The Smellscapes of Eminönü, Istanbul

In the daytime, Eminönü is crawling with people. Merchants, shoppers, and tourists pack the marketplace, and at every corner you turn there are spice sellers, coffee roasters, or kebab grillers lining the streets.  



The smell is overpowering; it is ephemeral, yet ubiquitous. It has changed over time, but continues to define Eminönü as a place. 



This is a collection of stories about Eminönü as experienced through the nose. Wander around the website to read the thoughts and memories that the scents evoked in those who are both attuned to and new to the area.

​

About this Website

This is an individual website by Anna Wada based on materials gathered during the Smellscapes of Eminönü field project, organized by Koc University for the Urban Cultural Heritage & Creative Practice Research Collaborative. Stories, locations, and time are based on interviews and research notes taken during the trip, and edited lightly to fit the format and language of this website. Photographs are taken by members of the collaborative unless otherwise noted. 



About the Field Project

Istanbul, Turkey – Koc University

June 17-30, 2012

​

Interdisciplinary researchers and creative practitioners from the six partners of the international research collaborative Urban Cultural Heritage & Creative Practice met in Istanbul, Turkey this summer for their first summer research field project. Working alongside students and faculty of Koc University Istanbul, the research team collaboratively explored, documented and found ways of exhibiting smellscapes in the district of Eminönü in Istanbul. Archival and historical research was undertaken by faculty and students at Koc University to find traces of sensorial expressions (smell, sound, taste, touch, etc.) within the histories and heritages of Eminönü, Istanbul. A bustling spice market, adjacent to flower markets, coffee roasters, the city’s central transport depot of buses, taxis and ferries as well as the pungent fish restaurants and fisherman of Galata Bridge and some of the city’s well known mosques, Eminönü is a complex cacophony and palimpsest of senses. Broad theoretical questions around how ephemeral senses of smell, taste and sound persist over time and generations as well as practical questions of how to encounter, capture, document and share/exhibit these persistent olfactory and acoustic heritages were explored.