Ruminations on Smell as a Sociocultural Phenomenon

Abstract

This article looks at arguments concerning the supposed low status of smell in relation to the other senses to shed light on how smell has been perceived historically, across time. It also locates olfactory enquiries beyond scientific, biological concerns and argues for smell as a social medium present in our everyday life experiences. The article explores smell in the fields of history, anthropology, religion, gender and sociospatial analysis, enabling us to comprehend and critique theoretical/conceptual trajectories employed in social science research on olfaction. By looking at theoretical and methodological approaches towards an understanding of our olfactory capacities, ideas are developed about how one can ‘do’ a sociology of smell, where smell is perceived as a social intermediary that affects our ways of knowing, understanding and (re)creating social realities, premised upon the use of smell as a moral judgement of others. These ideas are exemplified through preliminary findings from an ongoing research project on the social construction(s) of smell in Singapore.