Dr. Ally Louks
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
Yeah, well, that's the thing. I mean, smell is a sense that almost all of us possess. But it largely goes unacknowledged and uncritiqued. And olfactory language is really pervasive too. It's just that we're not used to thinking about it critically. So it's not difficult for me, actually, to recognise these instances where my work is relevant in the world.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
It's something that I've been doing for years. It's just that I haven't been posting about it on social media. I've been putting it in my thesis.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
I liked your comparison to the notion of a romantic ick, because at least in a social context, smells are not going to harm us. Smells are harmless, even if they're uncomfortable. Whoa, wake it up. I'm sorry. That is true. There's a very real and distinct difference between harm and discomfort. And when we're talking about smell and using it to create prejudices, i.e.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
My thesis is titled Olfactory Ethics, the Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose. So I look at why certain authors of the past century use smell to indicate social hostilities. And I connect these literary examples with the real world understanding of smell and how we think about smell in society.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
to make prejudicial statements, what we're doing is we're mobilizing disgust. And disgust is a particular emotion that induces fear, even in instances when fear is not necessary. And smell is one of those instances.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
I think the humanities study our social world, which is incredibly complex, at least as complex as the sciences, and requires research.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
It didn't even occur to me, actually, that it could blow up in a negative way. After it was retweeted by a couple of right-wing accounts who had kind of mocked the idea of my thesis and actually the fact that I was doing a PhD in English literature.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
My thesis, to some extent, centers those who are most marginalized. So I have chapters on homeless people, on Black women, white men on the right who would even self-identify as white supremacists, Hmm.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
The thing that has really stuck with me is seeing people mobilizing my ideas, not tagging me, not even telling me about it, Just seeing it pop up on my For You page or whatever it's called, it's so exciting for me to see my work being applied to contexts that I don't even treat in the thesis.
It's Been a Minute
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
People are taking their own experiences, their own expertise in their own cultures and applying it to things going on that are relevant to them. And that is absolutely the best thing that could have possibly happened out of this for me anyway, as someone who always wanted to share my work with a public audience.