The Senses and Memory (Sociology)

How are the senses and memory linked? What do sensory approaches to research reveal about the functions of memory? This edited volume encompasses various interdisciplinary projects that showcase the value of viewing the world through all of the senses and the ways that memory is multisensorial. From smell's "Proust effect" to music's ability to improve memory and mood, we remember and memorize the world through sensory input. This book expands research on multimodal work, the senses and materiality, the senses and methodology, sensing memories of the past, and technology's impact on sensory lives. The chapters included cover all the senses, as well as the cross-modal experience of synesthesia. Each chapter further covers concepts related to memory studies, ranging from nostalgia, traumatic memories, and memorials to remembering the past (history), archives, and questions of identity. This edited volume is divided into five sections, each containing two to three chapters. The five sections, "Sensing Place and Space," "Art as a Medium of Memory," "In the Mind of Synesthesia," "Making Sense of Materiality," and "Technology and the Sensorium," describe different groupings of interest. From questions of spatiality to digital life, each section invites the reader to explore new developments in the fields of memory studies and sensory studies and new insights on established topics. In these intimate, critical, and penetrating chapters, the authors of this book share new visions of what it means to write at the crossroads of the senses and memory and present new methodologies, frameworks, and pedagogies for examining this interconnection. A resource for both research and teaching, this volume represents a valuable guide for scholars working in sensory studies and memory studies. The hope is that "The Senses and Memory" will inspire future research and thinking in these evolving and expanding fields of study.