BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//pretalx.com//spathum24//talk//CHETBT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20230927T000000 TZNAME:CEST TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231029T030000 RDATE:20241027T030000 TZNAME:CET TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20240331T030000 RDATE:20250330T030000 TZNAME:CEST TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Peculiar World of Spatial Smellscapes in Travel History from the late Middle Ages to the late Eighteenth century - Olena Morenets DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20240926T093000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20240926T100000 DTSTAMP:20260812T214627Z UID:pretalx-spathum24-CHETBT@pretalx.com DESCRIPTION:Nosenography\, toposmia and sensory geography are new directio ns that consider smells\, an often-ignored sensory feature\, in constructi ng spaces. The dominance of visual perspective on the perception of the wo rld results in sensory asymmetry\, which is still in place today. However\ , despite the difference in their subjects of study\, both “sensory” a nd “spatial” turns\, addressed the sensorial disbalance and allowed sc holars to combine geographical study with sensory dimensions of the physic al world. That interconnection examines how individuals engage with their surroundings through multiple senses and how these sensory experiences are situated within specific spatial contexts. As a result\, the role of sens es\, smell\, in particular\, has been revised. Tracing and describing vari ations of smell in places will reveal previously overlooked qualities of s paces\, such as their affective characteristics\, emotional powers\, olfac tory artefacts and “spirit of a place” (Norberg-Schulz 1980). However\ , there has been relatively little effort to explore connections between s mells and particular qualities of spaces that are more than an analysis of the pleasantness of smells in certain places or parts of cities.\nRecentl y\, literature in geography\, cultural history\, sociology\, architecture\ , urban studies\, and literary criticism has defined spaces as complex\, r hythmic assemblages of multiple histories and constituents which travel ov er physical and visual barriers. The evidence that geographical knowledge is no longer limited only to the visual realm of cartographic and topograp hic reflections of soil types and streamlines is the advancement of noseno graphy\, toposmia and sensory geography. Firstly\, these fields study plac es as emitters of sensory data and holders of smell artefacts. Secondly\, the concept of “smellscape” serves as a unifying framework across thes e disciplines\, emphasising the interconnections between smells and their sources\, human perceptions\, physical environments\, and the context of p laces. Porteous (1985) introduced the concept of “smellscape” to descr ibe the fragmented\, discontinued\, space-time interrelated human percepti on of spaces through smells. The significance of smell in shaping human ex periences of places has led to the expansion of essential components of sm ellscapes. Henshaw (2013) and Classen (2002) suggested that smellscape sho uld involve smell sources\, physical environmental settings\, built forms\ , materials\, time\, weather\, memory associations\, thought processes\, s ocial and cultural contexts\, to name but a few. Therefore\, smellscape ha s become a multi-layered notion encompassing perceptions of smell\, specif ic places and environments.\nMultimodality is not the only connection betw een spaces and smells. The emotionality of smells is another decisive fact or in triggering reminiscences about specific places. First\, smell was de signed to immediately send an emotional signal even when any emotional con text is lacking. It happens due to the link between olfactory receptors an d the limbic system which plays a major role in controlling mood\, memory\ , behaviour and emotion. Therefore\, every breath with smelly molecules ac tivates limbic areas associated with emotions and memory retrieval. Second \, smells lack proper vocabulary and names. It is difficult to talk about smells without mentioning situations of smell experience or without tracin g parallels to other smells or objects. As a result\, smells are described through emotional associations to the context that speakers link to that specific smell. \nGiven all that has been mentioned\, smellscapes have inc reasingly attracted attention across disciplines. This paper extends analy ses of spaces from the past times to dimensions of sensuous geographies an d toposmia through travel narratives. These fields of research help to rec reate spatial smells from the late Middle Ages to the late Eighteenth cent ury. Smell is a sense that travellers are frequently exposed to firsthand\ , consciously and unconsciously. As a result\, travel narratives represent an abundant source of smellscapes as smell provides an entry point into n ewness and difference. Smellscapes provoked affective responses that bridg ed emotionality and spaciality together and contributed to the authentic s mell-saturated place descriptions\, including information on flora and fau na\, climatic conditions\, level of industrialisation\, and forms of habit ations. \nDrawing on travel narratives\, I will comment on how sensuous ge ographies help to study the smelly places of the past. I am going to discu ss how smell features in spatial assemblages of travellers\, locations and experiences. Then\, I will raise such questions as whether temples and m arkets were the smelliest places back in the day and why smells of certain places were mentioned more often than others. The travellers’ descripti ons of smells and how new smells impacted the geographical experience of t ravellers will also be taken into consideration. LOCATION:MG2 01.10 URL:https://pretalx.com/spathum24/talk/CHETBT/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR