Back in November, I finally wrapped up my Ph D after three and a half years of nonstop writing and digging into research. I was pretty proud, so I shared a photo on X showing me holding the printed copy of my thesis. That post blew up with 120 million views, but it also got loads of hate because of the title: “Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose.”
The title caused quite a stir from people who totally misunderstood what the research was about. Some took to saying “Smells are racist” like it was some kind of fact. One person even claimed my work was about “why it’s racist and/or classist to not like it when people exhibit body odors consistent with poor hygiene.” That’s just not what I studied.
My thesis looks at how certain authors over the last hundred years used smell in their writing to show social tensions like prejudice or exploitation. It also ties these ideas back to how we actually think about smell in society today.
Take George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), for example. He famously said that “the real secret of class distinctions in the West” boils down to one harsh truth: “The lower classes smell.” Orwell then digs into why this kind of idea is harmful and what we can do about it.
It’s well known that smell has often been used to justify racism, classism, and sexism. Since the 1980s, scholars have looked at how moral judgments get tied up with smells and stereotypes.
What I add with my thesis is an analysis of books and films that take scent seriously-not just as a simple sense but as something loaded with meaning.
I talk about famous works by George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, JM Coetzee, Toni Morrison, plus recent stuff like Bong Joon-ho’s movie Parasite.
I argue that smell usually signals identity in ways meant to show someone’s value or place in society. In Parasite, for instance, there’s a scene where a working-class guy overhears his boss say his “smell crosses the line,” which Bong Joon-ho calls “the moment when basic respect for another human being is shattered.”
A lot of writers tap into long histories where smelling bad has been linked to discrimination. For example, during the slave trade era, Black slaves were wrongly said to give off awful smells-a myth used to dehumanize them.
Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby (1981), set in modern times, shows this too-one character tells a Black woman she knows she’s an animal because she can “smell you,” using those racist ideas straight outta history.
I’ve found it really tough fighting against these beliefs people have-that certain smells go with specific groups-because smells hit us hard emotionally and physically.
People usually think avoiding bad smells is just natural protection instinct-but studies say no; we learn which smells disgust us since young kids under two don’t really react that way yet. So our sense of smell gets shaped by society and its biases.
I also argue reading literature that focuses on smell helps people understand their own noses better-and society too.
Like Sam Byers’ 2020 novel Come Join Our Disease (2021) where characters actually embrace bad odors deliberately to show they’re harmless.
So yeah-books and movies don’t only reflect politics around smelling; they help us rethink how we experience scent ourselves.
The fact lots of folks doubted if smell could be serious academic subject shows how little attention this sense gets overall. But honestly? Smell is one huge way almost everyone connects with the world-and deserves more focus than it usually gets.
Amelia Louks is Research Supervisor in English Literature, University of Cambridge.
This article was first published on The Conversation.
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