Seminar (GlobaLS): "Dimensions of sensitive proximity. A relational analytical proposal"

Program

Summary

In this presentation, a relational analytical proposal is put forward to gauge the scope of the category “sensitive proximity” inspired by Simmel, with an emphasis on a sensory dimension: the olfactory. Georg Simmel did not provide a definition of the category, but he left clues to reconstruct it and position it within the field of sensory studies. A typology of sensitive proximity is proposed according to four types of situations: sensitive proximity in situations of intimacy, anonymity, confinement, and technologically mediated. The importance of considering not only the spatial dimensions underlying the category but also the temporal, material, and affective dimensions is highlighted. The implications and asymmetries involved in the proximity of generically differentiated bodies and the intersection of other variables such as class, ethnicity, or age in terms of odors are considered. Some theorizing strategies will be presented within the framework of constructing various research objects and concrete empirical references, as well as the conceptual borrowings from other disciplines and analytical references underlying the presented analytical proposal.

Olga Sabido Ramos

Sociologist. PhD in Political and Social Sciences with a specialization in Sociology from UNAM. She is a full-time professor-researcher at UAM-Azcapotzalco. Her research lines include: Relational sociological theories; Sociology of emotions and affective turn; Sensorial turn and sociology of the senses; and Feminist epistemologies. She has various publications on these topics, including the book “The Body as a Resource of Meaning in the Construction of the Other. A Sociological Perspective” (2012). She is the coordinator of “Georg Simmel. A Contemporary Review” (2007); “The Senses of the Body: A Sensorial Turn in Social Research and Gender Studies” (2019), among others. She is currently participating in a research project in collaboration with the University of Brighton (UK) and UAM (Mexico) entitled “Transforming Transnational Landscapes of Gender-Based Violence through Trans-Sensory Narratives” with Dr. Paula Soto. She is also the sole responsible for the project “Suffering on the Margins of the Canon. Review of Some Pioneers of Sociology and Social Thought”. She is a member of the National System of Researchers Level 3.