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The Smells of Caste – Body, Self and Politics

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Olfaction: An Interdisciplinary Perspective from Philosophy to Life Sciences

Part of the book series: Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology ((HPHST,volume 4))

Abstract

Odours, because of their proximity to bodies and because of their surreptitious nature, can be very potent sources of understanding how power is organised and sustained. Caste, a system of hierarchical arrangements, can also be thought of as a system of sensory ordering of bodies, spaces, and objects. It is through this sensorial ordering that caste produces and retains its ability to classify, create boundaries and thus rank bodies and objects in a relative relationship with each other. In this essay, I examine the relationship between caste and odours through three ideas. First, the essay interrogates how odours derive their meaning from caste norms. Second, because of the relational nature of odours, examining caste from this perspective reveals how the interaction between different caste bodies is structured. Lastly, the essay interrogates odours as the sites of resistance within the caste discourse.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Valmiki, Om Prakash (2009). Jhoothan. Radhakrishna Publication. New Delhi, p. 13. Translated from Hindi by the author of this essay.

  2. 2.

    Pawde, Kumud (2013). The Story of my Sanskrit in K. Satyanarayana and Susie Tharu (eds.) The Exercise of Freedom: An Introduction to Dalit Writing. Navayana. New Delhi, p. 75.

  3. 3.

    Shah, Ghanshyam (2002). Introduction: Caste and Democratic Politics in Ghanshyam Shah (Ed), Caste and Democratic Politics in India (pp. 1–32). Permanent Black: New Delhi, p. 7.

  4. 4.

    Doniger, Wendy and Brian K. Smith (trans.) (1991). The Laws of Manu, p. 86.

  5. 5.

    Bougle, Celestine (1996). The Essence and Reality of the Caste System in Dipankar Gupta (Ed.), Social Stratification, pp. 64–73. Oxford University Press: New Delhi, p. 9.

  6. 6.

    Guru, Gopal and Sundar Sarrukai (2012). The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory. Oxford University Press: New Delhi, p. 207.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., pp. 206–207.

  8. 8.

    Smith, Mark (2008). How Race is Made: Slavery, Segregation and the Senses . University of North Carolina Press, pp. 5–6.

  9. 9.

    Howes, David (2003). Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory. University of Michigan Press., p. xii.

  10. 10.

    Smith (2008) How Race is Made, p. 38, and Watson, G. P. and Largey (1972, May). The Sociology of Odors. American Journal of Sociology, 77(6), 1021–1034. p. 1028.

  11. 11.

    Classen, Constance, David Howes and Anthony Synnott (1994). Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell . Routledge: New York, p. 161.

  12. 12.

    Largey and Watson (1972). The Sociology of Odors, p. 1022.

  13. 13.

    Corbin, Alain (1986). The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination. Harvard University Press: Massachusetts, pp. 74–76.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., p. 72.

  15. 15.

    McHugh, James (2012). Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture. Oxford University Press: New York, p. 3.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., p. 3.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., p. 63.

  18. 18.

    Ibid., p. 6.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., p. 90.

  20. 20.

    Michaels, A. and Christoph Wulf (Eds.), Exploring the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Senses/Emphasis>. Routledge: New Delhi, pp. 7–8.

  21. 21.

    McHugh, James (2012). Sandalwood and Carrion, p. 6.

  22. 22.

    Naimishray, Mohandas (2009). Apne Apne Pinjare: Part I. Vani Prakashan: New Delhi, p. 29.

  23. 23.

    Corbin, Alain (1986). The Foul and the Fragrant, p. 5.

  24. 24.

    Ambedkar, B.R. (2014). Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Volume 5. Complied by Vasant Moon. New Delhi: Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, p. 243.

  25. 25.

    Classen, Constance, David Howes and Anthony Synnott (1994). Aroma, p. 165.

  26. 26.

    Stevens, S. M (2003). New World Contacts and the Trope of the Naked Savage. In Elizabeth D Harvey (Ed.), Sensible Flesh: On Touch in Early Modern Culture (pp. 125–140). Pennsylvania University Press: Pennsylvania, p. 125.

  27. 27.

    Ambedkar, B.R. (2014). Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Volume 5, pp. 255–256.

  28. 28.

    For more on this see, E.M. Collingham, Imperial Bodies: The Physical Experience of the Raj, c1800–1947. (Cambridge: Polity, 2001).

  29. 29.

    Classen, Constance, David Howes and Anthony Synnott (1994). Aroma, pp. 168–169.

  30. 30.

    Doniger, Wendy and Brian K Smith (trans.) (1991). The Laws of Manu, pp. 98–99.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., p. 66.

  32. 32.

    Classen, Constance, David Howes and Anthony Synnott (1994). Aroma, pp. 172–75.

  33. 33.

    Pawde, Kumud (2013). The Story of my Sanskrit, p. 75.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India

    Shivani Kapoor

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  1. Shivani Kapoor
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technology (ISTC), Italian National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Nicola Di Stefano

  2. Department of Education Science, Roma Tre University, Via del Castro Pretorio, Roma, Italy

    Maria Teresa Russo

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Kapoor, S. (2022). The Smells of Caste – Body, Self and Politics. In: Di Stefano, N., Russo, M.T. (eds) Olfaction: An Interdisciplinary Perspective from Philosophy to Life Sciences. Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75205-7_2

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