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Mapping Smell News

Snidge Scrumpin’s Results Revealed

The University of Wolverhampton has revealed the findings of its recent research project to understand what specific smells belong to the Black Country, and what memories they evoke in Black Country locals. Two community research events – entitled ‘Snidge Scrumpin’ – were held at Black Country Living Museum and Wolverhampton Art Gallery in November 2018 as part of the Being Human Festival, the only national festival of the humanities in the UK. University Psychologist Dr Tom Mercer has analysed the data collected at both events and will reveal which particular Black Country smells resonated with the participants, and which odours triggered strong, emotional memories with the locals. Sebastian Groes, Professor of English Literature in the School of Humanities at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “Our aim through the Snidge Scrumpin’ research is to demonstrate the importance of the smell and taste for our sense of regional history, and how place shapes us. The project will draw up the lost odours belonging to this post-industrial region whilst charting a new 21st-century palate.” Highlights of the result include: 

• It is difficult to identify a smell, but especially for smells of burnt rubber and faggots;

• Familiar smells are likely to be rated as intense and pleasant, and are better at eliciting memories;

• The smell of paint and Teddy Grays herbal tablets were particularly successful at prompting memories;

• Memories recalled in response to the smells were overwhelmingly likely to come from childhood;

• The smell of paint and Teddy Grays elicited higher quality memories in those who grew up in the

Black Country in comparison to those who grew up elsewhere;

• Women rated smells as more intense than males, on average;

• Those aged between 45 and 54 recalled a greater number of memories than those aged 65 and over.

 

You can download the full results, here

Categories
News Postgraduate

Postgraduate Conference: Call for Papers

Immortality and Memory

A Postgraduate Conference organised by the Postgraduate Memory Network hosted by the University of Wolverhampton, UK  

Thursday 14 June  2018

ConfirmedKeynoteSpeakers: SebastianGroes(Wolverhampton) andNickLavery(Roehampton)

The human condition is based on the fact that our time on earth is limited. But perhaps not for much longer: new advances in science and technology aim to create biological and virtual immortality. Research companies such as SENS, Forever Healthy, BioViva but also HelixNano and Google are trying to find ways to undo the ageing process. They treat aging no longer as a characteristic of the human experience, but as a curable disease that can be countered via damage repair processes. At the same time, tech companies are also able to digitally replicate personalities through mass data capture. This type of ‘brain dump’ will enable the creation of a simulated mind that continues to behave and communicate one behalf of it owner after biological death. Some futurists fantasize about mind uploading whereby the self is transferred to a computer.    

Whether or not we will actually be able to create eternal life on earth will remain to be seen, but its prospect poses a plethora of new questions. This conference focuses on the relationship between immortality and human memory, and explores the implications for conceptualisation of memory when humans no longer have a definite expiry date.  

We invite proposals for 15-minute speculative presentations, position papers or creative contributions. Questions that could be considered could include, but are not limited to, the following:    

  • What (new) types of memory are generated when the self is not located in a body but in a computer or robot?  
  • If we’re immortal, and we no longer need to control and manipulate our posthumous image and reputation, what is the impact on individual and collective memorialisation?   
  • If we live forever, will this weaken our ability to remember?   
  • How does immortality affect processes of forgetting?   
  • What is the impact on the ’forwardlooking’ nature of memory when the future is limitless?
  • How does the current obsession with longevity impact upon legal issues such as inheritance?   
  • How does immortality impact on concepts such as the reminiscence bump, Flash Bulb Memory, and information overload?  
  • What would impact of the unlimited acquisition of skills and knowledge be on the fallibility of memory?    
  • How will the role of memory in shaping the self change in the light of immortality?   
  • What new temporalities does the prospect of immortality afford memory?  
  • What are the implications of immortality on traditional, human-shaped (Aristotelian) poetics and religious narratives?   
  • What new complexities are emerging for the shaping of memory of the self biological and virtual memories?  
  • What can immortal figures in art (vampires, Dr Manhattan in Watchmen, Borges’s The Immortal, Black Mirror) teach us about the effect of immortality on memory?   

We encourage multidisciplinary co-presentations and/or multidisciplinary panels. When submitting a proposal, please include a title; an abstract of ca. 150 words; a short bio. Proposals can be sent to: immortalityandmemory@gmail.com 

The University of Wolverhampton offers bursaries for the first twenty delegates; they will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.   

Accommodation can be booked via the University of Wolverhampton conferencing website: accommodationservices@wlv.ac.uk 

Deadline: 31 May, 2018. We will accept contributions on a rolling basis, with a final acceptance notice by Monday 4 June, 2018.   

Conference organisers: Sally Roberts (Edinburgh), Nick Lavery (Roehampton), Sebastian Groes (Wolverhampton).