Course Catalogue

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This course introduces students to ways of writing commodity history through the lens of coffee, and through a learning journey to different parts of the world, from Brazil to Vietnam and from the capitalist West to the communist East. Students will study the global ramifications of growing coffee consumption in the Global North after 1600, especially the ways coffee production has shaped landscapes and labour regimes in the Global South. The course involves students developing their own research project, writing a case-study of the production or the consumption of coffee in one place.

Weekly 2-hour workshops over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

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The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Research paper (2500 words) 50% 

■ Research paper proposal (100 words plus bibliography) 10% 

■ 4 x 300-word source reports 40% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the assessments, but flexible deadline or extra time can be offered as reasonable adjustment. 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

This course aims to:

■ Develop intellectual interests and analytical skills acquired in the first two years of study, especially in global history;

■ Acquire knowledge about new methodologies and theories in global history focussed on the study of commodities;

■ Develop subject-specific and transferable skills through primary source research and the crafting of historical arguments;

■ Engage in critical conversation about the interpretation of historical evidence

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Identify global interdependencies created by the coffee commodity chains; 

■ Recognise the impact that coffee consumption has had on landscapes, labour regimes and migration flows across the Global South;

■ Analyse a clearly defined segment of the coffee commodity chain connecting consumers and producers in different parts of the world;

■ Develop an original research question and construct a cogent historical argument based on independent research;

■ Identify, assess and interpret specialised secondary literature and relevant primary sources.