Historian to Speak Today on Drunkenness, Crime and Degeneracy in Tsarist Russia

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Imperial poster: "Drunkenness is the root of all evil"

Come join the Russia-Eurasian Student Organization and the Department of History for a talk from professor Alison K. Smith of the University of Toronto from 5-6 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 5, in Kimpel Hall 102.

Smith is a specialist in the history of Imperial Russia and the chair of the Department of History at the University of Toronto. She is author of numerous articles and the monographs Cabbage and Caviar: A History of Food in Russia, For the Common Good and Their Own Well-Being: Social Estates in Imperial Russia and Recipes for Russia: Food and Nationhood Under the Tsars. 

Her talk will engage the long history of Russia's association with alcohol. Smith will argue that Imperial Russian laws recognized that drunkenness was linked to crime starting in the 17th century. Drunkenness could be a crime in and of itself when it was excessive or public, and it was also associated with other crimes, from blasphemy and insults to theft to violent crimes. Concern over this link intensified at the end of the tsarist period, when the state grew ever more dependent on income from alcohol sales at the same time that legal and medical specialists began to link alcohol abuse with a fear of degeneration.

The talk is free and open to the public. Cookies will be served.