Professor’s 'Anthropology of Alcohol' course a perennial favorite with students

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Though it might seem like a stretch, Kirk French is convinced there’s a lot to be learned about human civilization at the bottom of a glass of wine, a pint of beer or a shot of whiskey.

Don’t believe him? He has the numbers to prove it.

French, assistant professor of anthropology and film production/media studies, is wrapping up another fall teaching "ANTH 140: Anthropology of Alcohol," which for the past nine years has proven to be one of Penn State’s most popular gen-ed courses. As usual, enrollment this semester was capped at 726 — the maximum capacity of its classroom, 100 Thomas Building.

Nicknamed “Booze and Culture,” the course takes students on an insightful 15-week tour of the world, from ancient China to modern-day America, showing them along the way how humans came to create fermented beverages in all their various forms and where it fits within the overall development of culture.

Of course, the subject matter would appear to be a natural draw for college students who are just approaching drinking age. For French, though, it’s a backdoor way of introducing them to a field they might not otherwise have much interest in; to get them to, as he puts it, “take a shot of anthropology.”

French’s efforts have been recognized not only via high attendance numbers and rave reviews from undergraduates, but also by the University, which in 2020 awarded him its George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. The course was also recently spotlighted in a chapter of the fifth edition of Kenneth J. Guest’s popular textbook, “Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age,” published by W.W. Norton & Company.

“I just want to create a fun class that introduces anthropology to as many students as I can,” French said. “The thing about this class is that it’s such an extension of me. I stumbled into this anthropology thing when I took a course in community college, and it changed my worldview. You know, as humans, we’re much more alike than we’re different. If we can realize that and let that soak in a bit, we can better appreciate our differences, I think. If I can share anthropology with as many students as I can, well, that sounds good to me.”

The course’s origin story goes back more than a decade, when French went to his office mailbox one morning and found that someone had left him a copy of filmmaker Neal Hutcheson’s 2008 documentary, “The Last One,” which tells the story of the final batch of whiskey produced by legendary North Carolina moonshiner Popcorn Sutton.

A filmmaker himself who went on to collaborate with Hutcheson on the documentaries "Land and Water Revisited" and "A Century After Nanook," French said he found Sutton’s story deeply compelling. But he also came away from it thinking, “Man, this would be good to use in class.”

“In my 'Intro to Archaeology' class I’m always talking about how archaeologists look at how humans modify the landscape — we find those man-made features and try to make sense of them,” he said. “And here’s this guy out in the mountains of North Carolina, stacking stones and making this horseshoe-shaped furnace to make whiskey. When he leaves, he takes the copper pot with him, but of course he leaves the stone furnace he’s built. And those would be out there everywhere — you could do an archaeological study on it.”

French noticed that the students would perk up whenever he used alcohol to make a broader point about archaeology. So, he put together an entire lecture about it.

Eventually, he realized a lecture wasn’t enough — he had the material to create a whole course curriculum around alcohol and its relationship to the broader field of anthropology.

“I realized I could talk about way more than archaeology,” he said. “I can talk about the cultural norms and taboos, and how it’s used in religious ceremonies and rituals, and feastings. I can talk about biological anthropology, how we’ve genetically evolved so that we can actually process alcohol. And how it factors linguistically, and how it’s used in music. And that it would be important to cover not just the fun, festive aspects of alcohol, but also the dark side of it, too.”

After the late Susan Welch, former dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, gave the idea her blessing, French was able to present a full proposal to the University’s Faculty Senate.

The course was approved, and in spring 2017 French taught the "Anthropology of Alcohol" course for the first time as an "ANTH 197: Special Topics" course capped at 100 students.

“It filled up immediately,” he said.

Demand continued to grow, and since the course’s fifth semester it’s been permanently housed in the amphitheater-style 100 Thomas. It fills every semester.

“It was kind of what I envisioned, but much larger,” French said with a laugh.

Each lecture explores a specific topic.

“It’s kind of like a different episode every week,” said French, who filmed actual episodes at downtown State College’s Zeno’s Pub when he taught a virtual version of the course during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the first half of the semester, French focuses on a different culture and its historic relationship with alcohol. He starts with China, where alcohol was first produced 9,000 years ago — the earliest evidence on record — just as humans were learning how to cultivate crops.

From there, he moves on to Mongolia and Japan, then Russia and Scandinavia, then Ireland and Scotland, Uganda and Ghana, Mexico and South America. He also brings in his wife, Associate Teaching Professor of Anthropology Laurel Pearson, to give a guest lecture on alcohol and genetics.

“I try to avoid some of the more obvious topics, like Italian and French wine and beer in Germany,” French said. “What’s important to show is how the domestication of crops and the development of alcohol go hand in hand. Rice and corn and barley — all those things kind of piggyback each other.”

One of French’s current students, first-year economics major Meghana Reddy, said she particularly enjoyed the lecture on Japanese alcohol culture.

“The presentations are very interesting, and I like that he doesn’t just lecture, but provides a lot of personal stories about his life and work,” Reddy said. “It’s more engaging than your typical class.”

The second half of the course focuses primarily on American drinking culture, with lectures on Prohibition, Pennsylvania-made beers and spirits, and college campuses. For his class on alcohol and music, French brings in local musician friends for a live performance.

Moonshine gets its own lecture, which isn’t surprising given its role in the course’s creation. Before that day’s class, French walked around the amphitheater with a jar of it produced by famed moonshiner Mike Woody, asking students if they wanted to smell it. Bob Dylan’s “Moonshiner” played over the speakers as waves of students filed into the room.

Ella Fleischman, a first-year mechanical engineering student, happily took a whiff of the highly potent spirit.

“I love the class — it’s really energizing,” Fleischman said. “Every class, we’re learning something new and interesting. You can tell he’s very passionate about what he does. I’m always telling my friends to take the course.”

During the lecture, French strolled around in front of huge projector screens, regaling the class with fun factoids and playing clips from “The Last One” and the 2012 moonshine-themed feature film “Lawless.”

At one point, French discussed his archaeological project searching for old still furnaces in the woods of western North Carolina. At the end of one such excursion, his wife informed him she wouldn’t be joining him in a celebratory beer. Why? She was pregnant.

After the lecture, second-year computer science major Ryan McWeeny said he took the course on the recommendation of his friend, who serves as one of its teaching assistants.

“He told me this would be a fun course to take,” McWeeny said. “I like it because he [French] has an engaging personality. This class is different from other ones because it’s more of an experience — how many professors bring a jar of moonshine to class?”

Of course, the course isn’t all fun and games. French adheres to a strict attendance policy, and during each lecture students have to take “Daily Shot” quizzes on Canvas, the University’s online learning management system.

The semester concludes with two gravely serious guest lectures relevant to college students — one on the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption by the family of Timothy Piazza, a University student who died during a fraternity hazing incident in 2017, and the other by a Penn State staff member on the prevalence of alcohol-related sexual assaults on campuses.

“Yeah, it kind of ends on a heavy note,” French said. “With alcohol, there’s a thin line between everything going great and everything going sideways, and it’s important to cover all aspects of that. We talk about alcoholism in these cultures — how it’s used and how it’s abused.”

Through it all — the good, the bad, the ugly — French said his ultimate hope is to instill in students a greater appreciation for the human tapestry and the many ways we’re unique yet similar.

“I think that if a student had a brush with this class, it would just turn the knob a bit for them,” he said. “Take a shot of anthropology; you just might like it.”