Global Scents: All the Perfumes of Arabia

Catalog description

The Arabian Peninsula is remembered throughout the ages on account of its smell. Characteristically laden with types of oudh, frankincense, myrrh, musk, jasmine, agarwood and bakhur, Arabian perfumes are branded traditionally as scents with robust odors and medicinal properties to beautify, purify, and fumigate the body from malodors and infection. In this course, we will ask the following questions: What do our noses really know and love? How are our emotions intertwined with scents and memories personally and noetically? How are innovative local and global technologies changing our olfactory perceptions by blending traditional elements with modern ones? When and where are the lines blurred between medicine and perfumery and for what purposes? Using Abu Dhabi and the entire UAE as a heritage landscape of scent, we will look for the origins of the perfumery tradition in the Arabian Peninsula, and investigate how the industry has changed globally in time.