春雨直播app

I'm an associate professor at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo. I specialize in the history of the senses, the history of technology, and business history. I received a BA and MA in American Studies from the University of Tokyo, and a PhD in History from the Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology, and Culture at the University of Delaware.? Before joining the University of Tokyo in 2021, I served as a Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellow in Business History at Harvard Business School (2016–2017) and taught at the Graduate School of Economics at Kyoto University (2017–2021). My first book, Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat (Harvard University Press, 2019) won the 2020 Hagley Prize in Business History (Business History Conference) and the 2020 Shimizu Hiroshi Book Award (Japanese Association for American Studies).

Assoc. Prof. Ai HISANO

1	Subject	A History and Culture of the Senses
2	Field	History
3	Key words	Senses; Emotions; Business; Consumerism; Technology
4	Global Unit	1
5	Lecturer	Ai HISANO
6	Period	June 30 - July 11, 2025
7	Time	15:00-16:30 (Japan Standard Time)
8	Lecture style	In-person (on Hongo Campus)
9	Evaluation Criteria	Excellent (S) 90–100％; Very good (A) 80–89％; Good (B) 70–79%; Pass (C) 60–69%; Fail (D) 0–59％
10	Evaluation methods	Attendance and active participation: 40% Online questions/discussions: 20% Final project and presentation: 40%
11	Prerequisites	No prior knowledge about the subject is required. However, because this is a discussion-based course, students must be willing to engage in class discussion. Students are also expected to have completed all reading assignments and to have thought about them before each class.
12	Contents	Purpose This course examines how economic and technological changes reshaped sensory experiences, with a particular focus on the rise of consumer capitalism. Its goals are threefold: (1) to cultivate critical analysis and a deeper understanding of capitalist development; (2) to critically evaluate the methodological and analytical frameworks employed in sensory studies; and (3) to explore sensory experiences not only as personal and biological phenomena but also as social constructs. Description This course examines what it means to study the senses from a historical perspective. When people describe something as “delicious,” what does that sensation actually signify? What defines a “pleasant” scent or a “fresh” fragrance? These sensory experiences are not only influenced by popular trends but are also shaped by political, economic, and cultural contexts—and can even be deliberately constructed. Moreover, sensory experiences are often tied to social factors such as class, race, and gender and have occasionally been used as tools of discrimination.   The study of these culturally and historically specific or evolving sensory experiences is known as “the history of the senses.” Sensory historians argue that the way we perceive the five senses is not simply a subjective, biological phenomenon but is also shaped by social and cultural forces. They propose that the senses can serve as a powerful lens to analyze how people in the past understood and navigated their societies. By framing sensory experiences as a critical element of cultural anthropology and historical analysis, these scholars highlight that sensory perception is not fixed. While the basic functions of sensory organs like the eyes, ears, and tongue remain consistent, the collective sensory experiences and perceptions shared by communities at specific times and places are influenced by technological, economic, and social factors, making them historically contingent.   The course includes lectures and discussions based on assigned readings. For their final projects, students will collaborate in groups to develop and present their research. Schedule 1. Introduction Reading: Constance Classen, “Introduction” in Worlds of Sense: Exploring the Senses in History and Across Cultures (Routledge, 1993): 1–11 [distributed in class]   2. Creating Sensory Experience Reading: Lahne, “Sensory Science, The Food Industry, and the Objectification of Taste”   3. Capitalism and the Senses Reading: Howes, “How Capitalism Came to Its Senses”   4. Gender and the Senses Reading: Announced in class.   5. Group work   6. Guest speaker Details will be announced in class.   7. Sensory Relationships and Imperialism Reading: Rotter, “Empire of the Senses”   8. Politics of the Senses Reading: Hsu, “Colonial and Anti-Black Legacies of Fragrance and Deodorization”   9. Group presentation   10. Group presentation & Final discussion Assignments (1) 20-minute group presentation on a final project (2) Final group project and a short paper
13	Required readings	(Session 1) Distributed in class   (Session 2) Jacob Lahne, “Sensory Science, The Food Industry, and the Objectification of Taste,” Anthropology of Food 10 (2016). ()   (Session 3) David Howes, “How Capitalism Came to Its Senses—and Yours: The Invention of Sensory Marketing” (2017) ( (Session 4) Announced in class   (Session 7) Andrew J. Rotter, “Empire of the Senses: How Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, and Touching Shaped Imperial Encounters,” Diplomatic History 35, no.1 (2011): 3–19. ()   (Session 8) Hsuan L. Hsu, “Colonial and Anti-Black Legacies of Fragrance and Deodorization,” Venti 2, no. 2 (2022). ()
14	Reference readings	Additional readings will be provided in class.
15	Notes on Taking the Course	-

春雨直播app Global Unit Courses (GUC)
International Education Promotion Group, Education and Student Support Department
春雨直播app, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8652 JAPAN

For inquiries regarding GUC, kindly direct them to the following email address:
utokyo-guc.adm(at)gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp *Please change (at) to @