THE TIMES ARE CHANGING: WHY THE DECOLONIZATION MOVEMENT MUST HAPPEN IN PERFUMERY TOO
Perfumery is moving towards a more genderless and diverse marketing, but is still engaging in terminologies which not only reinforce a racist imaginary, but as we will see, do not hold any concrete meanings. For one of the first time in the history of perfumery, urging the process of decolonizing the Western fragrance industry are some of its professionals firsthand.
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| The Perfume Maker by Ernst Rodolphe |
“From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the Orient could not do was to represent itself. Evidence of the Orient was credible only after it had passed through and been made firm by the refining fire of the Orientalist’s work.” Orientalism by Edward Said
In 1978 Edward Said was publishing his first edition of Orientalism. Four decades later (circa), Western society is still struggling to give up this dangerous ideology and term.
Just a few weeks ago, Louis Vuitton was forced to stop producing Palestine-inspired keffiyeh after many people called out the brand's clothing line for appropriation and exploitation of a cultural symbol. Then what about fragrances? The term oriental is still widely used by many reviewers and consumers, just as by the perfumery industry and its professional. From Guerlain's historically infamous Shalimar to newer releases, little seems to have changed.
According to Edward Said, ''Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between <the Orient> and (most of the time) the <occident.>”; the East exists only in relation to what is different from Western understanding of culture and history. The representation of Western's East is categorized by 1) a perception of the East only in relation to fundamentalism terrorist groups 2) an exoticization of its literature, art, aesthetic, history and also individuals. For example, in Western elite academia, a tradition of Orientalist scholars and discipline contains Islam studies or Egyptology (among other ancient tribes and communities like Syrians, Babylonians or Assyrians etc...).
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| Arnaut blowing smoke in his dog's nose, by J.L. Gerome |
Orientalism is a form of colonization. And its costant reproduction is a re-inforcing racist narratives which nowadays can be avoided by individual and common linguistic and historical consciousness.
Perfumery hasn't been external to such problematic either. Ma Lin has written on the relation between gender representation in medias and orientalism, in particularly about how pan-Asian women are always portrayed " as an entertainer, a Madam Butterfly, a courtesan, or a geisha''. An equally diffused orientalization practice in perfumery is strictly related to scent descriptions, to the point that "oriental perfumes" became a whole category, without having any particular meaning either. The work of perfumer/nose Yosh Han within her Scent Festival organization and of the author Tania Sanchez has been relevationary. A degree in social sciences, and I have never really realized that perfumery and its online fan communities were playing a key role in reproducing a colonialist racist ideology (as we did too). Yosh and Sanchez challenge the fragrance industry to adopt new terminologies, such as resinous or spicy.
What follows in the article are links to additional recommendations and resourches to improve and decolonize our eurocentric understanding of smell.
Our blog joins Scent Festival's call to:
DECOLONIZE SCENT
DEODORIZE RACISM
REORIENT YOUR NOSE
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| photo courtesy of MEO |
“The more one is able to leave one’s cultural home, the more easily is one able to judge it, and the whole world as well, with the spiritual detachment and generosity necessary for true vision.”- Orientalism by Edward Said
FEW TIPS:
WHAT CAN I DO? Speak out! Engage anyway you can. Use your social media platforms and urge your friends, followers and favorite brands to update their terminology too. Read about the history of colonization, imperialism and their effects on former colonized countries and communities (just as they had on Western/European countries too). Support people who are advocating for a change within perfume industry, support organizations making the professional formation within luxury industry more diverse and accessible.
I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START FROM, ANY RECOMMENDATIONS? The easiest way to learn is by following the work of activists and professionals of the fragrance industry such as Yosh Han, Tania Sanchez, Timothy Han and Shymala Maisondieu. Support BIPOC brands and noses. Read about the topic: the main writer and professor known for his work on orientalism was Edward Said, but you will find in the following literature section additional writers and intellectuals.
WHICH WORDS SHOULD I USE INSTEAD OF ORIENTAL? In perfumery, oriental is usually used to describe scents with resinous, amber, and spice notes (such as sandalwood, incense, amber, patchouli, damask rose, ylang-ylang etc...). The best way is simply to use the raw material's name in order to not generate further confusion, generalization or perpetuation of such term.
OnSet&Rime has done an amazing job in making an alternative and detailed fragrance wheel and a graph example of different fragrance families:
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| photo courtesy of OnSet& Rime |
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| photo courtesy of OnSet&Rime |
FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM:
Scent Festival (+ Youtube channel)
OUR RECOMMENDED READING LIST:
Strictly related to perfumery:
Introductory readings on Colonialism, Imperialism and Orientalism:1. Ma Lin; (2008); The Representation of the Orient in Western Women Perfume
Advertisements: A Semiotic Analysis; Intercultural Communication Studies vol. 17 n.1 pp. 44-53
2. Adam Geczy; (2013); Fashion and Orientalism: Dress, Textiles and Culture from the 17th to the 21st Century; London, Bloomsbury
3. Hsuan L. Hsu; (2020); Atmo-Orientalism: Olfactory Racialization and Environmental Health; chapter 4 of the book The Smell of Risk: Environmental Disparities and Olfactory Aesthetics; New York,New York University Press
1. Bhabha, H.K.; (1990); Nation and Narration; London, Routledge
2. Buruma, I.; (2005); Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies; Penguin
3. Césaire, A.; (2000); Discourse on Colonialism; Monthly Review PR
4. Chakravorty-Spivak, G.; (1990); The Post-Colonial Critic – Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues; London, Routledge
5. Chatterjee, P.; (1991); Whose Imagined Community?; Millenium: Journal of International Studies Vol. 20 N. 3, pp. 521-525
6. Fanon, F.; (2001); The Wretched of the Eart; Penguing Classics
7. Fanon, F.; (2007); Black Skin, White Mass; Grove PR
8. Said, E.; (1998); Orientalism; Vintage Books
Photo courtesy of Amazon
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
1. New York Times: The Fragrances that changed the field
3. Harper's Bazaar: Why Are We Still Describing Perfumes as Oriental?
DIGITAL EVENTS:
Scent Festival (for more informations on dates follow their Instagram's page and Youtube channel linked at the beginning of the additional external resourches paragraph)
