Zwischen Kulturrausch und Rauschkultur. Wie Drogenkonsum unsere Kultur beeinflusst
Conversation between Eva Geulen and Jenny Friedrich-Freksa, moderated by Jochen Müller, as part of the series Was Sie schon immer über Drogen wissen wollten at Urania Berlin
For thousands of years, the consumption of drugs has been one of the few things that unite all human cultures. Some even claim that man only evolved agriculture in order to be able to brew beer. Unrestrained intoxication can lead to dependence and addiction though, which is why it is usually strictly ritualized. It is precisely these rituals that in turn shape human cultures.
Throughout the centuries, intoxicants have become a means of communicating with the gods and a source of inspiration for artists and writers. Thus, attempts to describe intoxication, for instance, shaped Romanticism. In today’s meritocracy, intoxication is often perceived as negative, as nonproductive. Intoxicating drugs are ‘microdosed’ not to intoxicate but to promote performance. Is this the “brave new world”?
Together with his guests and audience, Jochen Müller will discuss the ways in which intoxication and culture influence each other and how both affect us as human beings.
Jenny Friedrich-Freksa is editor-in-chief of Kulturaustausch, the journal for international perspectives, Berlin.
The literary scholar Eva Geulen is the Director of the ZfL, executive board member of the Centers for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Berlin, and Professor for European Culture and the History of Knowledge at the Institute for Cultural History and Theory of the Humboldt University of Berlin.
The event will be held in German.
For further information, see the event’s website.
