Scents of identity: Fragrance as heritage in Zanzibar

Abstract

In 2000, UNESCO declared Zanzibar Stone Town a World Heritage Site. Since this time the Tanzanian government and international NGOs (based in Zanzibar) have participated in the rehabilitation of the town's buildings and other physical infrastructure. However, little attention has been paid to the rich intangible heritage of the islands and the fusion of cultural expressions in this part of the world. This paper considers the important role of fragrances in the identity construction processes of Zanzibar islanders. The author offers a brief history, theoretical discussion and detailed ethnography of fragrance in Zanzibar. She discusses its role in the varied constitution of identity, belief and in life cycle rituals. The author further argues that fragrance and other seemingly 'mundane' heritages attract little attention in the preservation process and yet these indicate important cultural continuities in the Indian Ocean region and form a vital part of heritage and the harmonisation of cultures on the islands.

Falling out of love? A response to Francis Nyamnjoh's ‘Beyond an evangelizing public anthropology: science, theory, and commitment’

“…However, as shown in my own detailed, theoretically informed and arguably rich empirical research in Zanzibar (during and after which I did not save anyone but during which time I made many friends), a stink is a bad thing. It is believed that bad odours are evil and destructive, that insiders are fragrant and that good health can be restored by systematic aromatherapy (Boswell 2008). Anthropologists in Africa (the ones that still remain and are now emerging), pursue systematic and rigorous research, just as the Zanzibaris pursue systematic aromatherapy.…”

“…Regional cultural continuities and specificities reveal eclectic and contradictory logics which cannot be easily circumscribed by 'watertight' theories inspired by other epistemologies. In my own work, I have moved to thoroughly discursive and multi-sighted accounts of identity, seeking to understand the unpredictable interface between the past and present, between subordination and liberation, between the supernatural and the 'real' (Boswell 2008(Boswell , 2011(Boswell , 2014. Keeping up with the volume of information generated by anthropological research is, as I can attest, very challenging.…”

Sensuous stories in the Indian Ocean islands

“…A history of involvement in the spice trade, the extensive local use of scents, and the spiritual symbolism of aroma in Islam has encouraged a multiply situated sense of scent. Scent is a powerful metaphor and organising principle in island society (Boswell 2008). The scent metaphor pervades many stories, rendering tales of romance, sex and racial oppression odorous.…”

Smell of heritage: a framework for the identification, analysis and archival of historic odours

“…They show that odour can be part of the local identity through history [1]; that a central place for olfactory experiences in a culture results in a much wider vocabulary to discuss smells [2] and that travel and tourism offer an opportunity to approach the world with our noses [3]. However, the role of smells in our perception of and engagement with the past has not been systematically explored.…”

“…As the place of smell in heritage has begun to be discussed, so has the observation that the dynamic nature of olfactory 'objects' does not fit well within the current definition of intangible heritage [1,19]. This presents a specific set of challenges in current museum practice when smells are used as part of collection interpretation.…”