Emotions and Senses

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

From raging kings and cursing monks in medieval Europe to ‘being cool’ in twentieth century America, to FOMO in the present day, scholars in psychology, history, anthropology, sociology and other disciplines are increasingly aware that emotions differ across cultures and over time. Intriguingly, this realization quickly followed the emergence of a similar realization about the historical and cultural particularities of the supposedly ‘natural’ five senses. This seminar explores scholarship from emotions studies and sensory studies from a range of world regions and time periods in order to explore the contingent nature of the range of experiences we associate with the English words “sensing” and “feeling.” How and why are new ways of feeling invented in particular contexts? What is the relationship between emotional norms, sensory experiences, and political power, gender, religious practice, or consumer habits? Are emotions really what make us human or do we share that capacity with other creatures? Can trees feel pain? How might knowledge of emotional and sensorial regimes contribute to the crafting of fiscal or immigration policies or the delivery of mental health care? Each of these questions requires us to confront deeper epistemological and philosophical questions about the relationship between the mind & the body, the individual & society, biology & culture. The class will consider scholarship by historians, psychologists, neuroscientists and cognitive scientists, linguists, anthropologists and others to explore the often quite fraught relationship between an individual’s biological capacity to feel and the social contexts that shape the expression of that capacity.