BLOG #2
A Natural History of the Senses
Smell
The second half of Diane Ackerman’s A Natural History of the Senses chapter on smell is just as intriguing as the first half. “Children like most smells until they’re old enough to be taught differently”. It is incredible to think about how much our society and culture dictates our reality, so much so, that it even has the power to influence our senses, which is something that we consider so personal. The example that is given is the fact that westerners find fecal smells to be repulsive, however, in Masai they like to dress their hair with cow dung for they find the shine that it gives the hair as well as the smell to be pleasing. Perhaps we would find other bodily smells appealing if the society that we were living in didn’t tell us that we were suppose to find them disgusting. Sweat is another great example of this.
Ive always wondered what we would be capable of as humans if we were never told that we weren’t capable of certain things. Relating this to the chapter, it talks about how mice are able to discriminate genetic differences among potential mates by smell alone. Of course it is an evolutionary instinct to want to mate with the most genetically powerful individual to create the strongest offspring. Perhaps if we were more attuned to our senses and our inherent animalistic abilities we would be able to do the same thing. Perhaps if we didn’t spend so much time, effort, and money on masking our natural scents, or the scents of others, we would be able to tell a great deal about someone just based on their scent alone.
“We may not need smell to survive, but without it we feel lost and disconnected” (pg.40). It is interesting that humans have a fascination with natural scents, but we use synthetic and unnatural chemicals to recreate those scents in our lives, in our homes etc. Most humans would say that the smell of fresh flowers or pine is pleasing. However, the thought of going for a walk and touching flowers and smelling the pine first hand is not as appealing to some people as it is to sit in the comfort of their own modern home and half an air freshener that provides just the right amount of nature for them. This brings me to the quote above, I believe that within our society we have definitely created a separation between us and nature which has indirectly created a separation between us and our view on the importance of smell. The chapter talks about how smell served as a warning sign for our ancestors when it came to food and even predators. Nowadays, it would be extremely odd for someone to say that they use smell to determine if they should eat something or not (in terms of if its poisonous or not, not if its pleasing to the nose) or as a way to keep themselves safe.
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