Call for Book Chapters: “The Senses and Memory”

Vernon Press invites book chapters for an edited volume on the subject of “The Senses and Memory.”

In the field of sensory studies, the role of memory in sensory perceptions has always been a central preoccupation. From smell’s “Proust effect” to music’s ability to improve memory and mood, the senses are processed in the brain in particular ways that highlight the strong link between remembering and sensing the world. Likewise, the senses work in tandem, through synesthesia, to evoke feelings and sensations of a past event. The body plays a central role in navigating the world, and the senses provide routes to past, at times forgotten, memories.

As sensory studies and memory studies continue to grow and shift as interdisciplinary fields, the overlap between the two demands further investigation. The aim of this edited volume is to dive deeper into the connections that exist between these two fields and to discuss underexplored topics within these areas of study, such as disability in narratives of sensory remembering and the sensory memories of plant and animal life. This volume is searching for creative, interdisciplinary works in the humanities that grapple with topics related to the senses and memory in new, understudied ways.

Questions of importance include: How do the senses evoke memory and convey details of an event? How is sensory memory different from other forms of memory? What is unique about one sense’s ability to evoke memory compared to the other senses? How do new technologies and art reframe the link between the senses and memory? How do mediums (films, texts, paintings, etc.) differ in their portrayal of sensory memory?

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The senses in arts and media
• New technologies
• Disability studies
• Synesthesia
• Nostalgia
• Environmental humanities
• Animal and plant life
• Conflict, violence, memory
• Embodiment
• Creative approaches to sensory memory

If you are interested in contributing to this edited volume, please submit your proposal (500-700 words abstract) along with a short biography (100-150 words) in PDF format by August 1st, 2023 to the book editor, Chanelle Dupuis (chanelle_dupuis@brown.edu).

Proposal acceptance will be notified by September 1st, 2023.  Full chapter submissions are to be delivered by February 1st, 2024.