Women's Studies Colloquium

Smoke, Sex, and 'Masculine' Women: Tobacco in the Early Modern World by Matt Romaniello (Professor, History UHM) --Co-sponsored by Department of History-- Abstract: By the seventeenth century, tobacco emerged as one of the most dynamic global commodities, inspiring debates over its economic, medicinal, and cultural impact as the Americas influenced societies worldwide. Unlike any other country, Muscovite Russia passed a seventy-year ban on tobacco importation, fostering a deep suspicion of the immoral and corrupting influence of tobacco and smoking. This criticism was experienced everywhere in the early-modern world, but Russia was unique in largely ignoring all evidence that suggested tobacco was beneficial to its economy or the health of its subjects. Driving much of this debate was a belief that smoke "masculinized" women, transforming women into sexual aggressors who were morally depraved. Discussing the connections among smoking, sex, and women will provide a window into understanding the beginning of globalization and the limits of cultural resistance. Matt Romaniello is an assistant professor of History at University of Hawaii. He received his PhD from Ohio State University in 2003, completing a dissertation on the Russia's relationship with its Muslim subjects. He is the editor of the forthcoming Tobacco in Russian History and Culture, (Routledge, 2009), and the author of "Through the Filter of Tobacco: The Limits of Global Trade in the Early Modern World" in Comparative Studies of Society and History, as well as articles in Church History, Nationalities Papers, The Journal of European Economic History, and Central Asian Survey covering the Russian Empire, Islam, and the treatment of national minorities.

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Women's Studies, Manoa Campus

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