Aromatherapy and the Commerce of Spirituality
Often easily overlooked due to the fact that it is difficult to explain in what is considered to be a “hard science” language, the sense of smell can provide an interesting case study for the ways in which commerce can be oriented towards catering for the cultivation of emotional and spiritual well-being. In Ruth Barcan’s (2014) paper, “Aromatherapy and the Mixed Blessing of Femininity”, she uses the practice of aromatherapy as a case study for examining the way a sense can provide a means for “connecting with one’s femininity”– a way of understanding smell which is couched in culturally constructed and often revealing language. In reading Barcan’s work, I immediately thought of this week’s discussion of commerce and religion when she mentions the way the sense of smell — often associated with the emotional, animal (and according to what she notes is predominant thought in the ‘West’, a sense of the ‘feminine’)– can be connected with a sense of spirituality in order to be marketed and sold. She explains that aromatherapy is powerful in part due to the ‘mystery’ which surrounds the sense of olfaction. Smells cannot be defined as easily as something visible because smell is highly personal, and perceived differently depending on the individual experiencing it. In this sense, aromatherapy is seen as a means of connecting with something primal and “animalistic” which is intrinsic to humans:
“A practice derided by its critics as a sensual consumerist indulgence is understood by its advocates as a pathway to higher awareness, one in which the “lowly” sense of smell’s ancient connections to the divine are reinvigorated as its connections to femininity, emotions, and the unconscious revalued as important properties” (Barcan 2014: 47).
As a stance for marketing a product, I found this particularly interesting because as a an “experience” or a means of promoting one’s own well-being, the sense of smell is a particularly evocative and powerful one. If you’re interested in reading more on the topic, please see:
Barcan, Ruth. 2014. “Aromatherapy and the Mixed Blessing of Feminization.” The Senses and Society, pp. 33-54.
Contributed by SabrinaRusso on 02/02/2015
