<description>&lt;p&gt;Breathe deep and think: What do you smell right now? The sweetness of the spring air? The smoky smells of the highway?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Our noses give us key clues about the environment and provide a critical daily link to some of our most cherished memories.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But smell, and its control over culture and politics, is often undervalued and misunderstood.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Today, we take a nose dive into the olfactory, exploring how humanity has used smell to communicate and control.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Guests:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ally Louks:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Supervisor at the University of Cambridge and author of "&lt;a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/528f479f-fd3c-43fd-9463-7c2923560573"&gt;Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose&lt;/a&gt;"&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Alexandra Segal:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Wesleyan University anthropology graduate and winner of the school's "&lt;a href="https://www.wesleyan.edu/queerstudies/glass.html"&gt;GLASS Prize in Queer Studies&lt;/a&gt;" for her 2025 paper,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/turnstile-challenge?destination=%2Fislandora%2Fnose-what-learn-funk-and-fragheads"&gt;"On the Nose: What to Learn from Funk and Fragheads"&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brittany Koziara:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Owner of&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/forelineparfumerie/"&gt;For&amp;ecirc;line Parfumerie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://english.ucdavis.edu/people/hsuan-l-hsu-xuxuan"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Hsuan Hsu:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Professor of English at UC Davis, and author of&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479810093/the-smell-of-risk/"&gt;"The Smell of Risk"&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517921231/olfactory-worldmaking/"&gt;"Olfactory Worldmaking"&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://wnpr.org/donate" rel="payment"&gt;Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Where We Live

Connecticut Public Radio

Smell defines our world in hidden and powerful ways

APR 13, 202649 MIN
Where We Live

Smell defines our world in hidden and powerful ways

APR 13, 202649 MIN

Description

Breathe deep and think: What do you smell right now? The sweetness of the spring air? The smoky smells of the highway? Our noses give us key clues about the environment and provide a critical daily link to some of our most cherished memories. But smell, and its control over culture and politics, is often undervalued and misunderstood. Today, we take a nose dive into the olfactory, exploring how humanity has used smell to communicate and control. Guests: Ally Louks: Supervisor at the University of Cambridge and author of "Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose" Alexandra Segal: Wesleyan University anthropology graduate and winner of the school's "GLASS Prize in Queer Studies" for her 2025 paper, "On the Nose: What to Learn from Funk and Fragheads" Brittany Koziara: Owner of Forêline Parfumerie Hsuan Hsu: Professor of English at UC Davis, and author of "The Smell of Risk" and "Olfactory Worldmaking" Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.