HNRS: A History of the Senses
Fall 2021 Courses
Course:
SCHC 421 H01 25805
Course Attributes:
HistoryCiv, Humanities, GHS
Instructor:
Mark Smith
Location/Times(1):
HONORS B112 on TR @ 08:30 am - 09:45 am
Registered:
16
Seat Capacity:
16
Notes:
**Course fulfills US History requirement. No prerequisites. Open to all majors.**While eyewitnesses to history dominate our understanding of the past, we need to remember that the senses of smell, taste, touch, and hearing have their own histories too. This course examines the history and historiography of what is known as “sensory history”—a lively and vibrant field of historical inquiry dedicated to excavating the way that smells, sounds, touches, and tastes helped shape meaning and inform experience in the past. The course examines the roles of the senses globally and throughout time, from the ancient to modern periods. Using primary and secondary sources, the course traces the emergence of sensory history as a field, considers how the senses functioned in multiple contexts, explains why modernity is so preoccupied with seeing as the sense of truth, and ponders the limitations of efforts to “recreate” past sensory experiences.