Intoxicating Spaces for schools
Press
Sugar, tobacco, coffee, tea and... Plague. Intoxicants and the public space in Hamburg, Kulturland Oldenburg, 2.2021, No. 188
Intoxicants in port cities - new exhibition in Bremerhaven, Radio Bremen Fernsehen, 16.04.2021
Digital exhibition opening: Intoxicants in port cities in 17th to 19th century Europe, German Maritime Museum, 19.03.2021
'Intoxicating Spaces': On the trail of historical intoxicants, Nordwest Zeitung, 13/02/2021
On the triumph of coffee, University of Oldenburg, 31 December 2020
Meeting of the German HERA groups in Bremerhaven, 09.02.2020
HERA project: Off to new shores!, 07.02.2020
Intoxicating Spaces for schools
The Impact of New Intoxicants in Public Spaces, Consumption, and Sociability in North Western Europe (c. 1600 - c. 1850)
How did the consumption of tobacco, tea, coffee, chocolate and opium shape and change early modern Hamburg and its population? Researchers from the University of Oldenburg explored this question with teachers and students from Hamburg and Oldenburg.
Supported by , student assistant Johannes Birk and research assistant Katharina Schmees, Prof Dr Dagmar Freist is leading the research project in Oldenburg. The overall management of the project, which also involves researchers from Stockholm and Utrecht, lies with Prof Phil Withington in Sheffield.
Pupils conduct their own research
The source material compiled by the researchers was made available to the pupils to carry out their own projects with teachers Sabine Conrad (Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg), Frank Schmekel (Gymnasium Neu Wulmstorf) and Ina-Maria Goldbach (Gymnasium Cäcilienschule Oldenburg).
The project ended in January 2021 with an international online workshop, during which the pupils from the Gymnasium Cäcilien-Schule and the Altes Gymnasium Oldenburg presented their ideas and results and gained insights into the work of the pupils from the Dutch, Swedish and British partner schools.
Pupils' exhibition project
Parallel to this and building on it, another project was launched with the project partner German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven (DSM), which offered pupils from Oldenburg and Neu Wulmstorf the opportunity to explore the material culture of intoxicants. With the support of the DSM, the pupils were able to design and realise their own digital and analogue exhibition entitled "Cocoa, coffee, tobacco - intoxicants in the past". They learnt from the DSM staff how to work with objects and how research findings can be transformed into an exciting multimedia experience. The exhibition opened on 3 April 2021 and will be on display in the DSM's Kogge Hall until 3 October 2021. The online exhibition is permanently available. Further information on the planning of the exhibition in Bremerhaven can be found here.
The joint project is funded by the European research network HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area).
