Scents of place: the dysplacement of a First Nations community in Canada.
Here I explore how the experience of place at a First Nations reserve in Ontario, located in the middle of Canada's "Chemical Valley," is disrupted by the extraordinary levels of pollution found there. In so doing, I give special attention to air pollution and residents' responses to associated odors - that is, to the sense of smell. Focusing on a unique feature of smell - that it operates primarily through indexicality - I draw on C. S. Peirce's semiotic framework to highlight ways in which perception of odors entails embodiment of the perceived substance, thus connecting self and surroundings in profound and transformative ways. Ultimately, I argue that the local smellscape, while having reinforced a sense of positive emplacement on the reserve in the past, is now, because of the constant presence of toxic fumes, instilling in residents a profound sense of alienation from the ancestral landscape - a condition I call "dysplacement."
Earlham College, Richmond, IN.
Deborah Davis
DD
Jackson
D000884:Anthropology, Cultural / Q000193:education / Q000266:history; D002170:Canada / Q000208:ethnology; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D058735:Environmental Policy / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000266:history; D012903:Smell
D004785:Environmental Pollutants