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David Howes and Constance Classen are two of the lodestones in sensory studies. Indeed their many works have opened up considerable space for new scholars and discussion in numerous areas related to the senses over the past two decades. This new short volume acts, in many ways, as a wonderful introduction to the field. Its lucid prose, and clear argumentation makes it the perfect text for upper-level or graduate courses, but also lends itself to an easy read over the summer months. Its core is very much the questions pressing sensory studies: What is the nature of sensation? How is it understood not merely as one among other cultural phenomena, but in fact the fundamental epistemological and experiential foundation for the building of myriad cultural forms as much as individual lives? This is no small order. Howes and Classen carry it off well, without descending into the nitty-gritties of phenomenological, anthropological, or cultural theory, but by laying out a clear presentation of what is at stake by presenting an analytical framework built around the sensorium, rather than senses themselves. It is the kind of text to which instructors could attach more disciplinary sources, like those of Alain Corbin, Robert Jütte, or Mark M. Smith. While it makes no new profound claims for sensory scholars its succinct and easily accessible summation of what is at stake in the study of the senses makes this an important work, one each sensory scholar should have on their shelf.
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