Olfactory Cultural Studies
The project organises exploratory workshops on how olfactory phenomena structure people’s everyday life and how they are conceptualised and made meaningful. The workshops are funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS).
Introduction
The objective of the project is to investigate how olfactory phenomena structure people’s everyday life and how they are conceptualised and made meaningful, both in different physical environments and in media representations. Emphasis will be laid on smells in the construction of cultural identities. In methodological terms, the project aims at complementing multisensory, multimodal cultural studies by concentrating on olfactory communication and meaning-making.
The project generates Nordic added value through transdisciplinary collaboration conducted in the region. Nordic collaboration contributes to enhancing scientific quality and preparing applications for full research projects within both Nordic and European research funding frameworks. The topic relates also to the Nordic environment and climate, particularly as the seasonal changes provide fertile conditions for comparative ethnographic and empirical approaches.
In the project an original research network is created, building on earlier bilateral collaboration between the partners where the emphasis has been on semicontrolled multisensory food experiences. The present consortium shifts the disciplinary centre from natural and health sciences to transdisciplinary cultural studies. The project expands the examination to a wider set of epistemological and methodological issues.
The workshops
There are three three-day workshops to be organised. All the workshops involve experimental and ethnographic research settings as well as seminar sessions. The workshops are designed to be in-person events primarily.
1) Volda University College, Norway (September 2023), including a visit to a sea park and a “summer-time olfactowalk”.
2) University of Copenhagen, Department of Food Science, Denmark (April 2024), including a beverage tasting and a “spring-time olfactowalk”.
3) Helsinki/Turku, Finland (early 2025), including a multisensory lunch experience and a “winter-time olfactowalk”.
As the workshops and their activities depend on environmental differences and seasonal changes, each workshop is essential for the research idea and Nordic added value. This is further complemented by the combination of expertise and different disciplinary frameworks within the consortium.
Read more: The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS)
Project name
Olfactory Cultural Studies
Time
01/2023-12/2024
Funder
NordForsk, the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS).
Team
Antti-Ville Villén (PI; University of the Arts Helsinki)
Erik Fooladi (Volda University College)
Anu Hopia (University of Turku)
Qian Janice Wang (University of Aarhus)
Contact
antti-ville.villen@uniarts.fi
Introduction
The objective of the project is to investigate how olfactory phenomena structure people’s everyday life and how they are conceptualised and made meaningful, both in different physical environments and in media representations. Emphasis will be laid on smells in the construction of cultural identities. In methodological terms, the project aims at complementing multisensory, multimodal cultural studies by concentrating on olfactory communication and meaning-making.
The project generates Nordic added value through transdisciplinary collaboration conducted in the region. Nordic collaboration contributes to enhancing scientific quality and preparing applications for full research projects within both Nordic and European research funding frameworks. The topic relates also to the Nordic environment and climate, particularly as the seasonal changes provide fertile conditions for comparative ethnographic and empirical approaches.
In the project an original research network is created, building on earlier bilateral collaboration between the partners where the emphasis has been on semicontrolled multisensory food experiences. The present consortium shifts the disciplinary centre from natural and health sciences to transdisciplinary cultural studies. The project expands the examination to a wider set of epistemological and methodological issues.
The workshops
There are three three-day workshops to be organised. All the workshops involve experimental and ethnographic research settings as well as seminar sessions. The workshops are designed to be in-person events primarily.
1) Volda University College, Norway (September 2023), including a visit to a sea park and a “summer-time olfactowalk”.
2) University of Copenhagen, Department of Food Science, Denmark (April 2024), including a beverage tasting and a “spring-time olfactowalk”.
3) Helsinki/Turku, Finland (early 2025), including a multisensory lunch experience and a “winter-time olfactowalk”.
As the workshops and their activities depend on environmental differences and seasonal changes, each workshop is essential for the research idea and Nordic added value. This is further complemented by the combination of expertise and different disciplinary frameworks within the consortium.
Read more: The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS)