History of the Self: Smell and Memory : Throughline

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“History” can seem big and imposing. But it’s always intensely personal – it’s all of our individual experiences that add up to historical events. Over the next few episodes, we’re exploring the personal and how it’s changed history: from the story of romantic love, to the man who tried to cure aging, to the contents of our dreams…

First up, memory and our sense of smell. What if we told you that the key to time travel has been right in front of our eyes this whole time? Well, it has: it’s in our noses. Today on the show, the science — and politics — of smell, and how it links our past and our present. (Originally ran as The Scent of History).

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Guests:

Rachel Herz, adjunct assistant professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University and author of The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell

Mark Smith, sensory historian at the University of South Carolina and author of A Sensory History Manifesto

Ernestine Deane, musician and storyteller based in Cape Town, South Africa.