The Smellscapes of Lublin. An Olfactory Urban History of the 20th Century in East Central Europe

By nosing around in the history of the Polish city of Lublin I explore the various olfactory atmospheres characterising the city throughout the 20th century. The study explores which smells affected Lublins citizens and their everyday life, but also how these smells reflect socio-cultural, economic, ecological and political continuities and transformations. Jewish bagel-vendours and horse dung on the streets of the interwar period, cabbage soup and diesel busses during Communist times as well as McDonalds fries and EUs catalystic cars narrate the story of the emergence and decay of multicultural societies, the ups and downs of food supply, the struggle for modernisation; it tells us about ecologic pollution, about changing understandings of hygiene and about the fight for political independence. By asking who smelled and what smelled I observe power relations and socio-political sensitivities. This project applies the novel approach of Sensory Studies to the history of East-Central Europe. It provides the first (olfactory) urban history, which scrutinises the changing odours, airs and atmospheres of this Polish city in relation to the history of the region in the 20th century. By observing discourses in newspaper articles, archival sources, narrative interviews, travel accounts and diaries, it elaborates on the transformations and continuities of the smellscapes of an East-Central European city and its subtexts.

Follow Your Nose. Sniffing Out the 20th Century in the Polish City of Lublin. Smells are ubiquitous and strongly determine the atmosphere of a given place. The urban smells of traffic, bakeries, dog urine, cooking practices, industry fumes, waste, perfumes, body odours, greenery and cigarettes all contribute to the auras, moods and affects hanging in the air of urban life. In this project (past) smell experiences and smell perceptions are used as a source and tool for cultural analysis. 'Nosing around' the Polish city of Lublin is meant to explore and reflect on certain smellscapes, olfactory sensitivities and the making of emotional geographies that were emerging in the 20th century. By asking who smelled and what smelled the project reflects upon the notions of class, race, gender conventions, industrialisation, urbanisation, nationalism, and ruminations on selfhood and 'the other'. This project's insights into the (olfactory) history of differentiation and entanglement make it possible to acquire unique perspectives on the anxieties and challenges, ruptures and continuities of the 20th century in (not only Eastern) Europe. Case studies on selected urban micro-spaces - the urban courtyard of the interwar period, the Old-Town-neighbourhood around the Second World War, the staircase of the socialist housing bloc as well as the bathroom of the 1980/90s - do not only introduce into local smellscapes, but also give insight into the feelings provoked by these smells. Poking one's nose into urban spaces makes it possible to sniff out time- and place-related challenges, emotions and evaluations of perceived realities on the basis of everyday life experiences in Eastern Europe. Examining odours offers a groundbreaking and original approach to follow the (historical) relation between environmental, social, political, economic change - by the example of Eastern Europe - thus, providing insights into various regimes' infrastructure managements, interethnic sensitivities, Cold War tensions, changing lifestyles under socialism and experiences of transformation through the nose, based on smell-perception and olfactory encounters on the example of a Polish city. Smells are affective and the encounter with smells is strongly linked with emotions. Thus, systems of belief, knowledge and meaning are also based on accumulated (smell) experiences. Although outlined as an urban history of a city in Poland, based on smell-issues, the study looks at the broader picture: it is not only about the changing smellscapes of a city in the region, but an olfactory account of and sensory insight into the history of twentieth century Eastern Europe.