Perspectives on Sensory History Series, Penn State University Press 2023
Reviewed by : Roger F. Malina, Aug 11 2024 looking out a window
In the common room of the Range at Tenison Park Golf Course, Texas
Let me begin the words in the index that I circled:
Wampum, Air (for Anu), Aesth-ethics, acoustemology, Rudolf Arnheim, Sensory Archeology, Organoleptician, Karen Barad, Centre for Sensory Studies, Dairy Industry, JJ Gibson, no mention of innovation or ingenuity, Malinowski,
I don’t know why
On page 15 the author caught my attention with “what it means to be on the other side, the space between, double vision, being of two sensoria”
Page 25 don’t read:” In his scheme, the European ‘eye-man” was the top of the scale, followed by the Asian “ear man”, the Native American ‘nose-man’, the Australian ‘tongue man’ and at the bottom the African ‘Skin Man”. He quotes Howes but replicates the errors.
P26 “the savage is an extremely close observer of nature..attention is predominantly devoted to objects of sense and…such exclusive attention is a distinct hindrance to higher mental development”
P26 Savages are less susceptible to pain than white men” why quote the never to be quoted
P59 The sensorium of the Desana of the Columbian Rain forrest is especially rich. They conceive the brain in the model of the beehive
P104 Sheryl Boyle proposes what she calls “sensory re(construction) as a way of knowing
P106 The castle was oriented to the winds so that its walls and apertures could channel the healthy air from the northeast and dispel bad air.
P 111” in astrochemistry and acoustic astronomy. The gas clouds of the milky way smell like rum
P129 there is nothing sensitive about common sense, it is devoid of sensuality.
P130 EUDAEMONIA
P 130 Solipsism-perception is basically a matter of belief in mind independent reality
P147 a product of ontogenetical fixation which privileges ontogeny and dismisses phylogeny.
P148 The fact that it may sometimes be difficult to distinguish where one society ends and another begins invalidates the whole concept of societies ( yes Laura Kim Blobby)
P149 Howes says that humans are not endowed with ready made powers of perception but these powers are cultivated
P149 we must avoid being devoid of the notion of style and concept of moral value
P150 the notion of the evil eye
P151 hostility to the idea of signs and semiosis
P153 smell walk
Editorial comment: why does the author personalize, give names, to ideas and concepts so much.
P154 in the west women were taught to guard their ears and walk downcast –individuals were instructed to keep their hands to themselves and trivialize odors
P155 the wayfarer is a rootless being
He is anti Ingold
P158 author is running out of ideas
P159 the senses are made
P160 eyeborg
P161 Linda Henderson- yes akasha, the aether, is beyond the senses
P162 Eric read this “I stopped smelling after Aruda Nati
P164 aesthetic industry complex
P165 it is the quantification of sensation that really counts
P166 Statistical analysis is not a substitute for thinking
P166 naïve panelists use sensory lexicons –unimodal-multimodal-cross-modal
P167 sensory design anthropology
P168 fact: my sensory attention extends and deepens in a hot bath-is attention of each sense similar or different I ask
P 212 fire water, smoke carries messages
P215 potlatches were outlawed by the Canadian government
P20 no on overgeneralization of cultural differences- indigenous, aboriginal
Anu read about senses of air, eric smell the smells in the book, Mourya qualia everywhere, Antonia where is the compassion.
Yes I recommend this book. It made me feel differently after I read it.