The Centre for Sensory Studies is pleased to present Dr. Ruth Barcan, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, as part of the Fall Semester Sensory Studies Research Seminar.

Aromatherapy Oils: Commodities, Materials, Essences

This paper examines one object – the essential oils that are the central tools of aromatherapy – using them as a case study for different approaches to material culture. It considers the conceptual and political implications of thinking of essential oils as, in turn, commodities, materials and essences. Dr. Barcan argues that both cultural studies and aromatherapy have something to learn from each other. Classic materialist approaches might do well to focus more attention on the material properties and effects of things. Aromatherapy, on the other hand, could benefit from the enriched political understanding associated with classic materialist critique. New materialist strains of cultural studies may also find the vibrancy of matter that underpins many CAM/New Age practices worthy of examination.
This event is sponsored by the Centre for Sensory Studies at Concordia University. All are welcome.

#EssentialEssences

Dr Ruth Barcan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research explores the body in contemporary culture, with particular interests in nudity, nudism and complementary and alternative medicine. She is the author of Nudity: A Cultural Anatomy (2004); Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Bodies, Therapies, Senses (2011); and Academic Life and Labour in the New University: Hope and Other Choices (2013).