Coca and the Victorians: From Botanical Curiosity to Regulated Drug, 1835-1912

The South American coca plant was established in 19th-century Britain as a medical product before it became a globally restricted drug. Drawing on botanical, economic, pharmaceutical, social, and political perspectives, Kim Embrey analyses how the use and perception of coca changed as it was transferred to Europe. In a process of cultural dissimilation , coca was not simply adopted, but embedded into new medical, social, and scientific contexts. The study shows how a plant from the Andes was repositioned in British modernity.

Kim Embrey, born in 1991, is a secondary school teacher of English, bilingual geography, and ethics in southern Germany. As a historian, she did her doctorate at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main and is the secretary of the German Association for British Studies. She is an active member of several international academic societies, including the Royal Historical Society, the Britain and the World Society, and the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. Her research interests lie at the intersection of British sociocultural, scientific, and medical history.