The Smell of Uganda
I can still vividly remember being 20 years old and leaving the country for the first time. I can remember walking off the plane in Entebbe, Uganda. There was a burning smell in the air that I didn’t recognize. I remember grabbing my bags, leaving the airport, and being swarmed by men wanting me to hop in their taxi or carry my bags. I remember driving through Kampala and it being unlike any car ride I had ever previously experienced. And I can definitely remember finally getting to my room where my host handed me an Orange Fanta in the old school glass bottle. That night I wrote in my journal, “All my senses experienced something new today and my view of how big God is just grew.”
I love what Sarah Pink states as one of the goals of a sensory ethnographer. She says, “I propose that one of the goals of the sensory ethnographer is to seek to know places in other people’s worlds that are similar to the places and ways of knowing of those others.[1]” It just makes sense that to know others (and I would add to grow in understanding of God) we need to observe, participate, study, and understand the places of the people we want to know. We all have something we can learn from this process.
What is interesting to me is the person coming in to observe might just see something we ourselves can’t see. I remember talking to an Ugandan about the unique burning smell that seems to be everywhere. I don’t know any Americans that have traveled to Uganda and don’t know what I’m referring to, yet the Ugandan responded with, “what burning smell?” Sometimes we have become so accustomed to our surroundings that our senses take some things for granted. Sarah Pink would say, “that perception is fundamental to understanding the principles upon which a sensory approach to ethnography must depend would not be disputed.[2]”
What we sense, how we feel, and the way we experience life matters. It even matters how we communicate those things to others. It should be no surprise to us that our Creator created some to have heightened senses in some areas while others have heightened senses in other areas. This is the body of Christ at work and to fully know each other, know this world, and know our Creator we need one another. Pink says, “Perception is integral to the very production of these categories: culture itself is not fixed. Rather, human beings are continuously and actively involved in the process through which not only culture, but also the total environments in which they live are constituted, experienced, and change continually over time.[3]”
I enjoyed this book because it highlights our need for intimacy with one another as we gain knowledge about one another. The same can be said about our Creator. We all know we can have a vast knowledge of the scriptures and yet not know God. There is an intimacy with God that comes when we engage our heart and our senses, and participate in the culture around us.
[1] Pink, Sarah. Doing Sensory Ethnography. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2009, 23.
[2] Ibid., 26
[3] Ibid., 29
About the Author
Nick Martineau
Nick is a pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS, founder of ILoveOrphans.com, and part of the LGP5 cohort.9 responses to “The Smell of Uganda”
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Nick,
Your pastor’s heart is reflected throughout this post and it encourages me! It’s great to have experienced different cultures, and that those cultures not only give you a bigger view of a diverse world but that they give you a bigger view of who God is and what He’s up to. Again thanks.
Thanks Dave! Looking forward to experiencing another culture together soon.
Nick, I appreciated your comment: “It just makes sense that to know others (and I would add to grow in understanding of God) we need to observe, participate, study, and understand the places of the people we want to know. We all have something we can learn from this process.” How important do you think it is to not only know about the places of the people we are getting to know but to know the places as the people know the places? It’s one thing for me to know about the history, geography, even the demography of your home town but another thing entirely for me to know what YOU know about your home town. Your sensory knowledge, derived from your experiences as a native provides a wealth of knowledge about that place…
J
Thanks John…Anytime you’re in Wichita I’d love to take you around my town. (-:
You ask a great question. Not just knowing about a person but knowing what a person knows creates intimacy. I think that’s the difference between just having a knowledge about scripture and having a relationship with the Father.
There is an intimacy in participating with another, being aware, and sharing our sensory knowledge. I like how Pink makes this an ongoing process…
Nick – I experienced almost the exact same sensory overload when I first went to India. Something so powerful that you don’t forget, particularly for the way the taste, smell, sound, feel, sight of the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi was to me that first time.
Coming into Zambia last night, the power of the entry was not quite as strong because of what I’d experienced in India. I found it interesting that I didn’t react like before, but then I realized that when I first moved to my home 20 years ago, the streets, shopping centers, even the houses felt different than they do now. In fact, it only took about a month before I had another perspective of my home in Gig Harbor. How quickly we assimilate to not notice things as they were before, similar to Ugandans with regard to the smell.
So my friend with whom I’m visiting had a recommendation from a community organizer – take pictures of your home town (or place that you’ve visited before and have grown accustomed to) that you hate, love, and/or have strong feelings about. That way the visual representation, as suggested by Pink’s first book, helps to remind and capture what was most significant. Her comment made me connect your words about how we as humans are “continuously and actively part of the process,” and even more so with the invitation by God to be part of His Kingdom work.
Mary, you are committed! Great coherent thoughts while still being jet lagged! Hope your trip has been good.
Great observation that our awareness of our senses changes as we experience something more and more. I love your friends reccomendation to take pictures. Thanks!
Nick, Great opening paragraph. I would consider it good “text” conveying the experience you had. It’s funny when you got to the orange Fanta soda part I was ready to take a drink of it as one familiar thing in the sea of chaos in the picture you painted with your words. I believe Sarah Pink would approve of your text accompanying some photos, video footage or even some reordered sounds:)!
Thanks Phillip. I’m sure I have pics somewhere, back when I actually had hair.
Nick – What was that smell? I liked how u said that they told you “what burning smell.” You have to become accustomed to a place by being in it long enough to accurately understand it. I bet if you stayed their a few years you would ask the same question to a person who asked you what is that smell! It is so important to not foster a perception about people or cultures without first getting to know them from more that one perspective.