070285 KU Working Skills in Global History (2018S)

Glocalizing global studies: Vienna’s global food history

Have you ever heard about Anton Dreher’s (1810-1863) invention? Does Schwechater Brauerei resonate with you? Actually, Dreher together with his friend from Munich, Sedelmayer, invented the lager type beer, Märzen. It was brewed in March (German: March) and had a longer shelf live than any other beer known until then. Dreher’s Schwechater brewery became one of the world’s biggest, at least the number one in Europe. Or, do you know that the Faschingskrapfen, was already kind of “patented” in the 15th century (patents did not exist in those days) but in 1486, the first "Krapfenbacherinnen" (female fritter bakers) were mentioned in documents. According to not asserted sources in 1815, about ten million Krapfen were eaten, most of them at the Congress of Vienna (1814/15).
Food, mistakenly considered a local culture, in history mostly had a global economic implication. Therefore, though food historians are invited to stress the “longue durée”-approach by the French Annales scholar, Fernand Braudel and contrast their local research to the big picture.

The aim of the course

Students are invited to explore that so called “local food patterns” is an erroneous notion of what the impact of food production and commodification had and has on the world. Indeed, no global history can be seriously explored without rooting it at its point of departure, a concrete place and its inevitable spread through trade and migration. This course does not deal with cultural phenomenon rather with economics and social change by applying the tools of global history and global studies.

Methods
Weekly assignments which include the edition of drafts and the exploration of related topics on Vienna’s global food history will be discussed in teams and with the entire group. No final paper is required but, active participation will be essential for the outcome of this course.