Smells and Bells

Pets are perhaps one of the most important aspects of some peoples lives. You can find people all over the world pampering their pets in various ways. Our ways of communicating with our pets is often through touch. Praise is usually shown through petting or light scratches. In Constance Classen's book The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch she wrote, "many familiar animals were eminently touchable (furry, sleek and warm) - and their speechlessness made touch an essential medium for human-animal interaction ... Touch was ... also the most common medium of communication of all the inhabitants of the Earth" (Classen, 2012). (CC0) Through my own personal experience, touch has been a valuable source of interaction with the animals I know. I'm sure I'm not the only person that speaks to their pets, but through touch I can be assured that my intention is conveyed. My dog doesn't always like to be touched, but when she does, I can be sure that she kno...

Part of the reason why our current situation in quarantine is so difficult is that we can only look at our loved ones from afar. We can't hug, hold hands, kiss, high-five, or do any of our usual mannerisms we could do in person. Seeing my friend's faces on a screen is much too different than seeing them in person. Though my love language is expressed through words of affirmation and not touch, I'm willing to believe that touch comes to a very close second. Marco Bianchetti The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch by Constance Classen emphasizes how touch can impact someone's experience of the world. What might be brushed off as casual handshakes, high fives and so on actually contribute deeply to our understanding of what it's like to be human. As we are social creatures, it's only natural that touching is such an important part of our lives. Whether the touches be platonic or sensual, it seems that we cannot help but crave physical intimacy with o...

          In The Deepest Sense , one of the ideas I found most intriguing was trying to imagine the sensory experience of the working class in Medieval Europe. Classen examines many aspects of communal living and the ways in which our sense of touch made it possible for us to exist in the society of the time. Our sense of touch was even more vital to survival back then because it was the main way for us to interact with our world. I hadn’t ever considered it before, but Classen made me aware of the vision problems many people suffered through during this time. Without corrective eyewear, many people were forced to live their entire lives without seeing properly. Obviously, in this environment, one’s sense of touch becomes even more significant to appreciating the world.            Her description of this historical sensory environment reminded me of certain elements of the King Arthur story, and made me reconsider...

In the book The Deepest Sense, Classen writes that medieval Europeans believed strongly in the power of touch. The touch of a saint, according to their conception, could heal the sick. A witch’s touch could cause someone to become ill. While perhaps most of us no longer worry that a women who is sleeping with the devil is going to poison us, we certainly recognize the power of touch in new ways. The connection between health and touch has come up several times in this class now. After reading this most recent book, I can’t help but think back to A Natural History of the Senses, which recounted how important touch is in helping premature babies start to thrive. Apparently, a person doesn’t have to be a saint to heal someone with a touch; all they have to do is volunteer at a NICU. This is just one of the cases in which the sense of touch can help us heal.  The discussion of touch and animals in The Deepest Sense reminded of something I had read about how pets lower children’...

"Language is steeped in metaphors of touch... call our emotions feelings, we care most deeply when something 'touches' us. Problems can be thorny, sticky... [there are] touchy people... get on our nerves" (70) Longing Hands touching  Touch is something most of us take for granted - most of us can touch, or in Ackerman's interpretation of touch above, have the ability to be touched in some way. Upon reading Ackerman's explanation of the relationship between touch and language - through the way people talk or act we get 'feelings' about them. Touch is intertwined in everything we do - in either an emotional or physical context. There is a small number of people, in fact, who were born with the inability to feel physical touch - both positive and negative. This is called anhidrosis . Analyzing what it means to not feel touch, gives an insight into what it's like to feel . Yes, from a typical perspective of a person who can touch, being able...

“it is both our panic and our privilege to be mortal and sense-full. We live on the leash of our senses" (xvii)  Roses in the water to reference Ackerman's section on the smell of roses.  Our sensations have been intrinsic in our human survival and experience and have probably changed and evolved over time. What once was integral for survival and the continuation of the species is now what shapes our human experience. According to Ackerman, our senses both limit and restrain us in our interpretations and understandings of the world in a way that isn't cerebral. Looking at animals and analyzing their senses gives us an idea of what our senses could have been. What’s the importance of the interplay between animalistic senses and our own and how much can we learn from them? Some things, in my opinion can be learned, but it must be noted that animals and humans (both actually animals) evolved and adapted in different ways that ultimately best suited them fo...

Constance Classen's The Deepest Sense  discusses touch in relation to women's historically social roles.  Traditionally, women were connected to the lower senses because of the scripture of Adam and Eve.  Because Eve gave into temptation, she was constructed as a sensual being without high intellect and easily swayed by her lower senses. Classen links this to the place of women in the household and the fear of a woman's touch affecting male dominance.  Her discussion of the connection between women and animals is interesting because it depicts the desired woman and the feared woman.  The desired woman is like a tortoise and lives within its cold, west shell, while the feared woman is like a spider, continually spinning her web of seduction like her household handwork. The spider is also connected to Delilah in the story of Samson and Delilah, as she seduced him and then destroyed him, this story serves as an example of a woman's touch to male dominance.  Th...

In Deepest Sense: A History of Touch by Constance Classen the book explains the historical use of touch as a means of healing in the middle ages. Religion and spiritual ideals were closely related to health practices during that time. For example, monasteries often functioned as medical centers. The book described many healing practices some of which were later disclaimed. However among these practices were methods that still carry relevance today."Surgeons were advised to have 'light hands', expeditious in operating, lest you cause the patient pain." While "Physicians, the 'medical masters' might prescribe tactile treatments ranging from cupping to massage to hot baths" (49). Classen also spoke of different practices that relied on superstition or trickery. For example she referenced the German physician Franz Anton Mesmer "who postulated the existence of a universal magnetic fluid that can be felt not seen" and he worked to channel and...