Towards a sensory history of Asia: A sociocultural perspective

Sociocultural meanings of the senses in society have recently received scholarly attention in disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and history. However, extant works have focused mainly on Euro-American contexts, or on non-industrial societies, where sensory research in Asian settings is in a largely nascent stage. Forming part of a larger book project, this paper aims to document and analyse how the senses in everyday life take place in historical contexts within Asian communities. Building upon Mark M. Smith’s work on Sensing the Past (2007), I explore four main dimensions of social life in connection with everyday sensorialities. They comprise religion and religiosity, body and embodiment, food/foodways, and health/medicine. An investigation into these four domains of social life cumulatively demonstrates the manner in which senses act as a social conduit that both shape and are shaped by culture. By focusing on these four interrelated areas, the project deliberates upon how social actors and institutions employ and accord meanings to the senses which can be located in the fabric of everyday life experiences, spanning different social arrangements and encounters. How would an identification of moral economies of diverse sensescapes throw light upon the socialities of self and community? How are the structures and norms of various cultures then further illuminated? Broadly, the research aims to locate the meaningfulness of sensory experiences by bridging selves, community, social institutions, and varied cultural forms.