Mark M. Smith is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on sensory history – a vibrant area of historical inquiry dedicated to examining the roles played by olfaction, hearing, touch, and taste (as well as vision) in shaping the past. He is the author of several books, including Mastered by the Clock: Time, Slavery, and Freedom in the American South (winner of the Organization of American Historians’ 1997 Avery O. Craven Award and South Carolina Historical Society’s Book of the Year), How Race Is Made: Slavery, Segregation, and the Senses (University of North Carolina Press, 2006; a 2007 Choice Outstanding Academic Title), Sensing the Past: Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, and Touching in History (University of California Press, 2008). Smith is currently working on three projects, one involving reconstruction and foreign affairs; one on the future of sensory history, and another on the history of mixed martial arts and the UFC.