Smell Studies Blog
A blog for all things smell.
We accept blog contributions year round from any individual, in academia or not, who would like to share a reflection on smell. The blog posts can be an academic article, a creative writing piece, an illustration, a personal memory, or other.
Please go to this form if interested in contributing to the blog: https://forms.gle/hkh75dYjJknaLCpy7
Close and distant whiffs of reality
In my childhood and teenage years, I was hovering in between two realities. Most of the time, I was living in an urban environment, in a city where alongside a university, a pulp mill was a major employer. Almost every weekend and absolutely every summer I traveled, alone once I started school, to my grandparents’ home in a rural municipality.
Inspiration at the Odeuropa’s Smell Culture Fair for our olfactory reading studies in Stavanger
On November 28, 2023, I was privileged to attend the Odeuropa Smell Culture Fair in Amsterdam, following the invitation of the Odeuropa project team. It was the first time I attended a conference with a multidisciplinary focus completely centred on smell. There were perfumers in the room, olfactory experts, and researchers, all talking about smell from their respective perspectives and approaches. It was an inspiring event that motivated me on several grounds.
Health spaces-multisensorial experimental filmmaking
Pregnancy was for me a period of leaving my comfort zone, but also crossing sensual boundaries. Change of taste, all-day craving for oranges, intensification of the smell. For example, I recognized the onset of labour by the smell of the ocean I was producing. And that’s what the baby smelled like.
Reflections from the SSG: Interdisciplinary Collective Thinking on Smells
The Smell Studies Graduate Student Working Group (SSG) was created in August of 2022 to bring together Masters and PhD students from around the world working on smell. The group has since gathered over 50 members across disciplines who all share a passion for all things smell. From reading groups to keynote presentations, the SSG meets to discuss trends in the field and to share knowledge and research. This interdisciplinary working group strives to advance the field of Smell Studies through conversation and partnership. As our group continues to grow, we hope to share our research with the public, and to be transparent about what is discussed during our meetings. This blog post is a reflection by four SSG members- Marine Coeugnet, Jayanthan Sriram, Amrita Chattopadhyay, and Chanelle Dupuis- focused on the topic of interdisciplinary collective thinking on smell. In this post, each member will provide their perspective on being a part of this group and address the question of interdisciplinarity as it relates to their area of study and unique vantage point. By reading these reflections, you will see the role that the SSG has played in community-building for smell studies scholars and the benefits and challenges that arise in this type of collaborative space.
Moist Cavern Disputes – The Issue of Olfactory Copyright
The smell of damp earth, ripe fruit within a distinct musky aroma paired with herbal accords and a hint of leather – a bat in its habitat and the invocation of the furry winged animal in its entirety. What hardly sounds appealing as a scent to wear on human skin marks the ascension of Bat by Ellen Covey for the Canadian fragrance brand Zoologist under the creative leadership of Victor Wong. Dr. Ellen Covey, a perfumer, researcher, and expert on bats created a scent centered on her experience of the caverns fruit bats inhabit. Victor Wong created a whole fragrance brand centered on tropical and wild animals, manifesting Extrait de Parfums on the olfactive likeness of creatures such as Elephant, Moth, Panda or even Tyrannosaurus Rex. This was in 2015.
Massive Alienation and the Secrets of the Earth: Olfactory Resistance for Ohio
The world beneath our feet keeps its secrets very well. Capital knows that their lucrative mysteries hide in the caverns and crevices of the geologic. Industrialists play in that metallic underground space that the masses are commonly prevented from ever encountering. The opaque earth keeps the dirty lies of profit, flowing in entombed pipes, hauled by burdened bodies with blackened lungs, benefiting financial evil in marbled halls and whitewashed homes thousands of miles away. The superstructure knows that the masses cannot resist what they cannot perceive, as modern finance capitalism uses the discursive regime to destroy perceptions of that which degrades the earth, hiding the patterns of profit in the clandestine subterranean, as an ancient and menacing devil.
My loss of smell post brain surgery
Hello, my name is Amy, and I am about 5 years post meningioma brain surgery. My tumor was located behind my forehead and was about the size of 2 chicken eggs. I thought I had been dealing with chronic sinus headaches, but after undergoing several tests, an MRI discovered this large, benign tumor. An 8+ hour surgery removed the tumor, but sadly, it “ate” my olfactory nerve, and it will never grow back.
The valence of a smell thought according to the theory of evolution
«It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.»
This citation was attributed to Charles Darwin and to his evolutionary theory. Indeed, Darwin explained the mechanism of natural selection, a key mechanism of evolution that postulates that generations are formed according to the characteristics of the most fit individuals to survive and reproduce in previous generations.