A team of sensory anthropologists from the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Ljubljana, who worked on the research project “Sensory Transformations and Transgenerational Environmental Relations in Europe 1950-2020 (SENSOTRA)” will present their key research findings in the form of three short presentations:

Rajko Muršič
Sensory Anthropology and Sensorial Ethnographic Experience (srp)

Sensorial approaches in ethnographic research came into the fore in past couple of decades. They did not provide a radical shift with the past, instead, they offered new perspectives on ethnographic realities and deeper awareness of culturally shaped sensoria. The presenter will reflect main points and activities from sensobiographic walks in Ljubljana, from the period 2017 and 2020, when researchers used sensorial and biographic approaches in comparative study of three European cities in the frame of the Sensotra project.

Sandi Abram
A Sensobiographic Approach to the Transformations of Urban Atmospheres (eng)
The lecture will address the question of how to study urban atmospheres under processes of gentrification and touristification. It will first provide an overview of urban touristification in Ljubljana. In the second part, the talk will present the analysis of participants’ narratives collected during the sensobiographic walks. Finally, late-capitalist processes will be discussed, in particular how they produced a specific sensory reorganization of public places.

Blaž Bajič
Smells, scents, odors, perfumes, aromas, and other stuff of nose-talgia (eng)
Traditionally, the humanities, cultural anthropology included, stunk at recognizing the importance of smell in everyday life. When ethnographically how people’s sensory environmental relationships have transformed in the last seven decades, however people’s olfactory experiences and and changes in the urban “smellscape” are nothing to be nothing to be sniffed at. Smell is difficult to articulate and fleeting, but can nonetheless trigger powerful, affectively charged memories, or nose-talgia. The presentation will reflect on two examples of nose-talgia in the context of turistification and gentrification of Ljubljana.

Working language of the event: English and Serbian
Moderator: Sara Nikolić