Scent is historically contingent but it's also politically important, and not superfluous at all: there's a ton of scholars, marxist ones, who have spoken about the politics of odor: https://mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/ec/article/view/410
I think schools should include stuff like this in politics/government classes, not even necessarily marxist takes but just the odd hyper-specific analysis about the politics of things people don't normally think of as "political"
The university where I went for grad school does teach this as part of a food and taste philosophy class to undergrads, but it's still a pretty niche subject to approach in "lower" education imo.
I agree though. A good antidote to "I don't care about politics" apathy is showing how going in-depth in any subject shows it's inherently political. That's why I'll talk for hours about food politics and philosophy to anyone who'll have the misfortune of asking me what I do.
Scent is historically contingent but it's also politically important, and not superfluous at all: there's a ton of scholars, marxist ones, who have spoken about the politics of odor: https://mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/ec/article/view/410
I think schools should include stuff like this in politics/government classes, not even necessarily marxist takes but just the odd hyper-specific analysis about the politics of things people don't normally think of as "political"
The university where I went for grad school does teach this as part of a food and taste philosophy class to undergrads, but it's still a pretty niche subject to approach in "lower" education imo.
I agree though. A good antidote to "I don't care about politics" apathy is showing how going in-depth in any subject shows it's inherently political. That's why I'll talk for hours about food politics and philosophy to anyone who'll have the misfortune of asking me what I do.
Hmm. My VPN blocked the page claiming it has malicious code. Says it's a phishing risk.