Hello Readers,
A few weeks ago in my Arts Studies class we were given the task to show our fellow classmates the ongoing scholarly discussion on one of the following terms: cultural memory, collective memory, national memory, forgetting, and technologies of memory. My group was given the topic technologies of memory. Though we focused more on articles discussing modern technologies of memory (such as photographs and videos) during our conversations we came up with the idea of scent as a technology of memory.
Have you ever been walking down the road and the scent of a stranger reminds you of an old family friend, your high school hallways, or even that friend from summer camp all those years ago? Scent is one of the most powerful senses. They can bring back memories once thought to be long gone. The sweet scent of an ocean breeze can take you back to your family vacation when you were 5 years old.
Not only can scents be associated with specific memories, but also like music they can remind you of a general time frame. For instance, the smell of pine might remind you of Christmas, and sunscreen reminds you of summertime.
Yet the uncontrollability of scent can also make it difficult to forget. Scent can bring back trauma, loss, and pain. Is there a way to control this?
With all of this said, is it possible to have a scent version of déjà vu? Or have photo albums where instead of pictures there are captured scents. Should we focus on how our other senses affect our memory and how we can use that to our advantage to remember? Or is it better to continue using the traditional technologies of memory?
For a quick synopsis of the power of scent and how it triggers memory check out this BBC article.
