The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (Studies in Sensory History)

 From the softest caress to the harshest blow, touch lies at the heart of our experience of the world. Now, for the first time, this deepest of senses is the subject of an extensive historical exploration. The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch fleshes out our understanding of the past with explorations of lived experiences of embodiment from the middle ages to modernity. This intimate and sensuous approach to history makes it possible to foreground the tactile foundations of Western culture--the ways in which feelings shaped society. Constance Classen explores a variety of tactile realms including the feel of the medieval city; the tactile appeal of relics; the social histories of pain, pleasure, and affection; the bonds of touch between humans and animals; the strenuous excitement of sports such as wrestling and jousting; and the sensuous attractions of consumer culture. She delves into a range of vital issues, from the uses--and prohibitions--of touch in social interaction to the disciplining of the body by the modern state, from the changing feel of the urban landscape to the technologization of touch in modernity. Through poignant descriptions of the healing power of a medieval king's hand or the grueling conditions of a nineteenth-century prison, we find that history, far from being a dry and lifeless subject, touches us to the quick.

History

Classen, Constance

Historical Study & Educational Resources

University of Illinois Press

From the softest caress to the harshest blow, touch lies at the heart of our experience of the world. Now, for the first time, this deepest of senses is the subject of an extensive historical exploration. The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch fleshes out our understanding of the past with explorations of lived experiences of embodiment from the middle ages to modernity. This intimate and sensuous approach to history makes it possible to foreground the tactile foundations of Western culture--the ways in which feelings shaped society. Constance Classen explores a variety of tactile realms including the feel of the medieval city; the tactile appeal of relics; the social histories of pain, pleasure, and affection; the bonds of touch between humans and animals; the strenuous excitement of sports such as wrestling and jousting; and the sensuous attractions of consumer culture. She delves into a range of vital issues, from the uses--and prohibitions--of touch in social interaction to the disciplining of the body by the modern state, from the changing feel of the urban landscape to the technologization of touch in modernity. Through poignant descriptions of the healing power of a medieval king's hand or the grueling conditions of a nineteenth-century prison, we find that history, far from being a dry and lifeless subject, touches us to the quick.

Worlds of Sense: Exploring the Senses in History and Across Cultures

"Worlds of Sense" is an historical and cross-cultural study of the senses and the ways in which different cultures "make sense" of the world. In the West we think in terms of visual models such as "world view". The Ongee of the Andaman Islands live in a world ordered by smell and the Tzotzil of Mexico hold that temperature is the basic force of the cosmos. What different modes of consciousness are created by treating smell or touch as a fundamental way of knowing? How does the sensory order of a culture relate to its social order? Is there a natural order of the senses? By asking such searching questions of different cultures, Constance Classen aims to illustrate that the differences in sensory perception can be striking. "Worlds of Sense" argues that perception cannot be treated as a purely physical act but that the list, hierarchy and ordering of the senses are deeply related to time and culture.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Routledge

Smell is a social phenomenon, given particular meanings and values by different cultures. Odours form the building blocks of cosmologies, class hierarchies, and political odours. They can enforce social structures or transgress them, unite people or divide them, empower or disempower. The authors argue that the sociology of smell is repressed in the modern West, and its social history ignored. This book breaks the "olfactory silence" of modernity. It offers the first comprehensive exploration of the cultural role of odours in Western history - from antiquity to the present. It also covers a wide variey of non-Western societies. Its topics range from the medieval concept of the "odour of sanctity", to the aromatherapies of South America, and from olfactory stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in the modern West to the role of smell in postmodernity. Its subject matter will fascinate anyone who likes to nose around in the inner workings of culture.

Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell

Howes, David

Synnott, Anthony

Beauty, Grooming, & Style

Smell is a social phenomenon, given particular meanings and values by different cultures. Odours form the building blocks of cosmologies, class hierarchies, and political odours. They can enforce social structures or transgress them, unite people or divide them, empower or disempower. The authors argue that the sociology of smell is repressed in the modern West, and its social history ignored. This book breaks the "olfactory silence" of modernity. It offers the first comprehensive exploration of the cultural role of odours in Western history - from antiquity to the present. It also covers a wide variey of non-Western societies. Its topics range from the medieval concept of the "odour of sanctity", to the aromatherapies of South America, and from olfactory stereotypes of gender and ethnicity in the modern West to the role of smell in postmodernity. Its subject matter will fascinate anyone who likes to nose around in the inner workings of culture.

Aroma

The Colour of Angels

The Colour of Angels uncovers the gender politics behind our attitude to the senses. Using a wide variety of examples, ranging from the sensuous religious visions of the middle ages through to nineteenth-century art movements, this book reveals a previously unexplored area of womens history.

The Colour of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination

Reference

Ways of Sensing

Ways of Sensing is a stimulating exploration of the cultural, historical and political dimensions of the world of the senses. The book spans a wide range of settings and makes comparisons between different cultures and epochs, revealing the power and diversity of sensory expressions across time and space. The chapters reflect on topics such as the tactile appeal of medieval art, the healing power of Navajo sand paintings, the aesthetic blight of the modern hospital, the role of the senses in the courtroom, and the branding of sensations in the marketplace. Howes and Classen consider how political issues such as nationalism, gender equality and the treatment of minority groups are shaped by sensory practices and metaphors. They also reveal how the phenomenon of synaesthesia, or mingling of the senses, can be seen as not simply a neurological condition but a vital cultural mode of creating social and cosmic interconnections. Written by leading scholars in the field, Ways of Sensing provides readers with a valuable and engaging introduction to the life of the senses in society.

Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses In Society

Revised version of the author's thesis on the Inca and Andean Societies and exploration of Inca religion within the framework of an indigenous meodel for understanding the world, that of the human body.

Inca Cosmology and the Human Body

Religion & Spirituality

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Univ of Utah Pr

Worlds of Sense (Routledge Revivals)

Americas

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Books by Classen, Constance

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Classen, Constance. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (Studies in Sensory History)

The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch (Studies in Sensory History)

Worlds of Sense: Exploring the Senses in History and Across Cultures

Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell

Aroma

The Colour of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination

Ways of Sensing: Understanding the Senses In Society

Inca Cosmology and the Human Body

Worlds of Sense (Routledge Revivals)

The Colour of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination