Smoking Sensibilities: Unraveling the Spatialities, Socialities and Subjectivities of Young Adults Smokers in Singapore

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is an inherently spatial practice, not just because the tightening of smoking bans across various localities has led to a shrinking number of available smoking places ? but also because the sensorial pollution that smoking bodies engenders does not respect spatial and corporeal boundaries. Consequently, smoke is likely to provoke affective responses from non-smoking, and to a lesser extent, smoking bodies at a distance. However, the sensual-affectual experiences of smoking practices have been conveniently glossed over in the existing scholarship on smoking geographies. Therefore, I argue that non-representational theory serves as a suitable theoretical tool for exploring smoking spatialities, socialities and subjectivities beyond (but including) their rational, cognitive and representational aspects. By situating this qualitative study in the context of Singapore ? where smoking bans are getting more stringent and anti-smoking campaigns are getting more aggressive ? I demonstrate how this approach sheds light on the embodied affectual-emotional modalities wrought into the negotiation of smoking and non-smoking spaces, sensory relationalities as well as senses of wellbeing.