Taste of Life and Death

• In Event: Tasting Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper, attempt a re/presentation of the intertwined nature of taste and smell in understanding life and death within an aesthetico-political curriculum, or a line of curricular inquiry that takes care in what is materialized and so what is included as valid knowledge. I argue that examining what life and death "smell like" is crucial, as the sense of smell accounts for approximately 90% of what humans taste. I conclude with calls for curricular "palate cleansers,’ encouraging session participants to taste sources of human joy and sorrow, while also considering the tastes being denied to future students, emphasizing that the humanity of their lives and deaths may depend on such curricula.

Author

• Patrick Phillips, University of Ottawa