Not an interloper -- and of course no one wants to ignore drugs while working on alcohol (see my own THIS STRANGE ILLNESS: ALCOHOLISM AND BILL W as an example) or vice versa. A fruitful interchange between drug historians and alcohol historians is a very good thing. A blending of the disciplines is a little more questionable in value (in my view), but of course the outcome may show my doubts were not warranted. -- JL -------------- Original message -------------- > Dear All, > > As one of the interlopers from 'drugs history' I thought it worth briefly > addressing Jared's concerns. I think that the engagement of the history of > drugs with the history of alcohol is an important one, not least of all so > that we can discover for sure whether any of the boundaries between the two > that Jared is so concerned to preserve are in fact important or > justified. In other words, I am sure that while there is a impulse to > identify ways in which the subject areas 'cross-fertilise' , there is > similarly an interest in the ways in which they do not. > > Indeed, I also think it worth pointing out that there are obvious merits > and outcomes from making the ADHG a broad church. I would find it silly to > ignore alcohol issues in my own work on cannabis in the UK as it was > temperance campaigners who had cut their teeth on alcohol campaigns that > pursued cannabis at various times in Parliament in the nineteenth > century. However, it would probably be unnecessary for someone studying > alcohol use in thirteenth century Scotland to worry much about the use of > cannabis/opium etc as they were virtually unknown, let alone available. I > am sure that the ADHG community will be big enough to allow us all to keep > company that we find immediately interesting, while allowing us to eye the > whole range of perspectives on alchol and drugs from across societies and > periods. > > cheers, > > Jim. > __________________________________________________ > Dr James Mills > ESRC Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer > Department of History > University of Strathclyde > 16 Richmond St > Glasgow G1 1XQ > 0141 548 2206 > [log in to unmask] > http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/History/mills.htm