Pandemic Pedagogy: Teaching

International Relations Amid COVID-19

Andrew A. Szarejko
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/pandemic-pedagogy-teaching-international-relations-
amid-covid-19-andrew-a-szarejko/
POLITICAL PEDAGOGIES

Pandemic Pedagogy
Teaching International
Relations Amid COVID-19
Edited by
Andrew A. Szarejko
 Political Pedagogies

Series Editors
Jamie Frueh, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA, USA
David J Hornsby, The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs,
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
The purpose of the series is to create a new space for conversations
between scholars of political pedagogy, and between such scholars and
those looking for guidance on their teaching, and become the main recog-
nizable authority/series/conversational space in this field. The prolifera-
tion of journals, conferences, and workshops devoted to teaching attest
to the accelerating interest in the pedagogy of Political Science and
International Relations over the past two decades. While research schol-
arship remains the dominant criterion for hiring and promotion at top
tier institutions, almost all academics in these disciplines spend most of
their energy teaching, and more than two-thirds do so at institutions
where effective teaching is the primary factor in career success (Ishiyama
et al 2010). Even those at research-intensive positions benefit from more
effective classroom environments, and institutions across the world are
building centers devoted to improving teaching and learning. The chal-
lenges of teaching span sub-disciplines and connect disparate scholars in
a common conversation. Indeed, teaching may be the only focus that
academics in these disciplines truly share. Currently, most writing about
teaching politics is published in journals, and is therefore dispersed and
restricted in length. This series will provide a much needed platform for
longer, more engaged contributions on Political Pedagogies, as well as
serve to bring teaching and research in conversation with each other.

More information about this series at

https://link.springer.com/bookseries/16526
 Andrew A. Szarejko
Editor

Pandemic Pedagogy
Teaching International Relations Amid COVID-19
Editor
Andrew A. Szarejko
Monterey, CA, USA

ISSN 2662-7809 ISSN 2662-7817 (electronic)

Political Pedagogies
ISBN 978-3-030-83556-9 ISBN 978-3-030-83557-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83557-6

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither
the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.

Cover illustration: Anna Babii/Alamy Stock Photo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgments

There are only so many ways to say “thank you” to the many people
who shape a single text, but I should probably start with those who
saw promise in the proposal for this volume and who helped to make
it a reality. So to Jamie Frueh, David Hornsby, Anca Pusca, Shreenidhi
Natarajan, two anonymous reviewers, and everyone at Palgrave Macmillan
who helped to support the production of this volume, thank you.
I’m also grateful to the contributors themselves for spending some of
their scarce time working on their chapters during an unusually stressful
period. For so many colleagues to have entrusted me with the editing
of their work and with oversight of the volume as a whole is rather
humbling, and I hope I have done right by them. It is similarly humbling
to read the endorsements that other colleagues have provided for this
volume, and I’m thankful for their engagement with the collective work
this volume represents.
Of course, the reflections in this volume are the product of inter-
actions with students, and I’m grateful for the work they did in very
difficult circumstances. The pandemic presented challenges to teaching
and learning alike, but at least from my side of the (virtual) classroom,
the experience was not nearly as difficult as it could have been because of
the energy and curiosity that students at Georgetown University and the
University of Cincinnati alike brought to our classes. Moreover, in two
of those classes, I received the support of excellent teaching assistants,

v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jonathan Liu and Shea Minter, and all classes rely on a broader network
of supportive academic staff. Thank you all.
To the extent that I am interested in and any good at teaching, it
has helped to have models of effective instruction in my life from grade
school onward. From early English classes with Janet Wrassmann and
Margaret New to high school classes with Erik Krotz, Erik Lipham,
and Jon Seals, I have benefited from the labor of many who have dedi-
cated their professional lives to teaching. At the college and post-graduate
level, classes (and discussions about teaching IR) with Bradford McGuinn,
Joe Parent, Andrew Bennett, David Edelstein, Lise Morjé Howard, and
Daniel Nexon—as well as the Apprenticeship in Teaching at George-
town’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship—left an
especially large imprint on my own teaching.
Finally, I am grateful to my family and friends who have helped me
make it through the pandemic. More than anyone else, I have my wife,
Camille Balleza, to thank for that. Beyond her everyday support, she
helped me choose the cover photo for this volume—a depiction of paper
marbling that is meant to underscore the fluidity of the public health situ-
ation we have been dealing with for many months now. There’s no one I
would rather have in my pandemic bubble, and I dedicate this volume to
her.

August 2021 Andrew A. Szarejko

 Praise for Pandemic Pedagogy

“COVID-19 created numerous challenges for those of us who teach.

But it also offered opportunities, especially for those who teach about
international politics. From heightening awareness of the interconnected
nature of the world, generating the ability to experiment with new peda-
gogic approaches, and forcing a rethink of the “classroom environment,”
instructors from around the globe sought to make the best of a diffi-
cult situation. The contributions to this volume provide a treasure trove
of lessons learned from those experiences and experiments. Any and all of
them will make you a better teacher of international politics, both virtually
and in-person.”
—Paul Poast, University of Chicago, US

“This wonderful book serves several important purposes, from processing

what we have all just been through, to guiding us in our future teaching.
The chapters offer radically different but equally important contributions
to our profession and this moment. From Ettinger’s beautifully written
philosophical musing on teaching undergraduates in an “age of crisis,”
to Dayal’s real-time account from her apartment in New York (looking
down on a mobile morgue, sirens in the background as she records her
lectures), to Lemke’s how-to guide for balancing asynchronous and in-
person teaching, the book is brimming with larger insights and smaller
tips. I hope all my colleagues will read this.”
—Hilde Eliassen Restad, Bjørknes University College, Oslo, Norway

vii
viii PRAISE FOR PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY

“The global pandemic has changed our world in dramatic ways, including
how we teach. This timely volume provides a wealth of valuable and
innovative ideas. With a special eye for the student’s—rather than just
the instructor’s—experience in critical times and on virtual environments,
this excellent volume stands out for the diversity of its contributors and
compassionate approach to teaching.”
—Gregorio Bettiza, University of Exeter, UK

“There is a venerable tradition of studying dramatic political shocks

and what they mean for the international system and for international
relations. But what do political shocks in general, and the COVID-19
pandemic in particular, mean for the teaching of International Relations?
This thoughtful compilation of essays and personal reflections by scholars
from across the world does essential service by providing IR scholars—as
teachers—with tips and insights on how to be sensitive to student needs
while coping with the stresses of online and hybrid teaching. Overall,
these essays are the start of a valuable conversation on these issues that
emphasize flexibility and compassion. They will prove to be a useful
resource for established scholars as well as early career scholars as they
think through their teaching responsibilities in this era of change while
managing their other tasks, both professional and personal.”
—Manjeet Pardesi, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
 Contents

Part I Adapting to the Circumstances

1 Teaching World Politics in an Age of Crisis 3
Aaron Ettinger
2 Teaching in Critical Junctures: Challenges
to International Relations Bachelor’s Programs
in Brazil During the COVID-19 Pandemic 19
Elia Elisa Cia Alves and Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira
3 More Than a YouTube Channel: Engaging Students
in an Online Classroom 39
Elizaveta Gaufman and Sebastian Möller
4 Interactive Learning and Participation at Zoom
University 59
Brianna Nicole Hernandez
5 How Much Zoom is Too Much? Making
Asynchronous Learning Work 73
Tobias Lemke

ix
x CONTENTS

Part II Caring for Students amid Crisis

6 Out from the Wreck: International Relations
and Pedagogies of Care 99
Anjali Kaushlesh Dayal
7 When Teaching is Impossible: A Pandemic Pedagogy
of Care 113
Oumar Ba
8 Supporting Student Learning Through Flexibility
and Transparency 127
Michelle Giacobbe Allendoerfer
9 Access is Love: Equity-Minded Pandemic Pedagogy 141
Andrew B. Jenks
10 Teaching Online During a Crisis: What Matters Most
for Students 157
Rebecca A. Glazier

Part III Preparing for Future Disruptions

11 It Takes a Village: Harnessing Institutional
and Professional Resources to Preempt and Prepare
for the Future 175
Sibel Oktay
12 Getting Our Teaching “Future Ready” 189
Sebastian Kaempf
13 Disruption in an Open-Access Institution 203
Stephanie A. Hallock
14 Pedagogy and Institutional Crisis: Higher Education
as Public Good and Scholarly Advocacy After
the Pandemic 217
Stephen Pampinella

Index 235
 Editor and Contributors

About the Editor

Andrew A. Szarejko is a Donald R. Beall Defense Fellow in the

Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School and a
Non-residential Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy’s Modern War Insti-
tute. He recently received his Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown
University and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science
at the University of Cincinnati. His research focuses on the intersection of
U.S. foreign policy and Indigenous politics, and his peer-reviewed work
has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal of Global Security Studies,
the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, and PS: Political Science
and Politics. His public-facing work has appeared in outlets like War on
the Rocks, The Diplomat, and Indian Country Today. Since August 2019,
he has served as the teaching editor for H-Diplo, an online platform
devoted to promoting open scholarly discourse on Diplomatic History
and IR. He tweets at @szarejko.

Contributors

Michelle Giacobbe Allendoerfer joined the American Political Science

Association (APSA) in 2021 as the Director of Teaching and Learning.
At APSA, she coordinates teaching and learning and professional develop-
ment programming for APSA members. From 2010 to 2021, she was the

xi
xii EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

Faculty Coordinator for the International Politics Cohort of the Women’s

Leadership Program at George Washington University and an Assistant
Professor of Political Science. She taught Introduction to Comparative
Politics and Introduction to International Relations in the Women’s Lead-
ership Program and also offered an upper-level course on human rights.
Her research focuses on international human rights. In addition, she is
interested in the scholarship on teaching and learning and was actively
involved with GWU’s Teaching and Learning Center. She has published
articles on active learning in international affairs and on graduate student
involvement in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Elia Elisa Cia Alves is Assistant Professor in the Department of Inter-
national Relations at the Federal University of Paraiba—UFPB (Brazil).
She has 7 years of teaching experience in public higher education insti-
tutions in Brazil. Since 2016, she has belonged to the Mettrica Lab,
which develops work on active learning and teaching methods and tech-
niques in International Relations at https://sites.google.com/view/met
trica-lab/home and has produced publications in the Journal of Polit-
ical Science Education and Mural Internacional. Her social media activity
includes the use of Academia.edu and ResearchGate profiles and a channel
on YouTube communicating academic literature on teaching at https://
www.youtube.com/channel/UCyFKaTIm9zh4HomSKN46fzA.
Oumar Ba is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in the
Department of Government at Cornell University. He formerly taught at
Morehouse College. His research focuses primarily on the global gover-
nance of atrocity crimes, and the construction of and challenges to the
international order from Global South perspectives. He is the author of
States of Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2020). His articles have
appeared in Human Rights Quarterly and Cambridge Review of Inter-
national Affairs, among others. His research has also been featured in
public media outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Monkey
Cage at the Washington Post, and the New York Review of Books. He is
an editor at the online magazine Africa Is a Country, and his personal
website is www.oumarba.com. He tweets at @oumarkba.
Anjali Kaushlesh Dayal is an Assistant Professor of International Politics
at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus and a former Research
Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. She
is the author of Incredible Commitments: How UN Peacekeeping Failures
 EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS xiii

Shape Peace Processes (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Her research

and writing have appeared in, among other venues, the journals Inter-
national Organization, Peace Review, and Global Governance, as well as
online in the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, the Ms. Magazine blog,
and the On Being Project. She researches peacekeeping, peace processes,
the UN Security Council, and humanitarian intervention. She holds a
Ph.D. in International Relations from Georgetown University’s Depart-
ment of Government, and at Fordham University, she teaches courses
on the United Nations, international relations, and humanitarian inter-
vention in the Political Science and International Studies programs, and
she advises students in the Master’s in International Humanitarian Affairs
program. She tweets at @anjalikdayal.
Aaron Ettinger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political
Science at Carleton University, specializing in International Relations and
U.S. foreign policy. His work on IR pedagogy has been published in
International Studies Perspectives and Politics and in an edited volume
published by University of British Columbia Press. Since 2016, he has
taught a large, introductory course on world politics in an age of crisis,
in which students grapple with the defining global problems of their
generation. His approach to teaching IR is derived from the principles of
“Global IR” and the push for greater disciplinary inclusiveness and diver-
sity. In 2021, he was awarded the Canadian Political Science Association
Prize for Teaching.
Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira is Associate Professor in the Department
of International Relations at the Federal University of Paraiba—UFPB
(Brazil)—and Visiting Professor at Universidad Núr (Bolivia). He has 15
years of teaching experience in private and public higher education insti-
tutions in Brazil and Bolivia. He has also been a Visiting Researcher at
the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) and Uppsala University
(Sweden). Since 2012, he has conducted research on the development of
International Relations programs in Brazil, which has led to publications
in the Journal of Political Science Education and Meridiano 47 —Journal
of Global Studies. He tweets at @marcosalan, and his academic work can
be found at: https://ufpb.academia.edu/MarcosAlanFerreira.
Elizaveta Gaufman is Assistant Professor of Russian Discourse and Poli-
tics in the Department of European Languages and Cultures at the
University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Her research is situated at
xiv EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

the intersection of political theory, international relations, and media and

cultural studies. She is the author of Security Threats and Public Percep-
tion: Digital Russia and the Ukraine Crisis (Palgrave, 2017). Her other
publications include peer-reviewed articles on nationalism, sexuality, and
social networks. Elizaveta is a permanent contributor to the “Duck of
Minerva” blog and tweets at @lisas_research.
Rebecca A. Glazier is a Political Science Professor in the School of Public
Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is the Director
of the Little Rock Congregations Study. In addition to her research
on religion and community engagement, she studies the scholarship of
teaching and learning and is passionate about improving the quality of
online education. More information about her research is available on
her website: http://www.rebeccaglazier.net/.
Stephanie A. Hallock is a Professor of Political Science and the Coor-
dinator for Global Education and Engagement at Harford Community
College in Bel Air, Maryland. She earned her Ph.D. in International
Relations from the University of Miami and has spent over two decades
focused on teaching, learning, and expanding global education oppor-
tunities for community college students, who have very diverse needs,
abilities, and goals. In this learning environment, most of Stephanie’s
research, publications, and presentations have stemmed from classroom
experiences and student interactions, including recent work on the use
of simulation games and AI to promote active learning in the IR class-
room, the infusion of global learning across the curriculum, the impact
of citizenship and identity on political mobilization, and pedagogical tools
designed to reach first-generation college students, most notably The
World in the Twentieth Century: A Thematic Approach (Pearson, 2013).
Brianna Nicole Hernandez is a Ph.D. Candidate in International Rela-
tions at Florida International University (FIU). She joined the program
in 2018, has since received her M.A., and is pursuing her Ph.D. as well as
certificates in Women and Gender Studies and National Security Studies.
Prior to attending FIU, Brianna received her B.A. from the University of
Miami, where she double-majored in History and Political Science and
completed minors in Sociology and Philosophy. She is interested in the
role of language as a product and producer of the actors and actions that
comprise the international system and its relation to power dynamics. She
 EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS xv

has served as a Teaching Assistant for Introduction to International Rela-

tions at FIU, and her social media presence includes a Twitter account at
which she tweets about her work (@brihernandezfiu).
Andrew B. Jenks is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Polit-
ical Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware.
His research focuses on disability politics, and he has recently published
articles in Disability & Society and Critical Social Policy. His work on
teaching and learning includes a recent collaboration with the Univer-
sity of Delaware’s Center for Teaching and Assessment of Learning as an
Equity and Accessibility Consultant as well as a forthcoming chapter in a
handbook for graduate student instructors which suggests that the use of
educational technologies that are accessible to the instructor can enhance
the student learning experience. Outside of academia, Jenks competes at
the Paralympic level in the sport of goalball and has had the opportunity
to contribute to community outreach and engagement with people with
disabilities, specifically young people who are blind or visually impaired,
mostly in the U.S. Find updates at his website www.andrewjenks.net and
on Twitter (@thelifeofjenks).
Sebastian Kaempf is a Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies in
the School of Political Science and International Studies at the Univer-
sity of Queensland (UQ, Australia). Since 2009, his courses have been
taught in-person and fully online. Each course differs, but they include
2-hour lectures, 1-hour seminars/tutorials, 3-hour practical MediaLabs,
and 3-hour simulation role plays. He is also the producer and convener
of “MediaWarX”, one of UQ’s Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs),
which runs several times a year (May 2017–2024), and which has
already been taken by over 13,500 learners from over 154 countries.
He has received an Australian National Award for Teaching Excellence
and the 2020 ISA Award for Teaching Innovation. His publications in
relation to teaching and education include, “Teaching International Rela-
tions through the format of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)”
(with Carrie Finn, International Studies Perspectives, 2020) and “Reimag-
ining Communities: Opening up History to the Memory of Others”
(with Jean-Louis Durand, Millennium - Journal of International Studies,
January 2014). Through his new podcast series, “HigherEd Heroes”
(co-convened with Dr Al Stark), he disseminates insights into excellent
teaching practices: https://www.buzzsprout.com/813707.
xvi EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS

Tobias Lemke is Instructor of Political Science and International Rela-

tions at the University of Delaware and the Program Coordinator for
Faculty Development and Assessment at the English Language Institute’s
Academic Transition Program. At Delaware, he received his Ph.D. in
2021, and he successfully completed two course certification programs
in the philosophies of learning and teaching through the Center for
Teaching and Assessment of Learning. He also served as the grad-
uate fellow for the University of Delaware’s Center for the Integra-
tion of Teaching, Research and Learning from 2015–2017; part of an
inter-institutional network designed to provide professional development
opportunities for graduate students and early career scholars interested
in a career in teaching. He is currently working on classroom research
that assesses student perceptions of active learning strategies and the effi-
cacy of hybrid and remote learning environments for second-language
undergraduate learners.
Sebastian Möller is a political economy research and M.A. program coor-
dinator at Cusanus University Koblenz, Germany. His interdisciplinary
work focuses on state financialization, international trade, urban political
economy, and socio-ecological transformations. He has taught a variety
of introductory classes in political science, international relations, and
international political economy as well as research seminars on finance
and trade. At Cusanus University, he also teaches graduate courses in
economics with a focus on sustainable transitions within corporations
and the wider economy. Sebastian is particularly committed to encour-
aging and facilitating transdisciplinary learning, including dialogues with
practitioners, study field trips, and transdisciplinary student research. In
his digital seminar on the global political economy of Bremen’s ports
at the University of Bremen (summer term 2020), he set up a seminar
blog (https://blogs.uni-bremen.de/hafenblog/, in German language)
where students, colleagues, and practitioners contributed to the produc-
tion and discussion of knowledges. This seminar received two teaching
awards, including one from the German Political Science Association.
Sebastian regularly tweets about higher education and political economy
(@smoeller84), and he acts as reviewer for two student journals and
publishes articles and working papers with his students.
Sibel Oktay is Associate Professor of and chair of the Political Science
Department at the University of Illinois at Springfield, and a non-resident
senior fellow of public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council
 EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTORS xvii

on Global Affairs. Her research and teaching interests focus on interna-

tional relations and foreign policy, European and Middle Eastern politics,
and mixed-method research. Her research has been published in the
Journal of European Public Policy, European Journal of Political Research,
and British Journal of Politics and International Relations, among others.
She is the author of the forthcoming book, Governing Abroad: Coali-
tion Politics and Foreign Policy in Europe (University of Michigan Press).
Her media commentary and opinion pieces have appeared in The New
York Times, The Hill, Vox, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and The Conversation,
among others. Oktay has been teaching courses on international relations
and foreign policy analysis both face-to-face and online since 2014. She
tweets at @sibeloktay. You can find more about her research, teaching,
and public-facing work on www.sibeloktay.net.
Stephen Pampinella is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Inter-
national Relations at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New
Paltz. He specializes in U.S. foreign policy, relational social theory,
and race in international relations. His peer-reviewed publications have
appeared in Civil Wars and Small Wars and Insurgencies, while his
current research applies relational and postcolonial frameworks to analyze
governance hierarchies during U.S. military occupations. Pampinella has
10 years of political organizing experience in New York State, primarily
focusing on increasing state assistance to SUNY. With colleagues, he
is a co-founder of the Member Action Caucus with United University
Professions, the union representing SUNY faculty and staff.
 List of Figures

Fig. 5.1 Overview of course modules on Canvas 79

Fig. 5.2 Expanded view of a single Module in Canvas
(Introduction to Global Politics) 80
Fig. 5.3 Excerpt from course discussion document (Introduction
to International Relations) 82
Fig. 5.4 Excerpt from course discussion document with a focus
on course introduction and learning outcomes
(Introduction to International Relations) 83
Fig. 5.5 Detailed look at the overview page to Module 1
on Canvas (Introduction to Global Politics) 87
Fig. 5.6 Detailed look at the “To-Do” list as part of the overview
page to Module 1 on Canvas (Introduction to Global
Politics) 87
Fig. 5.7 Expanded view of Online Classroom Orientation Module
on Canvas (Introduction to Global Politics) 89
Fig. 5.8 Detailed view of the technology troubleshooting page
that is included in the Online Classroom Orientation
Module on Canvas (Introduction to Global Politics) 90
Fig. 5.9 Detailed view of the instructions for submitting a practice
assignment on Canvas (Introduction to Global Politics) 91
Fig. 5.10 Stop, Start, Continue, survey prompt for collecting
student feedback during the semester (Introduction
to International Relations) 93

xix
xx LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 12.1 Screenshot taken of the CCTV cameras of Brisbane,

crowdsourced by my students in 2020, and uploaded
onto Google Maps 198
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Public-funded IR undergraduate programs in Brazil 23

Table 2.2 IR programs by region, demographic and economic
factors 26

xxi
 Pandemic Pedagogy: Teaching
International Relations During
(and After) COVID-19

For International Relations (IR) scholars around the world, the COVID-
19 pandemic made the second half of the 2019–2020 academic year and
the entirety of the 2020–2021 academic year unusual at best. Amid all
the human catastrophes of the pandemic and a general disruption to daily
life, we as instructors had to continue teaching our students, most of
whom had not originally registered for online or hybrid classes. Indeed, to
adapt to the circumstances and ensure that our students still had valuable
experiences in our (virtual) classrooms, many of us in higher education
have spent more time on teaching than we usually do throughout the
pandemic. This book offers a series of reflections from IR scholars on
what this experience has taught us about our teaching—the ways we can
adjust to crisis, the needs of our students, and the possibilities for greater
preparedness in the event of future disruptions.
Teaching at any level is deeply personal, but teaching amid a pandemic
is perhaps even more so. Throughout the pandemic, students have
become acquainted with our bookshelves, our plants, our pets, our chil-
dren, and the other interlopers. These are not just reminders of how
blurry the line between the home and the office can become while deliv-
ering lectures from home; they are moments that underscore to our
students that we instructors are people too. Indeed, these are the sorts of
reflections you will find in this book—quite personal ones that derive from
the particular contexts each of the contributors faced amid this pandemic.
I will continue with some reflections of my own, and I will then outline

xxiii
xxiv PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL …

the individual chapters and explain how they relate to broader themes of
the volume. I will conclude with a note on how this volume builds on
the Political Pedagogies series of which it is a part.

Teaching IR During COVID-19

I have been fortunate in that neither I nor any immediate family members
have yet contracted COVID-19. While some family members of mine are
healthcare workers, the anxiety I experienced over their potential contact
with the virus faded into background noise at some point, and my own
experience of the pandemic has largely been about changes to my personal
and professional routines. While I have made slight adjustments to my
research due to the closure of archives, for example, the more substantial
professional changes came in my teaching. Prior to 2020, I had never
taught a course entirely online. Much of my early teaching experience
came as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses at Georgetown
University, and I taught my first class as the instructor of record in the
summer of 2019. It was a five-week summer session of Introduction to
International Relations (Intro to IR), and I have not taught in a classroom
since then.
While I defended my dissertation in August 2020, I have been teaching
online since before the pandemic affected higher education in the U.S.
Luckily, my spring teaching load in 2020 consisted of only a single inde-
pendent study class with one student, and because of their schedule, we
decided from the beginning of the semester—when there was still little
public concern in the U.S. about a potential pandemic—to conduct all
our meetings online. The mid-March shift to online instruction that so
many experienced thus had little effect on how I was teaching. By the
summer, however, I had to more radically rethink how to teach online; I
had committed to teaching two summer sessions of Intro to IR.
In approaching online teaching in these circumstances, the first thing I
wanted to communicate to my students was that I was still committed to
making their experience a valuable one and that I would work with them
to tailor the class to their needs. If, as Schwartz (2019, p. 14) argues,
establishing a productive relationship with students entails “the avail-
ability of intellectual and emotional connection,” I was trying to signal
that availability with a detailed welcome email and an attached survey that
asked students whether they would prefer a synchronous or asynchronous
class (or a mix thereof), how frequently they would want me to host office
 PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL … xxv

hours, what had worked well for them (or not) in other online classes, and
so on.1 Among the changes I ultimately made, however, perhaps the most
effective one was to invite guest speakers for question-and-answer sessions
with my class. I would start by asking about the speaker’s academic back-
ground and about their argument in an assigned reading before going to
the students for any questions they had. In those two summer classes,
for example, Joshua Busby, David Kang and Xinru Ma, Jon Lindsay,
Danielle Lupton, Richard Maass, Inu Manak, Joshua Shifrinson, and
Swati Srivastava all spent at least 45 minutes each discussing topics from
constructivism to U.S. –China relations with my classes.2 Students bene-
fited from being able to ask questions to subject-matter experts whose
work they had read, but this synchronous component to the class was
also helpful to me in building relationships that I have missed fostering in
classrooms and conference hotel lobbies.
The 2020–2021 academic year, however, was my first year of full-time
teaching. As a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Polit-
ical Science at the University of Cincinnati, I taught three undergraduate
classes per semester—five new preparations in total. I taught Introduction
to Comparative Politics in both semesters, and I also taught four upper-
level seminars: America and the World, War and Security, U.S. National
Security, and American Grand Strategy. (It was only that last class on
which I had some input.) I was happy not to have to move from the D.C.
area to Cincinnati for a year, and other faculty members were helpful in
easing my transition into the job, but managing this teaching load amid
everything else was not terribly easy. Similar to other contributors to this
volume (see Section 2), I ultimately arrived at a guiding principle—the
exceptional circumstances warranted exceptional compassion, even if that
meant spending an exceptional amount of time on my classes. Among
other things, I saw that as being proactive about communicating with
students throughout the semester, being relatively generous with respect
to late assignments and excused absences, and providing ample feedback
on all their written work. I did need to make time for other things—
research, job applications, and a personal life included—but I saw my

1 Emphasis in original.
2 These scholars are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Kang and Ma are listed
together as they joined my class together to discuss a coauthored article.
xxvi PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL …

primary professional responsibility as making time for my students and

mitigating the pandemic’s effect on their learning experiences.3
As I write this introduction in early June 2021, I am preparing to
start teaching one more summer Intro to IR class at Georgetown next
week—in all likelihood, the last online class that I will teach for the
foreseeable future as I will then begin a post-doctoral fellowship with
no teaching obligations at the Naval Postgraduate School. (Of course,
views expressed here are my own and not those of the U.S. Navy or any
other federal entity.) Early July will thus mark the end of roughly 18
months throughout which I have been teaching continuously with only
short breaks between semesters or for holidays. That is, the impetus for
this book came from experience. I pitched the basic idea for this edited
volume to the series editors in late March of 2020 at a point when it was
clear the pandemic would have important but still uncertain effects on
higher education, and the full proposal received formal approval from the
press in October. All the while, the contributors and I were constantly
trying to make sense of and adapt to this new teaching environment.
The pandemic is ongoing. Many in the U.S., myself included, have
already received vaccinations, and it appears that the coming academic
year will be a return to “normal” for most instructors. But there are
inequalities in access to vaccines within and across states, and there
remains uncertainty as to whether new variants of the virus might prolong
the pandemic even further. That is, all the contributors to this volume
offer reflections on teaching amid a pandemic while still writing from one.
We thus do so humbly—we all know that things will change between the
time we submit this volume and the time you read it. You will therefore
not find chapters on “one simple trick to get perfect course evaluations
during a pandemic” or “three universal laws of online teaching” in this
volume. Rather, in their own ways, each author here is asking you to
join a conversation with them. They offer some reflections on their own
pedagogical practices based on their experiences of the pandemic. But
what do you think, dear reader? What changes have you made to your

3 Indeed, teaching was my sole contractual responsibility—I had no formal research

or service obligations—but as Jackson (2020, pp. 42–43) notes, the question of how
to “make time for class” will be present at any stage in an academic career given other
personal and professional responsibilities or incentives. The pandemic has made such ques-
tions of time management more pressing for many. As some of the contributors to this
volume explore, this has especially been the case for those with care-giving responsibilities.
 PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL … xxvii

teaching throughout this pandemic, and what will you be taking into the
post-pandemic future?

Outline of the Volume

This volume is divided into three sections, each of which is guided by
a central question. The first two sections focus on the recent past and
the lessons we might derive from our experiences of teaching during
a pandemic. First, how should instructors adapt to different modes of
instructional continuity? Contributors will explore aspects of the quick,
unanticipated change in the means of delivering instruction due to
COVID-19 while also offering suggestions for instructors who face
similar circumstances in the future. If, for example, one seeks to make
IR “visually and affectively experienceable,” even “tangible” for students
(Rösch, 2020, p. 110), how does one do so in a virtual environment?
Second, how should instructors care for their students under such circum-
stances? That is, how should we change our pedagogical practices in
such a disruptive period to ensure that students still feel welcome and
supported in our classrooms and to reckon with the fact that students will
vary in the extent to which they are affected by the pandemic?4 Contrib-
utors here reflect on the ways they sought to meet the diverse needs of
their students, but they also emphasize the extent to which we can bring
a more compassionate pedagogy into our post-pandemic classrooms.
The third section is more explicitly forward-looking. How should we
as a discipline prepare for similar future disruptions? If COVID-19 caught
us somewhat unprepared for the switch to a long period of mostly online
teaching, how can we ensure that any future transitions occur more
smoothly? Contributors underscore the roles that various actors can play
in these preparations—individual faculty members can take action, but
departments, administrators, and professional associations can all make a
significant difference in crafting a more resilient discipline.

4 Sterling-Folker (2020, p. 89), for example, describes her role as an instructor as that
of a guide: “I facilitate the learning process by listening more carefully to what students
hope to achieve (both in the classroom and after graduation), being clear with regards to
my learning goals for them in light of their dreams, adopting a flexible attitude toward
class activities and appropriate assignments, and respecting them individually for their
unique talents and interests.” The question for contributors in Section 2 is essentially
about how to do all that in extraordinary circumstances.
xxviii PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL …

Each contributor in those respective sections will thus be addressing

the same basic theme. Nonetheless, the varying perspectives these authors
bring to bear on these issues generate fruitful differentiation amid
thematic similarity.
The first section begins with Aaron Ettinger’s chapter, which situates
the reader in the “multiple, overlapping, and mutually abetting crises”
that have constituted our teaching environment—not just during the
pandemic, but in the preceding two decades. What intellectual principles
should guide teaching amid crisis? Ettinger argues that we should seek a
middle ground between presentism and historicism, between generalism
and specialism. There instructors can find a “pedagogical eclecticism”
that embraces complexity in world politics while speaking pragmatically
to present concerns.
Elia Elisa Cia Alves and Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira continue in a
similar vein by asking how one is meant to teach during a “critical junc-
ture,” the sort of period most IR scholars would rather study. Drawing on
their experience teaching in Brazil, Alves and Ferreira explore the myriad
difficulties and creative solutions required in moving classes online in a
context of relatively constrained technological resources and a political
environment unsupportive of higher education.
Sebastian Möller and Lisa Gaufman focus on one of the key chal-
lenges that faces any instructor but that the pandemic has exacerbated.
How do we keep our students engaged? While it can be difficult to
foster interactivity in online classes—especially ones that were meant to be
in-person—Möller and Gaufman argue that active learning is worth the
effort. They explain how simulations and student-run blogs helped keep
their students engaged and fostered connections between students that
one might easily overlook in the pandemic-driven shift to online teaching.
Similarly, Brianna Nicole Hernandez considers how to maintain an
inclusive, connected teaching environment even amid the disruption of
the pandemic. Hernandez does so from the perspective of a teaching
assistant who designed her own discussion and review sessions with
those goals in mind. She outlines a number of games and activities that
she found useful in attaining those objectives, but she also highlights
the importance of treating students as “constructors of knowledge…co-
responsible for learning.”
The first section concludes with Tobias Lemke’s fine-grained discus-
sion of asynchronous and synchronous modes of teaching as well as the
many technical choices one will face along the way. Lemke argues that
 PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL … xxix

neither mode is ideal on its own—a “60/40 split in favor of synchronous

instruction” is his preference—but he outlines the various stages of
designing and ultimately teaching one’s online course such that readers
obligated to teach entirely synchronously or asynchronously will nonethe-
less find much here to think about the next time they run a class online.
Regardless of the exact format an instructor chooses, Lemke concludes,
success in the online format will stem in large part from more personal
choices: “Empathy, understanding and compassion should be the guiding
principles of effective online teaching,” especially in the context of a
pandemic.
For better or worse, the subject matter of IR provides instructors with
plenty of material. Indeed, as Frueh argues, this is something of an advan-
tage for us in the field: “Most obviously, global politics courses provide
opportunities for emerging agents to practice wrestling with the kinds
of complexities they will confront in an increasingly globalized world”
(2020, p. 5). What the authors in this first section demonstrate is that the
empowerment students can experience in our classes need not be impaired
by different modes of instruction, even when such changes are forced
upon us by a pandemic.
This brings us to the second section of the book, which focuses on how
to care for students amid tumultuous circumstances and which begins
with Anjali Kaushlesh Dayal’s chapter on this subject. Teaching to
students in hard-hit New York City, Dayal describes the various ways
in which she manifested a “pedagogy of care” in her classes, and she
emphasizes three key principles that guided her pedagogical practices:
transparency, generosity, and flexibility. “But these pedagogical moves,”
she concludes, “will perhaps remain relevant past the crisis, as ways to
help transform the classroom into a caring, collaborative place for imag-
ining collective solutions to besetting problems.” Indeed, the remaining
contributors in this section continue to press this point.
Oumar Ba situates his chapter with reference to Naeem Inayatul-
lah’s (2020, p. 18) argument that, “Teaching is impossible. Learning is
unlikely… [W]e enter the classroom to encounter others. With them, we
can meditate on the possibility of our own learning.” In Ba’s courses
at Morehouse College, a historically Black institution, teaching amid the
pandemic thus entailed a focus on how the conditions were affecting “stu-
dents, their families, and their communities.” In light of those ongoing
changes, Ba sought to make adaptations throughout his courses that
would allow the (virtual) classroom to be “a living space.”
xxx PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY: TEACHING INTERNATIONAL …

Michelle Giacobbe Allendoerfer, similar to Dayal, emphasizes “flexi-

bility and transparency” in delineating her approach to pedagogical care.
Importantly, she argues that this heightened attention to the shifting
needs of our students need not come at the expense of rigor or one’s
own workload. Echoing Ettinger and Alves and Ferreira, Allendoerfer
notes that we and our students have been working through “multiple
pandemics,” and she considers how to give students “the confidence they
can succeed” even amid challenging circumstances.
Andrew B. Jenks’s chapter focuses on issues of accessibility, including
those pertaining to disability, but he argues that the pandemic has accen-
tuated the many different kinds of barriers that students face when
entering our classes. Jenks challenges the reader to go beyond the bare
minimum of meeting legal requirements for accessibility and to thereby
create more inclusive classroom environments, an effort that we would do
well to support at our respective institutions for the foreseeable future.
This second section concludes with Rebecca Glazier’s chapter on the
centrality of “making meaningful human connections” with our students.
While building rapport with students is important even in normal times,
Glazier argues that this is all the more central to student success and reten-
tion amid a crisis, and she provides numerous suggestions for facilitating
those relationships. Moreover, she concludes, we ought to bring lessons
learned from the pandemic into our future classes: “When we consider
the crises that at least some of our students are likely experiencing in any
given semester, it should spark in us a desire to continue to extend the
compassionate and understanding policies that became common during
the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Above all, the authors in this section overlap in arguing that IR class-
rooms can and should maintain this newfound focus on compassionate
pedagogy. The steps they recommend—among them, being proactive in
reaching out to struggling students, being less punitive toward late assign-
ments, and designing course materials with accessibility in mind—all take
time and energy, resources that may be scarce even in the best of times.
But making even modest commitments to the growth of our students can
have outsized rewards (Lang, 2016).
The third section turns our attention from the current pandemic and
asks how we might prepare for similar future disruptions that could affect
our teaching. The section begins with Sibel Oktay’s examination of
the ways that departments, administrators, and professional associations
might support this task. “We need to develop and sustain tools that
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
and the measured forms of articulation offer the only vocal drill that
possesses any permanent value. It is especially essential in the
stutterer's case that the patient be protected from ridicule and from
all disturbing emotions: the burden of difficult speech is sufficient to
greatly depress the nervous system without the added suffering of
emotional distress. It is evident that childhood, characterized as it is
by especial instability of the nervous system, is the period when we
can hope for the best results from care and training; the long-formed
habits of the adult are rarely broken.

We have thus traced the disorders of speech to their origin as

symptoms of grave central lesions of the nervous system, as results
of heredity or of a general neurasthenic condition; very rarely are
they dependent upon malformations of the organs of speech.

The treatment of such malformations, when they occur, is largely

unsatisfactory and is seldom curative.

The thorough treatment of those speech disorders that are not

susceptible of surgical aid would embrace such mental and physical
hygiene and training as should ensure the formation of a thoroughly
conceived vocabulary and its co-ordinated expression by words
either spoken or written. The study of expression in its highest forms
would necessarily conduct the investigator far into the realm of the
plastic, harmonic, and literary arts.

ALCOHOLISM.
 BY JAMES C. WILSON, M.D.

DEFINITION.—Alcoholism is the term used to designate collectively the

morbid phenomena caused by the abuse of alcohol.

SYNONYMS.—Alcoholismus, Ebrietas, Ebriositas, Temulentia,

Drunkenness, Delirium potatorium, Mania potatorium, Delirium
tremens, Chronic alcoholic intoxication, Dipsomania; Ger.
Trunkenheit, Trunksucht; Fr. Ivresse, Ivrognerie.

These terms are in common use to describe such conditions and

outbreaks in alcoholic individuals as amount to veritable morbid
states or attacks of sickness, but they are not interchangeable, nor
are they all sufficiently comprehensive to constitute true synonyms.
They are names applied to various conditions due to acute or
chronic alcohol-poisoning properly and distinctively comprehended
under the general term alcoholism.

CLASSIFICATION.—It was formerly the custom to restrict this term to

affections of the general nervous system induced by continued
excesses in the use of alcoholic drinks.1 But the nervous system
bears the brunt of the attack and suffers beyond all others alike in
transient and in continued excesses. The artificial restriction of the
term to the cases caused by continued excesses was therefore
illogical in itself, and has been productive of much needless difficulty
in the treatment of the subject and in the classification of the cases.
The use of the term chronic alcoholism to denote an established
condition, and of acute alcoholism to describe outbreaks of various
kinds which occur in individuals subject to that condition, has also
proved a source of embarrassment to the student. Not less vague
has been the employment of such terms as delirium tremens, mania-
a-potu, and the like, which are unsatisfactory in themselves, and
tend to exalt symptoms at the expense of the morbid condition of
which they are only in part the manifestation. I am of the opinion—
which is at variance with established usage—that the systematic
discussion of alcoholism requires that all forms of sickness, including
drunkenness, due to that poison must receive due consideration,
and that the term acute alcoholism, hitherto used in a sense at once
too comprehensive and too variable, should be reserved for those
cases in which the sudden energetic action of the poison is the
occasion of like sudden and intense manifestations of its effects.
Furthermore, the uncertainty and lack of precision in the use of the
terms acute and chronic alcoholism are due to errors of theory
formerly almost universal in medical writings and popular belief
concerning the disease. The chief source of these errors was the
recognition only of the more acute nervous affections caused by
alcoholic excess—delirium tremens, maniacal excitement, and
terrifying hallucinations—and the belief that these conditions
occurred only after a temporary abstinence in the course of habitual
or prolonged indulgence. It has now long been known that
abstinence from drink by no means necessarily precedes the
outbreak of mania or delirium, and modern researches have
established the existence of a chronic alcoholic intoxication of long
duration extending over a period of months or years, in which such
outbreaks merely exhibit the full development of symptoms that have
already been occasionally and partially recognizable.
1 Anstie, Reynolds's System of Medicine, vol. ii., 1868.

The following arrangement of the topics will facilitate the discussion

of the subject in the present article, and serve, I trust, a useful
purpose for the classification of cases in accordance with existing
knowledge:2

I. Acute Alcoholism: Drunkenness, Debauch.

A. Ordinary or Typical Form.
B. Irregular Forms.
1. Maniacal;
2. Convulsive;
3. In persons of unsound mind.
 C. Acute Poisoning by Alcohol: Lethal doses.

II. Chronic Alcoholism.

A. Visceral Derangements.
1. Local disorders:
a. Of the digestive system;
b. Of the liver;
c. Of the respiratory system;
d. Of the circulatory system;
e. Genito-urinary system.
2. Disorders of special structures:
a. Of the locomotor apparatus;
b. Of the skin.
3. General disorders:
a. The blood;
b. Obesity;
c. Cachexia.
B. Derangements of the Nervous System: Cerebro-spinal
Disorders.
1. Cerebral disorders.
2. Spinal disorders.
3. Disorders of the peripheral nerves.
4. Disorders of the special senses.
C. Psychical Derangements.
1. The moral sense.
2. The will.
3. The intellect.
4. Alcoholic delirium in general.
5. Delirium tremens.
6. Alcoholic insanity:
a. Melancholia;
b. Mania;
c. Chronic delirium;
d. Dementia;
e. Paretic dementia.

III. Hereditary Alcoholism.

IV. Dipsomania.
2 This classification is in part based upon that of Lentz, De l'Alcoholism et de ses
Diverses manifestations, etc., Bruxelles, 1884—a prize essay.

HISTORY.—The history of the abuse of alcohol would be the history of

society from the most remote period until the present time, not only
among civilized but among barbarous races of men, for the abuse of
narcotics, of which alcohol is at once the most important and the
most widely used, forms a dark background to the broad picture of
healthful human progress. In truth, the most sketchy account of our
knowledge of the effects of alcoholic excess, as manifested in the
individual and in society at large, interesting as it might prove to the
general reader, would be out of place in this article. To be of real
value it would necessarily embody a record of experiences so vague,
facts so indeterminate, opinions so at variance, and citations so
numerous, that they would require for their mere presentation a
volume rather than an article. The object of the writer in the following
pages shall be, therefore, to present the subject in its present
aspect, without reference, beyond that which is absolutely
necessary, to considerations of mere historical interest. This being
the case, he considers further apology for the lack of laborious
historical studies unnecessary.

ETIOLOGY.—A. Predisposing Influences.—We are at this point

confronted with a series of problems the complex nature and grave
importance of which appeal with peculiar urgency to all thoughtful
physicians. Their discussion, however, involving as it does unsettled
questions of great moment in social science, is beyond the scope of
the present article. A few practical points only can occupy our
attention.

The influences which predispose to alcoholism arise from

unfavorable moral, social, and personal conditions.

Among the unfavorable moral conditions may be mentioned a want

of wholesome public sentiment on the subject in communities. This
arises too often, but by no means exclusively, from poverty and its
attendant evils ignorance and vice. Rum is at once the refuge and
the snare of want, destitution, and sorrow. To the vacant and
untrained mind it brings boons not otherwise to be had—excitement
and oblivion. That both are brief and bought at a ruinous cost exerts
little restraining influence. Of equal if not greater importance are the
influences which spring from ill-regulated and demoralizing domestic
relations, and the absence of motive and the contentment which
properly belong to the family as an organization. Everywhere also do
we find in example a potent influence. In the individual, in addition to
hereditary propensities, the evil results of a lax, over-indulgent, or
vicious early training, as shown in a want of power of application, of
moral rectitude, in self-indulgence, craving for excitement, and a
weak will, powerfully predispose to the temptations of alcoholic
excess.

Among social conditions which must be regarded as predisposing

influences occupation takes the first rank. The occupations which
render those pursuing them especially liable to alcoholism may be
divided into two classes—those in which the temptation to drink is
constantly present, and those in which the character of the work
begets a desire for stimulation, while the opportunities for the
gratification of the desire are but little restricted.

To the first of these groups belong all classes of workmen in

distilleries, breweries, and bottling establishments; keepers and
clerks of hotels, public houses, and restaurants; the barmen and
waiters in the same trades; the salesmen who travel for dealers in
wines and spirits. To this group must also be referred the
professional politician of the lowest order. These occupations have
furnished by far the larger number of cases that have come under
my care, both in hospital and in private practice.

To the second class belong occupations involving great exposure to

the inclemency of the weather. We frequently find cabmen,
expressmen, coal-heavers, hucksters, and street-laborers habitually
addicted to excesses in alcohol. The stringent regulations of
corporations exert a powerful protective influence in the case of men
employed on railways, ferry- and other steamboat service, and in
and about dépôts and stations. Exhausting toil under unfavorable
circumstances as regards heat and confinement predisposes to
drink, as in the case of foundrymen, workers in rolling-mills, stokers,
and the like. The men-cooks who work in hotels and restaurants are
especially liable to alcoholism. Monotony of occupation, as in the
cases of cobblers, tailors, bakers, printers, etc., especially when
associated with close, ill-ventilated workrooms and long hours of toil,
exerts a strong predisposing influence. Persons following sedentary
occupations suffer from excesses sooner than those whose active
outdoor life favors elimination. To the monotony of their occupations
may be ascribed in part, at least, the disposition of soldiers,
ranchmen, sailors, etc. to occasional excesses as opportunities
occur. Irregularity of work, especially when much small money is
handled, as happens with butchers, marketmen, and hucksters, also
often leads to intemperance.

The lack of occupation exerts a baleful influence. Men-about-town,

the frequenters of clubs, dawdlers, and quidnuncs often fall victims
to a fate from which occupation and the necessity to work would
have saved them. In this connection it may be permitted to call
attention to the custom of treating as enormously augmenting the
dangers to which such persons are habitually exposed in the matter
of alcoholic excesses. The occasional moderate use of alcohol in the
form of wine with food and as a source of social pleasure is not
fraught with the moral or physical evils attributed to it by many
earnest and sincere persons. It is, on the contrary, probable that the
well-regulated and temperate use of sound wines under proper
circumstances and with food is, in a majority of individuals, attended
with benefit. Those who suffer from the effects of excesses do not
usually reach them by this route, nor would they be saved by any
amount of abstinence on the part of temperate and reasonable
members of society.

When we turn our attention to the unfavorable personal conditions

which predispose to alcoholism, we at once enter upon the familiar
field of work of the practical physician. Numerous influences having
their origin in the individual himself, some occasional, others
constant, all urgent, demand our careful consideration. Some of the
conditions out of which these predisposing influences spring are
tangible and easy of recognition; others are elusive and uncertain. To
point them out is, unfortunately, not to remedy them. As a rule, they
have wrought their evil effects long before the individual has cause
to regard himself in the light of a patient.

First in importance is heredity. A peculiar inherited constitution of the

nervous system is as influential in leading to alcoholic excess and in
aggravating its disastrous effects as any other cause whatsoever. A
considerable proportion of individuals who suffer from alcoholism are
found upon inquiry to come of parents who have been addicted to
drink. A still greater number belong to families in which nervous
disorders, and in particular neuralgia, epilepsy, and insanity, have
prevailed. Others, again, are the offspring of criminals. It can no
longer be doubted that particular causes of nervous degeneration in
one or both parents may lead to the hereditary transmission of a
feeble nervous organization, which, on the one hand, renders its
possessor peculiarly liable to neuroses of every kind, and, on the
other hand, an easy prey to the temptation to seek refuge from
mental and physical suffering in occasional or habitual narcotic
indulgence. Thus, as Anstie pointed out, “the nervous enfeeblement
produced in an ancestor by great excesses in drink is reproduced in
his various descendants, with the effect of producing insanity in one,
epilepsy in another, neuralgia in a third, alcoholic excesses in a
fourth, and so on.” When it is possible to obtain fairly complete family
histories, covering two or three generations, in grave nervous cases,
facts of this kind are elicited with surprising frequency. The part
which heredity plays in many of the more inveterate and hopeless
cases of alcoholism is wholly out of proportion to the obvious and
easily recognizable part played by momentary temptation. To the
failure to recognize the real agency at work in such cases must be
ascribed the disappointment of too many sanguine and unsuccessful
social reformers.
Various forms of disease exert a predisposing influence to alcoholic
excesses. In the first place, bodily weakness and inability to cope
with the daily tasks imposed by necessity impel great numbers of
persons of feeble constitution, especially among the laboring
classes, to the abuse of alcohol.

In the second place, many conditions of chronic disease attended by

suffering are susceptible of great temporary relief from the taking of
alcohol. Especially is this the case in the neuralgias, in phthisis, in
dysmenorrhœa and other sexual disorders of women, in the
faintness and depression of too-prolonged lactation, in the pains and
anxieties of syphilis, and in the malaise of chronic malaria. When the
patient has learned that alcohol is capable of affording relief from
suffering, it is but a short step through ignorance or recklessness to
habitual excess.

The administration of alcohol during convalescence from attacks of

illness is not unattended by the danger of subsequent abuse. It is
well for the physician to inform himself of the hereditary tendencies
and previous habits of the patient before assuming the responsibility
of continuing alcohol beyond the period of acute illness under these
circumstances; and it is a rule never to be disregarded that the
stimulant ordered by the physician is to be regulated by him in
amount, and discontinued when the patient passes out of his care.

Irregularities of the sexual functions in both sexes, and especially

sexual excesses, strongly predispose to alcoholism. The custom of
administering to young women suffering from painful menstruation
warming draughts containing gin, brandy, or other alcoholic
preparations in excessive amounts is a fertile cause of secret
tippling.

The abuse of tobacco, to the depressing effects of which alcohol is a

prompt and efficient antidote, must be ranked as an important
predisposing influence.

Depressing mental influences of all kinds tend strongly to drinking

habits. This is true of persons in all classes of society.
Habit constitutes an influence the importance of which can scarcely
be over-estimated. Much of the drinking done by active business-
men has no other cause than this. Alcohol, like opium and other
narcotics, exerts its most pernicious influence through the periodical
craving on the part of the nervous system for the renewal of the
stimulating effects which it causes, while it progressively shortens
the period and diminishes the effect by its deteriorating action upon
the nutrition of the peripheral and central nervous tissues.

B. The Exciting Cause.—Alcohol, or ethyl hydrate, is the product of

the fermentation of solutions which contain glucose or a substance
capable of transformation into glucose. Other alcohols, as propyl,
butyl, and amyl alcohol, etc., are also formed in small quantity in the
fermentation of saccharine liquids. Ethyl alcohol is the type of the
series, and forms the normal spirituous ingredient of ordinary
alcoholic beverages. The others when present, except in minute
quantities, constitute impurities. Their toxic effects are much more
pronounced than those of ethyl alcohol.

Alcohol is a colorless mobile liquid having an agreeable spirituous

odor and a pungent, caustic taste, becoming fainter upon dilution. It
mixes with water and ether in all proportions.

Alcoholic beverages form three principal groups: 1, spirits, or distilled

liquors; 2, wines, or fermented liquors; and 3, malt liquors.

1. The various spirituous liquors, as whiskey, gin, rum, brandy, etc.,

contain, in addition to the ethyl alcohol and water common to them
all, varying minute proportions of ethereal and oily substances to
which each owes its peculiar taste and odor. These substances are
œnanthic, acetic, and valerianic ethers, products of the reaction
between the corresponding acids and alcohol, and various essential
oils. Traces of the other alcohols are also present. Amyl alcohol, the
so-called fusel oil, is present in new and coarse spirit, but especially
in that derived from potatoes, in considerable amounts. It is to this
ingredient that potato spirit owes its peculiarly deleterious properties.
Richardson3 experimentally produced with amyl alcohol phenomena
analogous to delirium tremens in man. Spirits also frequently contain
sugar, caramel, and coloring matters derived from the cask, to which
certain products of the still also owe in part their flavor. These liquors
are of varying strength, and contain from 45 to 70 per cent. of
absolute alcohol by volume.4
3 On Alcohol, Lond., 1875.

4 Vide Baer, Der Alcoholismus, Berlin, 1878.

Liqueurs (anise, kümmel, curaçoa, Benedictine, etc.) are the

products of the distillation of alcohol with various aromatic herbs,
sweetened, or of its admixture with ethereal oils and sugar. These
compounds contain a very high percentage of alcohol. Two of them,
absinthe and kirsch, by reason of their peculiarly dangerous
properties deserve especial mention.

Absinthe is an alcoholic distillate of anise, coriander, etc. with the

leaves and flowers of the Artemisia absinthium, which yields a
greenish essence. This liqueur contains from 60 to 72 per cent. of
alcohol, and exerts a specific pernicious effect upon the nervous
system, largely due to the aromatic principles which it contains.5
Kirsch, which owes its peculiar flavor to the oil of bitter almonds and
hydrocyanic acid which it contains in varying and often relatively
large proportions, is still more dangerous. The toxic effects produced
by these liqueurs are of a very complex kind, and scarcely fall within
the scope of this article.
5 As early as 1851, Champouillon (referred to by Husemann, Handbuch der
Toxicologie) called attention to the fact that the French soldiers in Algiers, in
consequence of excessive indulgence in absinthe, suffered especially from mania and
meningitis. Decaisne (La Temperance, 1873, Étude médicale sur les buveurs
d'absinthe) found absinthe in equal doses and of the same alcohol concentration to
act much more powerfully than ordinary spirits, intoxication being more rapidly
induced and the phenomena of chronic alcoholism earlier established. Pupier
(Gazette hébdom., 1872) found in those addicted to the use of absinthe marked
tendency to emaciation and to cirrhosis of the liver; and Magnan (Archives de
Physiol., 1872) asserts that the chronic alcoholism due to this agent is characterized
by the frequency and severity of the epileptic seizures which accompany it. There is
 reason to believe that the consumption of absinthe in the cities of the United States is
increasing.

2. Wines are the product of the fermentation of the juice of the grape.
Their chemical composition is extremely complex. They owe their
general characteristics to constituents developed during
fermentation, but their special peculiarities are due to the quality of
the grape from which they are produced, the soil and climate in
which it is grown, and the method of treatment at the various stages
of the wine-making process. So sensitive are the influences that
affect the quality of wine that, as is well known, the products of
neighboring vineyards in the same region, and of different vintages
from the same ground in successive years, very often show wide
differences of flavor, delicacy, and strength.

The most important constituent of wine is alcohol. To this agent it

owes its stimulating and agreeable effects in small, its narcotic
effects in large, amounts. The proportion of alcohol, according to
Parkes, Bowditch, Payen, and other investigators, varies from 5 to
20 per cent. by volume, and in some wines even exceeds the latter
amount. The process of fermentation, however, yields, at the most,
not more than 15 to 17 per cent. of alcohol, and wines that contain
any excess of this proportion have been artificially fortified.

Further constituents of wine are sugar, present in widely varying

amounts, and always as a mixture of glucose and levulose—inverted
sugar; traces of gummy matter, vegetable albumen, coloring matters,
free tartaric and malic acid, and various tartrates, chiefly potassium
acid tartrate, or cream of tartar. In some wines there are found also
traces of fatty matters. Tannin is likewise found. Small quantities of
aldehyde and acetic acid are due to the oxidation of alcohol. The
acetic acid thus formed further reacts upon the alcohol, forming
acetic ether. To the presence of traces of compound ethers, acetic,
œnanthic, etc., wines owe their bouquet. Carbon dioxide, produced
in the process of fermentation, is retained to some extent in all
wines, and is artificially developed in large quantities in champagnes
and other sparkling wines.
Much of the stuff sold as wine, even at high prices, in all parts of the
world, is simply an artificial admixture of alcohol, sugar, ethereal
essences, and water. The wines rich in alcohol are especially liable
to imitation.

Wine is the least harmful of alcoholic drinks. In moderate amounts

and at proper times its influence upon the organism is favorable. In
addition to its transient stimulating properties, it exerts a salutary and
lasting influence upon the nutrition of the body. Only after prolonged
and extreme abuse, such as is sometimes seen in wine-growing
countries, does it lead to alcoholism.

3. Malt liquors—beer, ale, porter, stout, etc.—are fermented

beverages made from a wort of germinated barley, and usually
rendered slightly aromatic by hops. This process is known as
brewing. Malt liquors, of which beer may be taken as the type,
contain from 3.75 to 8 per cent. by volume of alcohol, free carbon
dioxide, variable quantities of saccharine matters, dextrin,
nitrogenized matters, extractive, bitter and coloring matters, essential
oil, and various salts. Much importance has been ascribed to the
quantity of malt extractive in beer: it has even been seriously spoken
of as fluid bread. But, granting the nutritive value of the malt
extractives, it is, as compared with the nutritive value of the grain
from which they are derived, so small that beer must be regarded as
a food of the most expensive kind.

Sound beer is wholesome and nutritious, and serves a useful

purpose in the every-day life of a considerable part of the earth's
population. But it is wholesome only in moderate amounts. Its
excessive consumption results in progressive deterioration of mind
and body. Undue accumulation of fat, diminished excretion of urea
and carbon dioxide, are followed by disturbances of nutrition.
Incomplete oxidation of the products of tissue-waste leads to the
abnormal formation of oxalates, urates, etc., to gout, derangements
of the liver, and gall-stones. In long-continued excesses in beer one
of the effects of the lupulin is to enfeeble the powers of the
reproductive organs. The inordinate consumption of beer induces
intellectual dulness and bodily inactivity, and lessens the powers of
resistance to disease. The dangers of acute and chronic alcoholism
are obvious. Five glasses of beer of 5 per cent. alcohol strength
contain as much alcohol as half a beer-glassful of spirits of 50 per
cent.

The moderate consumption of beer in communities is to some extent

a safeguard against alcoholism. To secure this end, however, the
beer must be sound and of light quality. The stronger beers, and
especially those which are fortified with coarse spirits, besides the
direct dangers attending their use, tend rapidly to the formation of
spirit-drinking habits.

The action of alcohol varies according to its degree of concentration,

the quantity ingested, and its occasional or habitual use. On the one
hand, when well diluted, taken in small amount and occasionally
only, it may be without permanent effect upon any function or
structure of the body; on the other hand, its frequent administration
in large doses and but little diluted is, sooner or later, surely followed
by widespread tissue-changes of the most serious kind.

The Physiological Action of Alcohol.—Alcohol is very rapidly taken

up by absorbent surfaces. According to Doziel,6 it has been detected
in the venous and arterial blood and in the lymph of the thoracic duct
a minute and a half after its ingestion. It is very slightly if at all
absorbed by the unbroken skin. Denuded surfaces and extensive
wounds permit its absorption, as in the case of surgical dressings,
and instances of intoxication from this cause have been recorded. It
is also freely absorbed in the form of vapor by the pulmonary
mucous surfaces. Some surfaces, as the pleura and peritoneum,
absorb it, as has been demonstrated by the effects following its
injection into those cavities. Its constitutional effects are also rapidly
developed after hypodermic injection. Under ordinary circumstances,
however, it is by the way of the absorbents and veins of the gastric
mucous membrane that alcohol finds its way into the blood. It is
probable that the greater part of the alcohol taken into the stomach
undergoes absorption from that organ, and that very little of it
reaches the upper bowel. Alcohol is readily absorbed by the rectal
mucous membrane. Having entered the blood, it reaches all the
organs of the body, and has been recovered by distillation not only
from the blood itself, but also from the brain, lungs, liver, spleen,
kidneys, and various secretions.7
6 Pflüger's Archiv für Physiologie, Band viii., 1874.

7 Strauch, De demonstratione Spiritus Vini in corpus ingesti, Dorpati, 1862.

Lentz and other observers believe that certain organs have a special
affinity for alcohol. The author named and Schulinus place the brain
first in this respect, and in the next rank the muscles, lungs, and
kidneys. But Lallemand and Perrin regard the liver and the brain as
having an equal affinity for alcohol. The opinion of Baer, who rejects
the view that alcohol has an especial predilection for particular
organs, is more in accordance with known physiological law. This
observer holds that alcohol, having found its way into the blood,
circulates uniformly throughout the whole organism, and explains the
greater amount recoverable from certain organs as due to the fact
that these organs contain more blood than others.

The elimination of alcohol is at first rapid, afterward very gradual. It

begins shortly after ingestion, and in the course of two or three hours
one quarter, and perhaps much more, of the amount passes from the
organism. Nevertheless, after the ingestion of large amounts traces
of alcohol were discovered on the fifth day in the urine by Parkes
and Wollowicz, although the elimination by the lungs had entirely
ceased.

Elimination takes place for the most part by way of the kidneys, the
lungs, and the skin; alcohol has been recovered also from the bile,
saliva, and the milk.

Whatever may be the affinity of certain organs for alcohol, whatever

the channels by which it is eliminated, the general belief is that some
portion of it undergoes chemical decomposition within the body. The
steps of this process and its ultimate results are as yet unknown; nor,
indeed, are the proportional amounts decomposed and eliminated
established. Some observers regard the amount eliminated as less
than that decomposed. Others suppose that the amount consumed
within the body is relatively very small as compared with that
disposed of by elimination. It is, however, established that the
sojourn of alcohol in the body, unlike that of many other toxic
substances, is transient, and that in the course of from twenty-four to
forty-eight hours after the ingestion of a moderate amount there
remain only traces of this substance.

The local action of alcohol upon organic tissues depends upon its
volatility, its avidity for water, its power to precipitate albuminous
substances from solution and to dissolve fats, and, finally, upon its
antiseptic properties.

Applied externally and permitted to evaporate, it produces a fall of

temperature and the sensation of cold; if evaporation be prevented,
a sensation of warmth is experienced, the skin reddens, and, if the
action be prolonged, desquamation results. The sensation produced
when diluted alcohol is applied to mucous surfaces is burning and
stinging; when concentrated, it may excite inflammation.

Dilute alcohol has been much employed as a surgical dressing for

wounds and ulcerated surfaces. Its value for this purpose depends
on its stimulating properties, by virtue of which it exerts a favorable
influence upon granulating surfaces; and on its antiseptic qualities,
which are, however, much inferior to those of salicylic and carbolic
acids among organic substances and to the chlorides among the
inorganic salts.

The direct action of alcohol upon the mucosa of the digestive system
depends upon the quantity ingested and degree of concentration. In
moderate amounts and diluted to the extent of 50 per cent. or more,
it produces a sensation of warmth in the tissues over which it
passes. This sensation is due in part to the impression upon the
nerve-endings, and in part to reflex hyperæmia, which is at once
excited. In individuals unaccustomed to its use reflex contractions of
the constrictor muscles of the pharynx, with gagging, are sometimes
provoked. The secretion of saliva and of the gastric juice is
increased, diluted alcohol being, in respect to its physiological effect
in stimulating the buccal and gastric mucous glands, inferior to no
other agent. This action is due as much to reflex as to local action,
as has been shown experimentally by the application of a few drops
of alcohol to the tongue of a dog with gastric fistula, increased
secretion of gastric juice immediately resulting.

It is in consequence of this action that moderate doses of diluted

alcohol exert a favorable influence upon the appetite and digestion.
Increased amounts of food are well borne; fats especially are more
tolerable and better digested; and a more energetic peristalsis favors
the absorption of the food solutions. In those habituated to the use of
alcohol these effects do not always follow; and if the amount be
increased or the repetition become frequent, some part of the
alcohol undergoes in the stomach, with the food, acid fermentation,
and acid eructations or vomitings occur. With these phenomena is
associated gastro-hepatic catarrh with its characteristic symptoms—
loss of appetite, feeble digestion, diarrhœa alternating with
constipation, sallowness, mental depression, and headache. In still
greater amounts and little diluted, alcohol is capable of exciting acute
gastritis or congestion and catarrhal inflammation of the liver.

When we come to study the action of alcohol upon the circulatory

system, we find that in small doses it has little or no influence either
upon the action of the heart or the condition of the vessels. In
augmented amounts it increases the action of the heart both in force
and frequency, and the arterial blood-pressure. After large doses
these effects quickly pass away, and the circulation becomes
depressed. The heart's action grows feebler, often slower, the pulse
weaker; blood-pressure sinks and arterial tension is diminished. Its
physiological action is that of a direct stimulant to the heart and the
pneumogastric nerve; its toxic action, that of a depressant. Upon the
vaso-motor system the action is from the first that of a depressant.
Dilatation of capillary vessels and increased afflux of blood manifest
themselves in the flushed face, brilliant eyes, and warmth of surface
which are familiar phenomena. Frequent repetition tends to
permanently impair the activity of the peripheral circulation. Hence
the visible vascular twigs and rubicund nose that characterize the
physiognomy of the habitual drinker.

This congestion no less affects the internal organs, setting up, by

interference with their functions, chronic derangements of nutritive
processes on the one hand, and on the other the liability to acute
local diseases and complications.

The reactions which take place between the blood and alcohol
remain, notwithstanding the energy devoted to their investigation,
among the unsolved problems of physiological chemistry. It were a
profitless task to here review the researches into this subject or to
set forth their conflicting results. It may be stated that conclusions
based upon the reactions between blood drawn from the vessels and
tested with alcohol in the laboratory are wholly inapplicable to the
inquiry. While it is generally conceded that some part of the alcohol
ingested undergoes decomposition within the organism, what the
steps of the process are and what the products are have not yet
been demonstrated. Rossbach and Nothnagel8 state that it has not
yet been possible to detect in the organism the products of the
oxidation of alcohol—namely, aldehyde, acetic acid, and oxalic acid;
nevertheless, acetic acid formed in the economy by the general
combustion of alcohol may form acetates, which, undergoing
decomposition, are transformed into carbonates and water, and are
eliminated as such in the urine.9 This view is also held by Parkes.10
8 Cited by Peeters, L'Alcool, physiologie, pathologie, médecine légale, 1885.

9 Henri Toffier found in the brain of a man who died of acute poisoning by alcohol not
only alcohol, but also aldehyde: Considerations sur l'empoisonment aiqu par Alcohol,
Paris, 1880.

10 Journal of Practical Hygiene, 4th ed., Lond., 1873.

According to Peeters, the action of alcohol upon the blood may be

summed up as follows: That portion of the ingested alcohol which
undergoes decomposition takes from the blood some part of its
oxygen for this purpose, with the result of a diminished amount of
oxygen and an increase of carbon dioxide, the blood thus being
made to resemble venous blood. A part of the oxygen destined for
the oxidation of waste products being thus diverted, these
substances are not completely transformed. In this respect also
blood charged with alcohol resembles venous blood. Alcohol even
when diluted is capable of retarding the combustion of oxidizable
organic substances, and there is no reason to doubt that this agent
has in the blood the same chemical properties that it elsewhere
possesses.

The exhalation of some part of the alcohol circulating in the blood by

the way of the pulmonary mucous membrane interferes with the
elimination of carbon dioxide, with the result that the latter agent
further tends to accumulate in the blood.11
11 David Brodie, Medical Temperance Journal, October, 1880.

Alcohol must act, to some degree at least, directly upon the water of
the blood and upon its albuminoid principles. The products of the
reactions normally taking place within the corpuscles pass with
greater difficulty into serum containing alcohol as the current of
osmosis tends rather from the serum to the corpuscles. It is in
accord with this fact that the corpuscles of alcoholized animals have
been found relatively large.

The blood of individuals who have died in a state of alcoholic

intoxication has been frequently found to contain an unusual amount
of fatty matter in a fine state of subdivision.

Upon the respiration the influence of alcohol is twofold: it modifies

the respiratory movements and the results of the respiratory
processes. After moderate doses the movements are accelerated
without disturbances of rhythm; after large doses the respiratory acts
become embarrassed, feeble, irregular, finally wholly diaphragmatic.

Alcohol modifies the results of respiration in a constant manner and

in all doses. This modification consists in a decrease in the amount
of oxygen absorbed and carbon dioxide exhaled. This effect is
usually more marked when alcohol is taken fasting than during
digestion.

The influence of alcohol upon the renal secretion is that of a diuretic,

but the fact must not be overlooked that this tendency is much
increased by the large amount of water which alcoholic drinks
necessarily contain. But that alcohol acts as a diuretic, even in small
doses and altogether independently of the water with which it is
taken, does not admit of doubt. The changes in the urine are
qualitative as well as quantitative. The amount of urea, uric acid, and
other solids is always notably diminished. The diminution of the
amount of phosphoric acid is even greater than that of the
nitrogenized substances, especially during the period of excitation.

The diuretic effect of alcohol is dependent upon its direct action on

the parenchyma of the kidneys, the qualitative changes in the urine
upon its influence on nutrition.

Upon the temperature of the body alcohol has a marked effect. The
sensation of warmth experienced after moderate doses is chiefly
subjective, and is accompanied by a very slight actual rise in
temperature, amounting to some fraction of a degree Fahrenheit,
and of but short duration. This rise is followed by a rapid fall,
amounting to a degree or more below the norm. This effect is
manifested within the course of an hour after the administration, and
is of comparatively brief duration, being largely influenced by the
condition of the individual at the time as regards mental or physical
exercise, digestion, and the like. It is in part due to the increased loss
of heat from the surface of the body, favored by more active
cutaneous circulation, but chiefly to the action of alcohol in retarding
oxidation and the activity of nutritive changes. Toxic doses are
followed by marked fall of temperature. The influence of alcohol
upon the temperature is more pronounced in febrile conditions than
in health.

The influence of physiological doses of alcohol upon the nervous

system is, among all its effects, the most marked and the most