The history of perfume is, in some manner, that of civilisation. - Eugène Rimmel

Scent matters, not just as a commodity in perfume but as a cultural artefact. What smells we value as a society, which ones disgust, and how they're used, are both formed and informed by our scent cultures. But what is a scent culture? How do we spot one when we smell it?

Throughout the Institute of Art and Olfaction's lecture series, Scent & Society, we will be examining how aromatics impact society as a whole and people within it. This will take us from historical hygiene practices, global trade, to religious beliefs, and beyond. To help you gain the most from these talks Series Curator, Nuri McBride, has created this primer to help you understand the theory behind scent history and sociological fragrance education.

In this course we will:

• Explain what a scent culture is and how scent is used as a cultural artefact
• Examine the differences between the working definitions of scent culture
• Introduce you to Sensory Historical Studies, its philosophy and methodology, with a focus on Inter-sensoriality
• Discuss the limitations to a sensorial approach to history
• Consider the importance of studying scent cultures from non-hegemonic communities
• Give practical tools to help you cultivate a deeper understanding of anthropogenic aromatics during the series and in your further fragrance education

This is an online class. The Zoom link will be sent by email 24 hours before the class.

This event is presented as part of our relaunched 'Scent and Society' series. Scent and Society is an ongoing exploration of the multiplicity of perfume histories across time, and across the world.

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ABOUT NURI MCBRIDE

Nuri McBride is an academic, activist, writer, and perfumer focused primarily on the preservation of olfactive cultural heritage. Her main area of interest is in the importance of aromatics in life-cycle rituals, particularly surrounding death and dying. This interest grew out of Nuri's personal work in end of life care and witnessing the emotional power scent can hold for the bereaved. In 2015, she began the Death/Scent project to explore the use of aromatics in death practices around the world. Nuri is a long time advocate for greater death awareness education and an end to funeral poverty. She also incorporates scent in her guided death meditation classes as a profound way to connect the participants to the physical, intellectual, and emotional state of examining their mortality.

Links: Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

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Image Credits: The Institute for Art and Olfaction / Michael Geiger (Unsplash)

ATTENDANCE AND REFUND POLICY

This is an online class that will take place on Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent by email approximately 24 hours before the class. Lest this email end up in your spam folder, please be sure to add hello@artandolfaction.com to your address book.

+ Event times are listed in Pacific Time (PDT); please use a time converter for your local start time.

+ Please download and install Zoom before the class starts, to avoid last minute technical issues.

+ With a few exceptions, we don't upload videos for our sessions once they are over. Please be sure to attend, live! Learn more about how we teach here.

+ Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds or credit for missed sessions. Here is our refund policy: Cancellation with refund or credit requests made 48 hours or more before the scheduled class will be honored with gusto! Refunds or class credits requested less than 48 hours before the course begins, on the day of the course or after the course has started will not be granted. Note also that event tickets are non-transferable.