1. On losing the "dispensable" sense: TikTok imitation publics and COVID-19 smell loss challenges.
- Author
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Michell, Adrianna Grace
- Subjects
VIRTUAL communities ,IMITATIVE behavior ,ELECTRONIC paper ,COMMUNITIES ,COVID-19 ,SMELL - Abstract
The enduring effects of COVID-19 have called into question many of the assumptions upon which media and cultural studies rest, including a fundamental mode of perception: the sense of smell. In dialog with the field of sensory studies, this paper traces digital smell loss (anosmia) communities from pre-pandemic Facebook groups to mid-pandemic TikTok challenges. This article considers digital smell loss communities on TikTok as imitation publics characterized by repetition. Via replicable TikTok challenges, digital smell-loss communities reckoned with the unmooring effects of a seemingly mild symptom. By exploring how formulaic smell-loss challenges generated support and facilitated community-building, this article demands greater attention to a sense often considered 'disposable'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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