1. Historical smellscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand: Intersections between colonial knowledges of smell, race, and wetlands.
- Author
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Parsons, Meg and Fisher, Karen
- Subjects
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WETLANDS , *COLONIAL administration , *SOCIAL norms , *ENVIRONMENTAL management , *SMELL , *ODORS - Abstract
This paper explores European (Pākehā) settlers' perceptions of smells and why certain smells were labelled as threatening and transgressive, whereas others were deemed desirable and health-inducing. Whether it was the stench of dried fish, the musky odours of wetlands or the scent of flowers, representations of smell pervade the writings of Pākehā in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this paper, we draw attention to the critical role smells played in Pākehā settlers' perceptions of and efforts to radically remake terrestrial and freshwater systems of the Waipā and Waikato Rivers (located in the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Smells, scents, and aromas were all-powerful aides connected to Pākehā settlers' understandings of health and disease. They influenced individual settlers and settler colonial government actions to remake landscapes and waterscapes. Nevertheless, smellscapes are largely overlooked by scholars when discussing environmental change and management regimes. • Smells informed how people experience environments, foods, biota, and other people. • Colonial New Zealand comprised of landscapes, waterscapes, and smellscapes. • Gender norms and race-based thinking influenced settler colonial smellscapes. • Settler colonial project in New Zealand involved to remake deodourise wetlands. • Indigenous Māori occupied ambiguous positioning settler colonial smellscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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