that you would like to discuss in class. Totally thoughtless responses will not receive points. • Discussion leading (10%) Starting from Week 3, one or two of you will be the discussion leader(s) in each week. You will give a short presentation (~15 minutes) on the poison of the week based on the assigned readings, summarizing the key arguments and offering your critical thoughts on them. You are welcome to use a text, an object, an image, or a short video clip—either from the readings or from other sources related to the topic—as the springboard to lead the discussion. • Short paper (15%) You will write one short paper (4-5 double-spaced pages, 800-1,200 words) based on one week’s readings on a particular poison or medicine (between Week 2 and Week 7). You will summarize the readings and offer your critical analysis of these readings. 2 • Final research (35%) One key goal of the course is to promote active learning and sharpen skills of presentation. In this “Poison Project,” you will do research on a particular poison of your choice upon approval. This material-oriented exercise seeks to formulate meaningful questions and open new horizons in your historical analysis. You will present your discoveries in the last two classes with the aid of PowerPoint, which counts 10% of the grade, and write a paper (810 double-spaced pages, 2,000-2,500 words) based on your research, which counts 25% of the grade. • Participation (20%) Class attendance and active participation in class discussion is key to your learning and developing skills of oral communication. You are expected to listen carefully, engage in discussion, ask questions, and share your ideas with your classmates. Your participation grade is based on attendance, preparedness, and vocal participation. Grade Distribution: Weekly responses Short paper Final research paper Discussion leading Final research presentation Participation 20% 20% 10% 25% 15% 10% Course policies: • Prepare well before you come to the class. Finish all required readings before class. • Come to class on time and plan on staying to the end. If you have to miss a class due to illness, emergencies, or observance of religious holidays, please email me as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours after missing the class, and provide the necessary document to justify your absence. In such a case, you are expected to make arrangements to complete missed work. More than one unexcused absence may affect your grade. • Please submit all your assignments on time. A weekly response submitted after the class of that week will not be accepted. Late submission of papers will incur a penalty of one-third a letter grade per day of lateness (for example, from A- to B+). No papers will be accepted that are more than three days late. 3 • • Laptop policy: Laptops are allowed in class only for consultation of readings and for taking notes. All other uses—from checking emails, to random Internet surfing, to hanging out on social media—are prohibited. In general, you should note that studies have shown that students who take handwritten notes have higher grades than those who take them on computers. See http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/ Use of cell phones, iPods, and other electronic devices is prohibited in class. For why this policy works for your interests, see https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphonenearby-takes-a-toll-on-your-thinking Academic Integrity: You are responsible to familiarize yourself with UB’s policies on academic integrity (https://catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/integrity.html). Plagiarism is defined as “copying or receiving material from any source and submitting that material as one’s own, without acknowledging and citing the particular debts to the source (quotations, paraphrases, basic ideas), or in any other manner representing the work of another as one’s own.” This includes cutting and pasting sentences and paragraphs, or parts thereof, from Internet sources (Google, Wikipedia, etc.). To ascertain what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it in your writing, please read: Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (8th edition), Ch. 6. [on course UBLearns]. If you aren’t sure something is plagiarism or not, ASK. Accessibility Resources: Students with documented disabilities will be given the accommodation to which they are entitled based on UB policy. If you need such an accommodation, please let me or your TA know and contact the Office of Accessibility Resources, 60 Capen Hall, 645-2608. For more information, see: http://www.buffalo.edu/accessibility. Public Health Compliance in Classroom setting: As we are in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, we must strictly follow the public health guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone. As indicated in the Student Compliance Policy for COVID-19 Public Health Behavior Expectations, in our classroom you are required to: 1. Obtain and wear masks/face coverings in campus public spaces, including campus outdoor spaces. 2. Maintain proper physical distancing in public spaces and must stay 6 feet apart from one another. 3. Stay home if you are sick. 4. Abide by New York State, federal and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) travel restrictions and precautionary quarantines. 5. Follow campus and public health directives for isolation or quarantine. 6. Should you need to miss class due to illness, isolation or quarantine, you are required to notify the course instructor and make arrangements to complete missed work. Students who are not complying with the public health behavior expectations will be asked to comply. Should the non-compliant behavior continue, course instructors are authorized to ask the student to leave the classroom. Non-compliant students may also be referred to the Office of Health Promotion to participate in an online public health class to better educate them on the importance of these public health directives for the entire community. 4 Useful resources: • General surveys on the history of medicine: - Roy Porter, Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine (W.W. Norton & Company, 2002) - TJ Hinrichs and Linda L. Barnes eds., Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2013) • General survey of Chinese history: - Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) • On poisons: - Kathryn Harkup, A is For Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015) Schedule: Note: All readings are available on the course Blackboard. [P] refers to primary sources in English translation. Week 1 (Sept. 1): Introduction Week 2 (Sept. 8): Ancient poisons: Mithridatum and Theriac • Adrienne Mayor, “Mithridates of Pontus and His Universal Antidote,” in History of Toxicology and Environmental Health: Toxicology in Antiquity, Volume II, ed. Philip Wexler (Elsevier, 2018), 161-74. • Adienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011), Ch. 11, 236-61. • Carla Nappi, “Bolatu’s Pharmacy: Theriac in Early Modern China,” Early Science and Medicine, 14 (2009): 737-64. Week 3 (Sept. 15): Is it a poison or a medicine? Aconite (fuzi) • Yan Liu, “Poisonous Medicine in Ancient China,” in History of Toxicology and Environmental Health: Toxicology in Antiquity, Volume II, ed. Philip Wexler (Elsevier, 2018), 431-39. • Kathryn Harkup, “M is for Monkshood,” in A is For Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015), 141-156. • [P] The entry on wolfsbane from De Materia Medica (first century CE) trans. Lily Beck (Georg Olms Verlag, 2017), 281. • [P] The entry on fuzi from the Divine Farmer’s Classic of Materia Medica (first century CE) trans. Sabine Wilms (Happy Goat Productions, 2016), 292-94. Week 4 (Sept. 22): The wonder drug: Ginseng • Seonmin Kim, “Ginseng and Border Trespassing Between Qing China and Chosen Korea,” Late Imperial China, 28.1 (2007): 33-61. • Carla Nappi, “Surface Tension: Objectifying Ginseng in Chinese Early Modernity,” in Early Modern Things: Objects in Motion, 1500-1800, ed. Paula Findlen (Routledge, 2013), 31-52. • Shigehisa Kuriyama, “The Geography of Ginseng and the Strange Alchemy of Needs,” in Yota Batsaki, Sarah Burke Cahalan, Anatole Tchikine, eds. The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century (Harvard University Press, 2017), 61-72. 5 Week 5 (Sept. 29): From medicine to food: Rhubarb • Che-Chia Chang, “Origins of a Misunderstanding: The Qianlong Emperor’s Embargo on Rhubarb Exports to Russia, the Scenario and its Consequences,” trans. Penelope Barrett, Asian Medicine 1.2 (2005): 335-54. • Erika Monahan, “Locating Rhubarb: Early Modernity's Relevant Obscurity,” in Early Modern Things: Objects in Motion, 1500-1800, ed. Paula Findlen, 2013, 227-51. • Anna Winterbottom, “Of the China Root: A Case Study of the Early Modern Circulation of Materia Medica,” Social History of Medicine, 28.1 (2015): 22-44 Week 6 (Oct. 6): Food and colonialism: Sugar • Sidney Mints, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (Penguin, 1986), Introduction; Ch. 1, “Food, Sociality, and Sugar,” 3-18; Ch. 4, “Power,” 151-86. Week 7 (Oct. 13): King of poisons: Arsenic • John Parascandola, King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic (Potomac Books, 2012), Ch. 5, “What Kills Can Cure: Arsenic in Medicine,” 145-71. • Kathryn Harkup, “A is for Arsenic,” in A is For Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015), 19-48. • Frédéric Obringer, “A Song innovation in pharmacotherapy: some remarks on the use of white arsenic and flowers of arsenic,” in Innovation in Chinese Medicine, ed. Elizabeth Hsu (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 192-213. Short paper due 9 PM Oct. 18 (Sunday) on UBLearns Week 8 (Oct. 20): Fluid transformation: Mercury • Yan Liu and Shigehisa Kuriyama. “Fluid Being: Mercury in Chinese Medicine and Alchemy.” In Fluid Matter(s): Flow and Transformation in the History of the Body, edited by Natalie Köhle and Shigehisa Kuriyama. Asian Studies Monograph Series 14. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2020. • Andrew Cunningham, “Mercury, ‘One of the Most Valuable Drugs We Have (1937),” in It All Depends on the Dose: Poisons and Medicines in European History, Ole Peter Grell, Andrew Cunningham and Jon Arrizabalaga eds (Routledge, 2018), 173-190. • [P] Selections from Paracelsus’s alchemical writings in Four Treatises of Theophrastus Von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus, Henry Sigerest ed. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). • [P] Selections from the Book of the Master Who Embraces Uncarved Wood by Ge Hong (4th century), in Livia Kohn, The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (SUNY, 1993), 305-313. Week 9 (Oct. 27): Dangerous addiction: Opium • Martin Booth, Opium: A History (St. Martin’s Friffin, 1999), Ch. 5, “Heroic Substances,” 67-80. • Yangwen Zheng, The Social Life of Opium in China (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Ch. 4, “A hobby among the high and the low in officialdom,” 56-70. • Kathryn Harkup, “O is for Opium,” in A is For Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015), 175-202. 6 Week 10 (Nov. 3): Toxic intoxicant: Alcohol • Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants (Vintage Books, 1992), trans. David Jacobson, Ch. 5, “The Industrial Revolution, Beer, and Liquor,” 147-166. • Norman Smith, Intoxicating Manchuria: Alcohol, Opium, and Culture in China’s Northeast (University of British Columbia Press, 2013), Ch. 1, “Alcohol and Opium in China,” 8-21; Ch. 4, “Selling Alcohol, Selling Modernity,” 70-92. Week 11 (Nov. 10): Golden-silk smoke: Tobacco • Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, (Vintage Books, 1992), trans. David Jacobson, Ch. 4, “Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant,” 96-146. • Carol Benedict, Golden-Silk Smoke: A History of Tobacco in China, 1550-2010 (University of California Press, 2011), Ch. 5, “The Fashionable Consumption of Tobacco, 1750-1900,” 110-30. Week 12 (Nov. 17): Modern craving: Cocaine • Paul Gootenberg, Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug (UNC Press, 2008), Ch. 7, “The Drug Boom (1965-1975) and Beyond,” 291-324. • Norman Ohler, Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich, trans. Shaun Whiteside (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), Ch. 3, “High Hitler: Patient A and His Personal Physician (1941-1944),” 103-86. Week 13 (Nov. 24): Controversial drugs: Cannabis • Eric Schlosser, Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market (Mariner Books, 2004), Ch. 1, “Reefer Madness,” 11-74. • Li, Hui-lin. “The Origin and Use of Cannabis in Eastern Asia: Their Linguistic-Cultural Implications.” In Cannabis and Culture, edited by Vera Rubin, 51-62. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 1975. • Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedemics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), Ch. 6, “The Trip Treatment: Psychedelics in Psychotherapy,” 331-96. Fall Recess (Happy Thanksgiving!) Week 14 (Dec. 1): Final research presentation 1 Week 15 (Dec. 8): Final research presentation 2 Final research paper due 5 PM Dec. 15 (Tuesday) on UBLearns 7