• By Making Me Stink to the Inhabitants of the Land: Intrusive Smells as a Metaphor for Unwanted Migrants

    Author(s):
    Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (view group)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Biblical Studies, Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies
    Subject(s):
    Emigration and immigration, Forced migration, Smell, Senses and sensation
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    ba'ash
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/ts17-4k29
    Abstract:
    The verb ba’ash (lit. “to stink”) is used repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible to describe unwanted groups or individuals (Gen 34:30; Exod 5:21; 1 Sam 13:4; 1 Sam 27:12; 2 Sam 10:6; 1 Chr 19:6). However, there is an overwhelming tendency in English translations and commentaries to translate bet-aleph-shin in a figurative sense as “obnoxious” (NIV, NKJV), “odious” (NASB, ASV) or even “despised” (ISV). This paper answers the call to modern exegetes to read “not only with our eyes but with the other senses alert.” and proposes that by re-centring on and reading through smell, new exegetical possibilities are opened to us. Drawing on recent work on the verb ba’ash and anthropological research on the discourse surrounding smell or perceived social odours of migrants and immigrants, this article will demonstrate that stench and bad odour are employed as a form of metaphorical discourse in these texts to construct a narrative in which immigrants are viewed like bad smells: foreign, pervasive and unwanted.
    Notes:
    Susannah Rees, "By Making Me Stink to the Inhabitants of the Land: Intrusive Smells as a Metaphor for Unwanted Migrants." Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies 4.1 (2022): 99-118.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    11 months ago
    License:
    Attribution
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