Mediality of Smells / Médialité Des Odeurs

The study of scents and all things olfactory is thriving, a sign of the great interest that our information-based society feels for a sense that seems to offer a direct and immediate experience of reality. But smells resist description and representation, especially given that they are closely linked to individual personal experience, and their perception has changed through time and space in a myriad of ways. This volume aims to contribute to the flourishing multidisciplinary exchanges around smells by examining the question of their mediality, focusing on the mechanisms by which the olfactory experience, as well as the scents themselves, circulate and are diffused, but also by exploring the modes of smell as a medium in itself. Drawing on a wide variety of approaches, cultural zones, and historical periods, this volume gathers the contributions of twenty-one researchers who specialize in this field in order to explore the multiple aspects of olfactory culture, which characterizes and shapes our relations to smells.

La richesse de l'actualit?en mati鋨e d'odeurs et d'odorat t幦oigne du vif int廨皻 de nos soci彋廥 de l'information pour un sens qui semble offrir une saisie directe et imm嶮iate du r嶪l. Circulant de mani鋨e tr鋊 variable ?travers le temps et l'espace, les odeurs font l'objet d'une perception qui r廥iste d'autant plus ?la description et ?la repr廥entation qu'elle reste individuelle et li嶪 ?l'histoire personnelle. Ce volume vise ?contribuer aux 嶰hanges interdisciplinaires sur l'olfaction ?travers la question de la m嶮ialit? en s'interrogeant sur les m嶰anismes par lesquels l'exp廨ience olfactive et les odeurs sont transmises et diffus嶪s, mais aussi en explorant les modalit廥 de l'odeur comme m嶮ium. Proposant une diversit?d'approches, d'aires culturelles et de p廨iodes, ce volume rassemble les contributions de vingt-et-un sp嶰ialistes qui 彋udient comment la culture olfactive caract廨ise et construit nos rapports aux odeurs.