Botanies of Desire: Fragrance, Healing, and Sexual Attraction in the Amazon

Is beauty in the nose of the beholder? A comparative study of olfaction and ethnobotany among indigenous peoples across the Amazon basin reveals the central role of plant fragrances in native concepts of sexual attraction, health, and well-being. This paper approaches odor as a complex biocultural phenomenon, examining the special agency of odor in Amazonian medical systems and cosmologies.

Register for the Digital Presentation

Speaker:
Glenn H. Shepard Jr., Ph.D.
Ethnobotanist / Medical Anthropologist

Visiting Research Associate
Department of Anthropology
American Museum of Natural History

Full Staff Researcher in Ethnology
Division of Human Sciences
Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi
Brazil