AROMA by Constance Classen, David Howes, Anthony Synnott ( 9780415114738 )

Item Details

Title:

AROMA
THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF SMELL

By:

Constance Classen, David Howes, Anthony Synnott

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£51.99

Our price:

£46.79

Discount:

10% off

You save:

£5.20

ISBN 10:

041511473X

ISBN 13:

9780415114738

Availability:

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Stock:

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Publisher:

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Pub. date:

24 November, 1994

Pages:

256

Description:

This text argues that smell is repressed in the modern West, and its social history ignored. It attempts to break the "olfactory silence" of modernity by offering an exploration of the cultural role of odours in Western history and in a wide variety of non-Western societies.

Synopsis:

Smell is a social phenomenon, given particular meanings and values by different cultures. Odours form the building blocks of cosmologies, class hierarchies, and political odours. They can enforce social structures or transgress them, unite people or divide them, empower or disempower. The authors argue that the sociology of smell is repressed in the modern West, and its social history ignored. This book breaks the "olfactory silence" of modernity. It offers the first comprehensive exploration of the cultural role of odours in Western history - from antiquity to the present. It also covers a wide variey of non-Western societies. Its topics range from the medieval concept of the "odour of sanctity", to the aromatherapies of South America, and from olfactory stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in the modern West to the role of smell in postmodernity. Its subject matter will fascinate anyone who likes to nose around in the inner workings of culture.

Illustrations:

bibliography

Publication:

Imprint:

Routledge

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES IN THE AGE OF EMPIRE (HB)

A YEAR OF STARLESS NIGHTS (PB)

AROMA