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“You can change your noses, but you can’t change your Moses”: Olfactory Aesthetics and the Jewish “Race”

Roth, Zoë

“You can change your noses, but you can’t change your Moses”: Olfactory Aesthetics and the Jewish “Race” Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

This article shifts the analysis of the ‘Jewish’ nose away from its visual significance to its olfactory capacity. It develops the notion of an olfactory aesthetics as a way of becoming attuned to the role smell plays in the interpretation of racial differences. Through analyzing a corpus of images by Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp that represent both the ‘Jewish’ nose and processes of olfaction, the article explores how smell heightens the racialized perception of visual symbols like the nose. Ultimately, however, it argues that an interpretative process attuned to smell may help disrupt the predetermined signs that mark racialized subjects as different.

Citation

Roth, Z. (2019). “You can change your noses, but you can’t change your Moses”: Olfactory Aesthetics and the Jewish “Race”. Esprit Créateur, 59(2), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.1353/esp.2019.0017

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 29, 2019
Online Publication Date Jun 28, 2019
Publication Date 2019
Deposit Date Jun 7, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Esprit Créateur
Print ISSN 0014-0767
Electronic ISSN 1931-0234
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 59
Issue 2
Pages 72-87
DOI https://doi.org/10.1353/esp.2019.0017

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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2019 The Johns Hopkins University Press. This article first appeared in Roth, Zoë (2019). “You can change your noses, but you can’t change your Moses” Olfactory Aesthetics and the Jewish “Race”. L’Esprit Créateur 59(2): 72-87.





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