Nat Lazakis (he/they) is an independent researcher who focuses on embodiment, disability, and place.

Book

Body Odor and Biopolitics: Characterizing Smell in Neoliberal America (McFarland, 2021) is a disability study about people with Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) and related medical conditions. It argues that the rise of the modern norm of odorlessness can be recounted as a progress narrative only by erasing the standpoints of embodied individuals who are unable to conform to it. It shows how discrimination against odor-related disability is perpetuated within sites like workplaces, academia, and many body-related social justice movements, despite their claims to be combating other traditional forms of exclusion. Centering the experiences of people with conditions like TMAU as they organize in an era of online disability advocacy, it critically evaluates strategies for moving beyond simple survival, to attaining visibility and demanding accountability. 

Read the first 21 pages for free on Google Books or request a free sample on Amazon Kindle.

Articles

“It Is A Non-Negotiable Order”: Public Libraries’ Body Odor Bans and the Ableist Politics of Purity. Journal of Radical Librarianship, Vol. 6 (2020), 24–52.

The Taboo of Body Odor Medical Conditions and Ecological Counternarratives. Ethics and the Environment, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2019, 19-43.

Presentation

“Rousseau Between Abjection and Aura: Meritocracy, Biopolitics, and the Leaky Body.” 25th Annual Carolina Conference for Romance Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3/26/2021.

Opinion

“It Doesn’t Get Better: Online Activism and TMAU Awareness.” Rooted in Rights, 9/22/2022.

“Decentering Neoliberal Knowledge: Toward New Learning and Research Spaces.”CNS Web, 1/10/2018.