The Smell of Water

Abstract

Residents of riverine and Indigenous communities in and around the Nanay River in the Peruvian Amazon have indicated that the smell of water is shifting. This article traces the changing smell of water in various communities in the Amazon to understand the importance of water for Amazonians (both spiritually and concretely), the extent to which the human nose is capable of smelling environmental change, and the future work that must be done to protect these fragile and increasingly polluted waterways. While it is well documented that the Amazon’s biodiversity and flora and fauna are under threat due to industrial activities and illegal resource extraction, the role that smell plays in recognizing and denouncing contamination is rarely considered. This article combines recent work in the field of smell studies with anthropological and environmental writings on Amazonia to translate stench into a vivid indicator of a slow violence on the waterways of this biome. Drawing on a documentary film focused on water, the writings of Indigenous philosophers Rafael Chanchari Pizuri and Ailton Krenak, and interviews with residents living along the Nanay River, the significance of water for this region is complexified and linked to larger moments of environmental destruction. The changing smell of water in the Amazon promotes what I call “slow smelling,” where harmful smells go unnoticed and become an accepted part of the odors of a place. Bilious odors indicate serious pollution and contamination of waterways that are necessary to the well-being of local communities and carry ancestral significance.