Smell is a vital, if underappreciated, medium through which we inhabit and imagine the world. In Olfactory Worldmaking, Hsuan L. Hsu traces how olfactory experience communicates across visceral, material, and affective registers to offer new ways of relating, which challenge the extractive logics of racial and colonial capitalism. Blending environmental humanities, sensory studies, and critical ethnic studies, the book highlights how scent animates suppressed histories and marginalized memories.
In this edition of Books of the Month, we're thinking about our built environment and the questions that might help us build better cities in the future. These scholars not only point out what isn’t working in our communities and current infrastructure, they highlight potential solutions – some based on real world examples while others have only been imagined.
The Academic Senate and Federation have announced their top awards, comprising 15 academics across various disciplines throughout the university. The awards cite the impact these academics have had on their fields, on UC Davis students and on the broader community through public service.
In his most recent book, Professor Hsuan Hsu explores the origin of air conditioning and U.S. dependence on the technology, as well as the consequences of it on the environment, public health and society. He also grapples with when and how air conditioning becomes a need — or even a human right — and when it is a luxury.
