Anthropology and Smoke: Editors’ Introduction to the Smoke Special Issue
Date
2018
Authors
Dennis, S.
Musharbash, Y.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Anthropological Forum: a journal of social anthropology and comparative sociology, 2018; 28(2):107-115
Statement of Responsibility
Simone Dennis and Yasmine Musharbash
Conference Name
Abstract
In this introductory paper, we contemplate both a variety of anthropological approaches to smoke and how analyses of smoke – as object, material, phenomenon, practice, or political fact – might contribute to anthropological knowledge. We consider these questions in and through the themes cross-cutting this collection, including: the sensuous aspects of smoke (especially in the olfactory, visual and haptic relations it occasions, entails and denies); the politics of smoke (in particular regard to climate change, public health, and Indigenous knowledge); smoke’s temporal dimensions (from the human mastery of fire via industrial chimneys to vaping e-cigarettes); and its ritual functions (encapsulating transition par excellence, curing ills, placating spirits, and marking time). We conclude by pondering smoke’s inherent capacity to escape the bounds we might set for it, including the imposition of highly politicised spatial, temporal, and intellectual constraints.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
© 2018 Discipline of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Western Australia