SE N SO RY

ST U DI ES

S EN SO RY
STU D IES

While much of Western thought is still categorical, Laplantine investigates the

natural rhythms, duration and modulation of life, challenging previously held
assumptions of social and political life. Movement, flow and intensity are evident
in his wonderful analysis of dance, cinema and and other cultural forms. Invaluable
reading for anthropologists anthropologists, philosophers, sensory experts and
cultural studies scholars. Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Clinical Associate Professor,
Fordham Schools of Business, USA
Laplantine makes a powerful case for lifting the scholarly prohibition on sensual
thinking, while adroitly conveying the distinction between the categorical and the
modal. The Life of the Senses advances our understanding of embodiment more
than anything I have read in years. Kathryn Geurts, Professor of Global Studies,
Hamline University, USA

The Life of the Senses

This volume provides a wonderful introduction to the study of the senses in a

variety of cultural contexts. It is uniquely informed by the authors encyclopedic
knowledge of film and ethnography. Laplantine teaches us to remove the
philosophical blinders of modernity so that we may be present to the sumptuous
flow of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. His writings pulse with life.
Richard Sherwin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, New York Law School, USA

Franois
Laplantine

Both a vital theoretical work and a fine illustration of the principles and practice of
sensory ethnography, this much anticipated translation is destined to figure as a major
catalyst in the expanding field of sensory studies.

Translated by
Jamie Furniss

Drawing on his own fieldwork in Brazil and Japan and a wide range of philosophical,
literary and cinematic sources, the author outlines his vision for a modal
anthropology. Franois Laplantine challenges the primacy accorded to sign and
structure in conventional social science research, and redirects attention to the
tonalities and rhythmic intensities of different ways of living. Arguing that meaning,
sensation and sociality cannot be considered separately, he calls for a politics of the
sensible and a complete reorientation of our habitual ways of understanding reality.
The book also features an introduction to the sensory and social thought of Francois
Laplantine by the editor of the Sensory Studies series, David Howes.

JAMIE FURNISS is Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

ANTHROPOLOGY

www.bloomsbury.com

ISBN 978-1-4725-3196-4

90100

9 781472 531964

Also available
from Bloomsbury

Laplantine

FRANOIS LAPLANTINE is Professor Emeritus at the University of Lyon 2, France and

has an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

SENSO RY
ST U DIES

The Life
of the Senses
Introduction to a Modal Anthropology