Les consommateurs d'exotique

Consumers of the exotic: European commerce and the consumption of materia medica, 1670-1730

Workshop

April 5-6, 2017

University of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, NCR

The workshop will explore the ways in which exotic plant materials were processed, bought and consumed in European metropoles and at royal courts, in the decades around 1700. Why did European consumers buy—and more significantly ingest—exotic plant materials? How did they understand their properties and significance? How was their consumption shaped hospital trials, advertising, and the behavior of high-profile trend-setters, particularly at royal courts? When and why was the efficacy and even safety of given exotic drugs questioned or cast into doubt? And which experts could credibly pronounce upon their effects on the European body?

Please find the programme below. All are welcome, but please inform Dr Justin Rivest (jr723@cam.ac.uk) if you wish to attend, as numbers may be limited for reasons of space.

April 5
10:30-10:45 COFFEE

10:45-11:00 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Emma Spary and Justin Rivest

11:00-12:30 Session I CONSUMPTION CASE STUDIES

G. A. Cook (University of Hong Kong) Consuming the exotic in Switzerland : Garcin’s ‘Maduran pills’

Irene Fattacciu (University of Turin) Reasons and implications of changes in food consuming patterns : the appropriation and diffusion of chocolate between Spain and New Spain


12:30-14:00 LUNCH BREAK

14:00-16:00 Session II NETWORKS OF KNOWLEDGE

Samir Boumediene (CNRS Lyon) Jesuits’ recipes, Jesuits’ receipts : the Society of Jesus and the introduction of exotic drugs in 17th century Europe.
 
Šebestián Kroupa (University of Cambridge) Producing and consuming drugs in Manila at the turn of the eighteenth century
 
Victoria Pickering (British Museum) Contributors and connections : exotic material in Hans Sloane’s botanical collection

16:00-16:15 COFFEE BREAK

16:15-18:15 Session III DECENTERING THE EXOTIC

B. Harun Küçük (University of Pennsylvania) Ali Münşi (d.1750) and American exotica

Clare Griffin (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) What is ‘exotic’ anyway ? The view from Moscow
 
Paula De Vos (San Diego State University) Appropriation of the exotic in the Palestra pharmaceutica (Madrid, 1706) of Félix Palacios

20:00 DINNER

April 6
09:30-11:30 Session IV KNOWING AND EXPERIENCING THE EXOTIC

Emma Spary (University of Cambridge) The inscrutability of cinnamon : how to prove when you had the right drug
 
Hjalmar Fors (Karolinska Institutet) The exotic in the here and now of early modern European experience
 
Laia Portet (University of Cambridge) Choosing drugs and naming the exotic in Paris

11:30-11:45 COFFEE BREAK

11:45-13:15 Session V REACHING THE CONSUMER

Wouter Klein (Universiteit Utrecht) Exotic drugs and the intricate balance of the early modern medical market : a case study of Peruvian bark and negative publicity, c. 1730

Justin Rivest (University of Cambridge) Medicating the French foot soldier, 1689-1714 : The role of exotic drugs

13:15-14:45 LUNCH

14:45-15:30PLANNING SESSION FOR VOLUME
 
15:30 CLOSE
Emma Spary and Justin Rivest, University of Cambridge


NB : The workshop immediately follows Dr Valentina Pugliano’s conference on ’Medicine, Environment and Health in the Eastern Mediterranean World, 1400-1750’ on 3-4 April, which may be of interest to participants. Please don’t contact Justin about this, as it is a separate event—contact Valentina at valentina.pugliano chez gmail.com