ABSTRACT
Everyday life is full of artificially engineered sensations which become habitual over time. During ethnographic fieldwork in labs and start-ups at the turn of the millennium, technologies such as virtual gearboxes, simulated syringe injections, and haptic bodysuits were experienced, which all tried to engineer the right “feel” for the user. How is a social scientist to get a grip on the empirical material, to convey through ethnography what these novel sensations felt like in person? Ultimately, the analogy of “getting a grip” on such sensations breaks down, it eludes our grasp. These concerns coincided nicely with the flowerings of “non-representational theory.” Consequently, some reflection on the development of sensory ethnography in the early days is offered which involves crossover with non-representational modes of encounter. Along with “presence,” some concepts from Walter Benjamin—“aura” and “mimesis”—are offered as ways to analyze recreations of sensory experience achieved through digital means.
