Empire of the Senses: The Sensual Culture Reader (Sensory Formations)

With groundbreaking contributions by Marshall McLuhan, Oliver Sacks, Italo Calvino and Alain Corbin, among others, Empire of the Senses overturns linguistic and textual models of interpretation and places sensory experience at the forefront of cultural analysis. The senses are gateways of knowledge, instruments of power, sources of pleasure and pain - and they are subject to dramatically different constructions in different societies and periods. Empire of the Senses charts the new terrains opened up by the sensual revolution in scholarship, as it takes the reader into the sensory worlds of the medieval witch and the postmodern mall, a Japanese tea ceremony and a Boston shelter for the homeless. This compelling revisioning of history and cultural studies sparkles with wit and insight and is destined to become a landmark in the field. In Empire Of The Senses The Senses Are Considered As Cultural Systems. Bringing Together Classic Pieces By Key Thinkers - From Marshall Mcluhan And Alain Corbin To Susan Stewart And Oliver Sacks - As Well As Newly Commissioned Articles, This Path-breaking Book Provides A Comprehensive Overview Of The Sensual Revolution, Where All Manner Of Disciplines Converge. Its Aim Is To Enhance Our Understanding Of The Role Of The Senses In History And Across Cultures By Overturning The Hegemony Of Vision In Contemporary Theory And Demonstrating That All Senses Play A Role In Mediating Cultural Experience. It Asks Provocative Questions That Most Of Us Take For Granted. Are There, For Example, Only Five Senses, Or Is This Assumption A Western Construct? This Radical Contribution To Revisioning Cultural Studies Will Be Essential Reading For Anyone Hoping To Understand The Full Complexity Of How We Experience Our World. Introduction -- The Mind's Eye : What The Blind See / Oliver Sacks -- Inside The Five-sense Sensorium / Marshall Mcluhan -- Remembering The Senses / Susan Stewart -- The Witch's Senses : Sensory Ideologies And Transgressive Femininities From The Renaissance To Modernity / Constance Classen -- The Senses Divided : Organs, Objects, And Media In Early Modern England / Carla Mazzio -- The Death Of The Sensuous Chemist : The 'new' Chemistry And The Transformation Of Sensuous Technology / Lissa Roberts -- Charting The Cultural History Of The Senses / Alain Corbin -- Mcluhan In The Rainforest : The Sensory Worlds Of Oral Cultures / Constance Classen -- Consciousness As 'feeling In The Body' : A West African Theory Of Embodiment, Emotion, And The Making Of Mind / Kathryn Linn Guerts -- Places Senses, Senses Placed : Toward A Sensuous Epistemology Of Environments / Steven Feld -- The Tea Ceremony : A Symbolic Analysis / Dorinne Kondo -- Engaging The Spirits Of Modernity : Temiar Songs Of A Changing World / Marina Roseman -- Home Cooking : Filipino Women And Geographies Of The Senses In Hong Kong / Lisa Law -- A Tonic Of Wildness : Sensuousness In Henry David Thoreau / Victor Carl Friesen -- Volatile Effects : Olfactory Dimensions Of Art And Architecture / Jim Drobnick -- Hyperesthesia, Or, The Sensual Logic Of Late Capitalism / David Howes -- Under The Jaguar Sun / Italo Calvino -- Michel Serres' Five Senses / Steven Connor -- Darwin's Disgust / William Ian Miller -- Strindberg's 'deranged Sensations' / Hans-göran Ekman -- Movement, Stillness : On The Sensory World Of A Shelter For The 'homeless Mentally Ill' / Robert Desjarlais -- Dystoposthesia : Emplacing Environmental Sensitivities / Christopher Fletcher. Edited By David Howes. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This is a timely collection that fills an important gap in our archive of the body Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: Empires of the Senses 12 Part I: The Prescience of the Senses 30 ‘Culture Tunes Our Neurons’ 32 1: The Mind’s Eye: What the Blind See 36 2: Inside the Five Sense Sensorium 54 Part II: The Shifting Sensorium 64 Historicizing Perception 66 3: Remembering the Senses 70 4: The Witch’s Senses: Sensory Ideologies and Transgressive Femininities from the Renaissance to Modernity 81 5: The Senses Divided: Organs, Objects, and Media in Early Modern England 96 6: The Death of the Sensuous Chemist: The ‘New’ Chemistry and the Transformation of Sensuous Technology 117 7: Charting the Cultural History of the Senses 139 Part III: Sensescapes 152 Sensation in Cultural Context 154 8: McLuhan in the Rainforest: The Sensory Worlds of Oral Cultures 158 9: Consciousness as ‘Feeling in the Body’: A West African Theory of Embodiment, Emotion and the Making of Mind 175 10: Places Sensed, Senses Placed: Toward a Sensuous Epistemology of Environments 190 11: The Tea Ceremony: A Symbolic Analysis 203 12: Engaging the Spirits of Modernity: Temiar Songs of a Changing World 223 13: Home Cooking: Filipino Women and Geographies of the Senses in Hong Kong 235 Part IV: The Aestheticization of Everyday Life 254 Aestheticization Takes Command 256 14: A Tonic of Wildness: Sensuousness in Henry David Thoreau 262 15: Volatile Effects: Olfactory Dimensions of Art and Architecture 276 16: HYPERESTHESIA, or, The Sensual Logic of Late Capitalism 292 17: Under the Jaguar Sun 315 18: Michel Serres’ Five Senses 329 19: Darwin’s Disgust 346 Part V: The Derangement of the Senses 366 The Senses Disordered 368 20: Strindberg’s ‘Deranged Sensations’ 372 21: Movement, Stillness: On the Sensory World of a Shelter for the ‘Homeless Mentally Ill’ 380 22: Dystoposthesia: Emplacing Environmental Sensitivities 391 Sensory Bibliography 408 Forming Perceptions 410 Fifty Ways to Come to your Senses 415 List of Contributors 418 Copyright Acknowledgments 420 Index 424 The Prescience of the Senses,The Aestheticization of Everyday Life Introduction The mind's eye : what the blind see / Oliver Sacks Inside the five sense sensorium / Marshall McLuhan Remembering the senses / Susan Stewart The witch's senses : sensory ideologies and transgressive femininities from the Renaissance to modernity / Constance Classen The senses divided : organs, objects, and media in early modern England / Carla Mazzio The death of the sensuous chemist : the 'new' chemistry and the transformation of sensuous technology / Lissa Roberts Charting the cultural history of the senses / Alain Corbin McLuhan in the rainforest : the sensory worlds of oral cultures / Constance Classen Consciousness as 'feeling in the body' : a West African theory of embodiment, emotion and the making of mind / Kathryn Linn Guerts Places sensed, senses placed : toward a sensuous epistemology of environments / Steven Feld The tea ceremony : a symbolic analysis / Dorinne Kondo Engaging the spirits of modernity : Temiar songs of a changing world / Marina Roseman Home cooking : Filipino women and geographies of the senses in Hong Kong / Lisa Law A tonic of wildness : sensuousness in Henry David Thoreau / Victor Carl Friesen Volatile effects : olfactory dimensions of art and architecture / Jim Drobnick Hyperesthesia, or, the sensual logic of late capitalism / David Howes Under the jaguar sun / Italo Calvino Michel Serres' five senses / Steven Connor Darwin's disgust / William Ian Miller Strindberg's 'deranged sensations' / Hans-Göran Ekman Movement, stillness : on the sensory world of a shelter for the 'homeless mentally ill' / Robert Desjarlais Dystoposthesia : emplacing environmental sensitivities / Christopher Fletcher With groundbreaking contributions by Marshall McLuhan, Oliver Sacks, Susan Stewart and Alain Corbin, among others, Empire of the Senses overturns linguistic and textual models of interpretation and places sensory experience at the forefront of cultural analysis. The senses are gateways of knowledge, instruments of power, sources of pleasure and pain - and they are subject to dramatically different constructions in different societies and periods.Empire of the Senses charts the new terrains opened up by the sensual revolution in scholarship, as it takes the reader into the sensory worlds of the medieval witch and the postmodern mall, a Japanese tea ceremony and a Boston shelter for the homeless. This compelling revisioning of history and cultural studies sparkles with wit and insight and is destined to become a landmark in the field.

This intriguing collection posits that the senses are the gateways of knowledge as well as instruments of power. The contributions by Marshall McLuhan, Oliver Sacks, Alain Corbin and others place sensory experience at the forefront of cultural analysis. The essays take the reader into the sensory worlds of the medieval witch and the postmodern mall, a Japanese tea ceremony and a Boston homeless shelter. The volume includes a bibliography for fifty ways to come to your senses, listing 50 books representing current sensory research in the humanities, social sciences and the arts. Distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR