A. Food and olfaction are special cases of nonverbal communication.

1. Both are assimilative activities: smells and food are both taken into the self.

2. So can threaten the symbol order of a culture

a. inside/outside

b. self/world

c. culture/nature

3. Polluting odors and foodstuff cause revulsion way beyond what is due to their physical properties.

A. Nerves extend from olfactory cells in the upper part of the nasal cavity to the olfactory bulb of the brain.

1. Objects must be volatile to be smelled.

2. Molecules of objects dissolved in the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity.

3. Stimulate hair like components of receptors cells lining the nasal cavity.

B. Smell is thought to be composed of combinations of about seven different smells, though unclear how this works.

1. Perhaps based on molecular differences in substances.

C. Olfactory bulb located in very old part of the brain (limbic system).

1. Smell linked memories.

D. But cultural distinctions supersede any objective differences between odors.

A. Osmologies: classificatory systems based on smell.

B. Calendrics and smell.

1. Smell can be used as a principle method of organizing the passage of time.

The Andaman Islanders have constructed their calendar on the basis of this cycle, naming the different periods of their year after the fragrant flowers that are in bloom at different times. Their year is thus a cycle of odors; their calendar, a calendar of scents. (Classen, 96)

2. Olfactic based time is ingested: "to breathe in the odors of nature... is to take into oneself the essence of time and life. It is to feel the vital energy of the cosmos acting through and around one, in an endless cycle of growth, decay and renewal."

C. Smell and space.

1. Smellscapes: olfactory landscapes.

2. odor-based geographies differ substantially from visually based geographies.

a. shifting and changing zones.

b. Andamanese conception of the village as an area that contracts or expands based on prevalent odors.

c. attempts to control olfactory perimeters of the village.

d. odors reveal things hidden to the eye.

3. In modern societies, odorous areas moved to the periphery of life.

a. scent become decorative.

b. link to industrial ecology of the city

4. Maintenance of olfactory classificatory schemes.

a. prohibitions on mixing odors or objects - cooking

D. Odors and identity.

1. Group identity sometimes linked to scent.

a. Colombian Desana Indians believe each tribe emits a distinct odor often linked to their way of life.

1) Tapuya live by fishing; are said to smell of fish.

2) Tukano are agriculturists; smell of roots, tubers they grow.

2. The stranger or outsider is often ascribed a peculiar or foul scent.

a. scent as marking off the boundary of the group.

b. a signifier of civilization.

3. Odor neutrality in Western societies.

a. powerful groups are associated with a lack of smell in modernized society.

b. link to abstract, impersonal nature of power.

c. politicians, business(people) are characterized by a symbolic lack of smell.

d. peripheral groups are classified as odorous.

1) women

2) ethnic groups

e. images of odors pressing in on the center territory.

f. responses of the marginal.

1) internalization of olfactory classification with attempts to mask or dispel their presumed ill odor.

2) the assertion of olfactory identity.