Kolonya Renaissance: Disinfection, Healing, and the Role of Eau de Cologne during the early COVID-19 Crisis in Turkey and its Diaspora

Abstract

This article contributes to the debate on material religion, the body, and the senses by focusing on the uses and reconfigurations of cologne in Turkey and its German diaspora during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eau de Cologne, which emerged in Western Europe during the second plague pandemic, was localized as kolonya in Turkey during the nineteenth century. In the early COVID-19 crisis, it regained its early association with purity and healing in spite of its high concentration of alcohol, which is a problematic substance in Islam. Moreover, it became a biopolitical agent in the government’s attempt of dealing with the crisis, revitalizing and transforming long-standing kolonya cultures. Drawing on ethnographic material and media debates, the article outlines the role of kolonya as an “intra-active” substance traversing the boundaries commonly drawn between the secular and the Islamic in Turkey. It illustrates the entanglement of olfactorial hygiene, sociality, and healing in present-day Turkey and beyond. In taking the role of kolonya as a starting point, the article engages with material perspectives to argue for greater attention to be given to the olfactorial aspects of experiential Islam.