Professor Phil Withington
Professor Phil Withington joined the University of Sheffield as Professor in Social and Cultural History in September 2012. He received a prestigious Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for 2024-27.
What is your research background and what are your current research interests?
I trained as a social and cultural historian, specialising in the early modern era (roughly 1500 to 1800), and I work on urbanization, on citizenship, on the social history of language, and on intoxicants and intoxication. I'm currently writing a book about Britain's 'psychoactive revolution' in the early modern era.
Are there any particular projects or outputs of yours that you are particularly proud of or excited about? Can you provide a reference or a link?
Three relatively recent articles that might be of interest to Institute for Sustainable Food (ISF) members are:
- Where was the coffee in early modern England?
- Addiction, intoxicants and the Humoral Body
- Intoxicants and the invention of 'consumption'
What do you think are the most high-potential or important future directions for the type of research that you do?
I hope our understanding of food and drink in the past can be better integrated into contemporary research and discussions, and vice versa; and I'm a fan of good interdisciplinarity more generally.
What are your links to the Institute for Sustainable Food?
I've worked with Peter Jackson to run workshops and develop external partnerships and I'm keen to promote arts and humanities within ISF.
Can you tell us a fun fact about you?
I don't like artichokes.
