Reversing the Colonial Gaze


Book Description

A transformative account of the adventures of Persian travelers in the nineteenth century, moving beyond Eurocentric approaches to travel narratives.




The Tourist's Gaze


Book Description

Travel literature has been described by Jonathan Raban as "literature's red-light district". It defies peoples' beliefs, confuses expectations, crosses disciplinary boundaries and is linked to ethnography, journalism and biography. Yet for all that has managed to remain not only a visible but also an increasingly popular literary genre. This anthology makes an entertaining and insightful contribution to this engaging field. It includes extracts from well known writers, such as Thackeray, Boll and Chesterton, but also presents less familiar figures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The seventy pieces collected here both offer sharp observations of the country and are equally revealing about the travelers themselves. Each extract, where possible, is prefaced by a brief biography of its author. For readers interested in the origins and historical role of travel writing in general, and how they relate to Ireland, the editor offers an illuminating introduction. This anthology presents illuminating snapshots of Ireland over two hundred years. It also provides insights into the varied perspectives of the travelers themselves, a perspective often influenced by contemporary political events such as the Great Famine, Home Rule, the Civil War and the Troubles. This anthology leaves the reader with an enduring image of Ireland's ability to fascinate and stimulate visitors through two centuries.




Travellers' Tales


Book Description

Most of us, at various moments in our lives, either adopt a `tourist' identity of are framed within another's tourist experience. Travellers' Tales investigates the future for travelling in a world whose boundaries are shifting and dissolving. The contributors bring together popular and critical discourses of travel to explore questions of identity and politics; history and narration; collecting and representing other cultures. Travellers' tales oscillate between the thrill of novel experiences and unexpected pleasures, and the alienation and loneliness of exile in a strange land. The contributions review recent work on the discourses of tourism, travel and cultural politics; the effects of global interactions and local resistances, and the ways in which records, memorials and signs have all been used to describe the experience of encountering the `other'.




Travellers, Intellectuals, and the World Beyond Medieval Europe


Book Description

As the articles reprinted in this volume demonstrate, medieval men and women were curious about the world around them. They wanted to hear about distant lands and the various peoples who inhabited them. Travellers' tales, factual such as that of Marco Polo, and fictional, such as Chaucer's famous pilgrimage, entertained audiences across Europe. Colorful mappaemundi placed in churches illustrated these other lands and peoples for those who could not read. Medieval travel literature was not only entertaining, however, it was also informative, generating proto-ethnological information about the world beyond Latin Christendom that provided useful guidance for those such as merchants and missionaries who intended to travel abroad. Merchants learned about safe travel routes to foreign lands, about dangers to be avoided on the roads and at sea, about cultural practices that might interfere with their attempts at trade, and about products that would be suitable for foreign markets. Churchmen read the reports of missionaries to understand the beliefs of Muslims and other non-believers in order to debate with them and to learn their languages. These articles illustrate how travellers' reports in turn shaped the European response to the world beyond Europe, and are set in context in the editor's introduction.




British Women Travellers


Book Description

This book studies the exclusive refractive perspectives of British women who took up the twin challenges of travel and writing when Britain was establishing itself as the greatest empire on earth. Contributors explore the ways in which travel writing has defined women’s engagement with Empire and British identity, and was inextricably linked with the issue of identity formation. With a capacious geographical canvas, this volume examines the multifaceted relations and negotiations of British women travellers in a range of different imperial contexts across continents from America, Africa, Europe to Australia.




Encountering Difference: New Perspectives on Genre, Travel and Gender


Book Description

This edited collection poses crucial questions about the relationship between gender and genre in travel writing, asking how gender shapes formal and thematic approaches to the various generic forms employed to represent and recreate travel. While the question of the genre of travel writing has often been debated (is it a genre, a hybrid genre, a sub-genre of autobiography?), and recent years have been much attention to travel writing and gender, these have rarely been combined. This book sheds light on how the gendered nature of writing and reading about travel affect the genre choices and strategies of writers, as well as the way in which travel writing is received. It reconsiders traditional and frequently studied forms of travel writing, both European and non-European. In addition, it pursues questions about the connections between travel writing and other genres, such as the novel and films, minor forms including journalism and blogging, and new sub-genres such as the ‘new nature writing’; focusing in particular on the political ramifications of genre in travel writing. The collection is international in focus with discussions of works by authors from Europe, Asia, Australia, and both North and South America; consequently, it will be of great interest to scholars and historians in those regions.




The Host Gaze in Global Tourism


Book Description

Most tourism theories have been developed from the tourists' perspective and focus on the Anglo-American experience. This unique book for researchers and students of tourism is the first to look at the host gaze; how it is constructed, how it has developed, how it varies between countries and how the tourism industry can affect it. By looking at the gazes of both Western and non-Western hosts, this book analyses the consequences such a gaze can have upon the tourist.




Strategies for Tourism Industry


Book Description

Today, it is considered good business practice for tourism industries to support their micro and macro environment by means of strategic perspectives. This is necessary because we cannot contemplate companies existing without their environment. If companies do not involve themselves in such undertakings, they are in danger of isolating themselves from the shareholder. That, in turn, creates a problem for mobilizing new ideas and receiving feedback from their environment. In this respect, the contributions of academics from international level together with the private sector and business managers are eagerly awaited on topics and sub-topics within Strategies for Tourism Industry - Micro and Macro Perspectives.




SAHARA


Book Description

SAHARA and EXPLORATION OF AÏR OUT OF THE WORLD NORTH OF NIGERIA by Angus Buchanan are captivating accounts of exploration and adventure. Venture into the heart of the Sahara desert, experience the wonders of Nigeria, and journey through territories untamed by man. Buchanan's vivid descriptions and personal narratives provide an engaging firsthand look at these extraordinary expeditions. Ready for an adventure? Embark on a thrilling journey with SAHARA and EXPLORATION OF AÏR OUT OF THE WORLD NORTH OF NIGERIA. Order your copies today!




Travel and Imagination


Book Description

The imagination has long been associated with travel and tourism; from the seventeenth century when the showman and his peepshow box would take the village crowd to places, cities and lands through the power of stories, to today when we rely on a different range of boxes to whisk us away on our imaginative travels: the television, the cinema and the computer. Even simply the notion of travel, it would seem, gives us license to daydream. The imagination thus becomes a key concept that blurs the boundaries between our everyday lives and the idea of travel. Yet, despite what appears to be a close and comfortable link, there is an absence of scholarly material looking at travel and the imagination. Bringing together geographers, sociologists, cultural researchers, philosophers, anthropologists, visual researchers, archaeologists, heritage researchers, literary scholars and creative writers, this edited collection explores the socio-cultural phenomenon of imagination and travel. The volume reflects upon imagination in the context of many forms of physical and non-physical travel, inviting scholars to explore this fascinating, yet complex, area of inquiry in all of its wonderful colour, slipperiness, mystery and intrigue. The book intends to provide a catalyst for thinking, discussion, research and writing, with the vision of generating a cannon of scholarship on travel and the imagination that is currently absent from the literature.