The Smell Culture Reader

Smell is fundamental to experience but mired in paradox. Stigmatized as animalistic, it nonetheless feeds a vast fragrance and marketing industry. Considered ephemeral, scents have survived throughout the ages in a number of religious practices. The Smell Culture Reader provides a much-needed overview of what is arguably the most elusive sense. From hygiene to aromatherapy, the fetid to the fragrant, smells are shown to be much more than just an adornment or a nuisance. Addressing this engaging sense in redolent detail, The Smell Culture Reader demonstrates how essential smell is to sexuality, social status, personal identity, and cultural tradition.

Jim Drobnick is Senior Editor at Parachute art magazine and teaches in the MFA Program at Concordia University, Montreal.

Jim Drobnick—Introduction * Part I: Odorphobia and Deodorization * Rodolphe el-Khoury--"Polish and Deodorize" * Erik Cohen--"The Broken Cycle: Smell in a Bangkok Soi (Lane)" * Martin Manalansan--"Immigrant Domesticity the Politics of Olfaction" * Alan Hyde--"Offensive Bodies" * Devon E. Hinton--"Olfactory-Triggered Panic Among Traumatized Cambodian Refugees" * Richard T. Gray--"The Dialectic of 'Enscentment'" * Annick Le Geurer--Excerpts from Scent * Rachel S. Herz--"Ah, Sweet Skunk: Why We Like or Dislike What We Smell" * Eduardo Galeano--from The Book of Embraces * Part II: Smellscapes and Sociality * Gale Peter Largey & David Rodney Watson--"The Sociology of Odors" * J. Douglas Porteous--"Smellscape" * Eleanor Margolies--"Vagueness Gridlocked: A Map of the Smells of New York" * Donald Tuzin--"Base Notes: Odor, Breath and Moral Contagion in Ilahita" * Lucienne A. Roubin--"Odor Signals and Living Spaces in Eurasia" * Hans Rindisbacher--"The Stench of Power" * Stephen Mihm--"Stench Warfare" * Oliver Sacks--excerpt from "The Dog Beneath the Skin" * Part III: Odors, Sexuality and Identity * Alain Corbin--Excerpt from The Foul and the Fragrant * Carol Mavor--"Odor di Femina" * Christopher Looby--"The Roots of the Orchis, the Iuli of Chestnuts" * Franoise Aubaile-Sallenave--"Bodies, Odors, Perfumes in Arabic Societies" * Mary Tannen--"Sex in a Bottle" * Alan R. Hirsch--"Scent Generation Gap" * Marcel Proust--"Memory" * Part IV: Artful Fragrances * H. Batterson Boger--"Incense Ceremony" * Mandy Aftel--"Perfumed Obsession" * Luca Turin--excerpts from The Perfume Guide * Jim Drobnick--"Reveries, Assaults and Evaporating Presences" * Sarah Pink--"Olfaction, Creativity and Agency" * J-K Huysmans--from Against Nature * Clara Ursitti--Self-Portrait in Scent: Sketch #1 * Part V: Sacred Fumes and Artificial Noses * Constance Classen--"The Breath of God: Sacred Histories of Scent" * David Shulman--"The Scent of Memory in Hindu South India" * Alfred Gell--"Magic, Perfume, Dream ..." * Peter Damian & Kate Damian--Excerpt from Aromatherapy * Jim Drobnick--"Platefuls of Air" * Mark W.D. Paterson--"Digital Scratch and Virtual Sniff" * Bill Guggenheim and Judy Guggenheim--"Olfactory ADCs"

Jim Drobnick—Introduction * Part I: Odorphobia and Deodorization * Rodolphe el-Khoury--"Polish and Deodorize" * Erik Cohen--"The Broken Cycle: Smell in a Bangkok Soi (Lane)" * Martin Manalansan--"Immigrant Domesticity the Politics of Olfaction" * Alan Hyde--"Offensive Bodies" * Devon E. Hinton--"Olfactory-Triggered Panic Among Traumatized Cambodian Refugees" * Richard T. Gray--"The Dialectic of 'Enscentment'" * Annick Le Geurer--Excerpts from Scent * Rachel S. Herz--"Ah, Sweet Skunk: Why We Like or Dislike What We Smell" * Eduardo Galeano--from The Book of Embraces * Part II: Smellscapes and Sociality * Gale Peter Largey & David Rodney Watson--"The Sociology of Odors" * J. Douglas Porteous--"Smellscape" * Eleanor Margolies--"Vagueness Gridlocked: A Map of the Smells of New York" * Donald Tuzin--"Base Notes: Odor, Breath and Moral Contagion in Ilahita" * Lucienne A. Roubin--"Odor Signals and Living Spaces in Eurasia" * Hans Rindisbacher--"The Stench of Power" * Stephen Mihm--"Stench Warfare" * Oliver Sacks--excerpt from "The Dog Beneath the Skin" * Part III: Odors, Sexuality and Identity * Alain Corbin--Excerpt from The Foul and the Fragrant * Carol Mavor--"Odor di Femina" * Christopher Looby--"The Roots of the Orchis, the Iuli of Chestnuts" * Franoise Aubaile-Sallenave--"Bodies, Odors, Perfumes in Arabic Societies" * Mary Tannen--"Sex in a Bottle" * Alan R. Hirsch--"Scent Generation Gap" * Marcel Proust--"Memory" * Part IV: Artful Fragrances * H. Batterson Boger--"Incense Ceremony" * Mandy Aftel--"Perfumed Obsession" * Luca Turin--excerpts from The Perfume Guide * Jim Drobnick--"Reveries, Assaults and Evaporating Presences" * Sarah Pink--"Olfaction, Creativity and Agency" * J-K Huysmans--from Against Nature * Clara Ursitti--Self-Portrait in Scent: Sketch #1 * Part V: Sacred Fumes and Artificial Noses * Constance Classen--"The Breath of God: Sacred Histories of Scent" * David Shulman--"The Scent of Memory in Hindu South India" * Alfred Gell--"Magic, Perfume, Dream ..." * Peter Damian & Kate Damian--Excerpt from Aromatherapy * Jim Drobnick--"Platefuls of Air" * Mark W.D. Paterson--"Digital Scratch and Virtual Sniff" * Bill Guggenheim and Judy Guggenheim--"Olfactory ADCs"