Smell and culture. Scent descriptions in novels. Fragrances and class. Stink and stigmas. We cover it all. Scholar, author, and Literary Olfactologist Dr. Ally Louks burst into the zeitgeist in 2024 with her PhD thesis “Olfactory Ethics: The Politics Of Smell In Modern And Contemporary Prose” and we finally got to sit down and talk about the intersection of art and smell and culture. Breathe in the foul, the fragrant, the peppermint, the tobacco, why motel rooms smell the way they do, the forgotten organ that could control your love life, spices at the root of xenophobia, perfume ads that cruised a movement, obscenity trials, explosions, following your first love and getting the last laugh.Follow Dr. Louks on Instagram and BlueskyA donation went to UN Crisis Relief’s Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian FundMore episode sources and linksOther episodes you may enjoy: Rhinology (NOSES), Gustology (TASTE), Misophonology (DISTRACTING SOUND & NOISE RAGE), Disgustology (REPULSION TO GROSS STUFF), Coffeeology (YEP, COFFEE), Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Cosmetology (GLAM/GROOMING), Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY)400+ episodes sorted by topicSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn
Full Episode
Oh, hey, it's the ashtray you used during the quarantine years that you repurposed as a watercolor paint dish. Allie Ward, this is Ologies. This is a subject that none of you know jack shit about because what even is it? It's great. That's what it is. So this ologist came to my attention after a very, very weird, very public thing that happened to them last fall.
And I had so many messages begging me to interview them. And it was not a hard sell. I waited until life calmed down a bit and then got them on the line to chat about what they do. Now, smell and culture, scent descriptions in novels, fragrances and class, stink, stigmas, we cover it all, including their very weird and gripping backstory.
So they have a bachelor's in English literature from the University of Exeter and a master's in English. Issues in Modern Culture from the University College London. They recently completed a PhD at Cambridge University. They're now a supervisor in English Lit at Cambridge. We talk about all kinds of smells and a few are gross, but just hang in there. That's kind of the whole point of this.
Also, this isn't our primary olfactology episode. We still need a whole episode about how a smell works, but this is a social science, academic, deep, weird dive into how we talk about smells, and I love every minute of this. Boy, howdy. This is a wild ride. It's an instant classic. So we're going to get into it in a second.
But first, thank you to patrons who support the show for a dollar a month or more at patreon.com slash ologies. Thanks to everyone walking around in ologies merch from ologiesmerch.com.
And for no dollars, you can leave a review of which I read all, including this one from MehaD79, who wrote that ologies is a perfect example of the ability of passionate, knowledgeable people to make any subject fascinating.
Things that I would never have thought could keep my attention, they say, are made into a delicious cocktail full of facts, stories, and humor for my thirsty brain, from string theory to asking if scallops have buttholes. Meha, D79, thank you for celebrating our essence.
Also, if you don't celebrate it because you don't like swear words or you need to listen with your kids, we have shorter, classroom-safe, G-rated episodes and a spinoff show called Smologies. It's hours and hours of free entertainment wherever you get podcasts. Also, you can find a whole catalog of
of our 400 plus regular Ologies episodes anywhere you get podcasts or just by hitting up ologies.com where they're all organized. Okay, so let's get into this episode and wait around for their absolutely bonkers life story and toward the end, they make a revelation about them that shocked me. It left me gagged. So hang tight, breathe in deep.
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