<
https://theconversation.com/my-research-on-the-politics-of-smell-divided-the-internet-heres-what-its-actually-about-245899>
"In November, I celebrated finishing my PhD. After three and a half years of
writing and research, it was an occasion I wanted to share with my academic
network, so I posted a photo of myself holding a physical copy of my PhD thesis
on X. The post amassed 120 million views and sparked a lot of anger in response
to its title:
Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and
Contemporary Prose.
The title received criticism from those who were wilfully misrepresenting the
nature of the research. “Smells are racist,” became a misguided refrain. One
user commented that it was a study of “why it’s racist and/or classist to not
like it when people exhibit body odors consistent with poor hygiene”.
My thesis studies how certain authors of the past century used smell in
literature to indicate social hostilities, such as prejudice and exploitation.
It also connects this to our real-world understanding of the role the sense
plays in society.
For instance, in
The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), George Orwell states that
“the real secret of class distinctions in the West” can be summed up in four
frightful words: “The lower classes smell.” Orwell proceeds to unpick the harm
that this kind of messaging causes and how we might combat it.
It is well documented that smell has been used as a justification for
expressions of racism, classism and sexism. Since the 1980s, researchers have
been assessing the moral implications of perceptions and stereotypes related to
smell.
My thesis adds to this work by assessing the contributions of a selection of
books and films that take smell seriously. In each of the texts I considered,
smell takes on a role beyond mere sense perception.
I include examples from well-known works by George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov,
J.M. Coetzee and Toni Morrison, as well as notable recent examples, such as
Bong Joon-ho’s film,
Parasite."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
