Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and ColonialismThis book provides a useful entry into the field of travel writing from a feminist perspective which combines Foucault with postcolonialist theory. The point of departure are the narratives produced by British women who, during the mid nineteenth to early twentieth century, traveled to colonized countries. Mills locates their narratives within larger structures of both material and symbolic power to stress the importance of the articulations of travel, gender and sexuality within travel culture: women paid attention to different things than men and had different expectations of themselves and of the `natives' while abroad. Much of this is familiar ground, but it is interesting to see how the author takes well-known female accounts such as Mary Kingsley's and reads them not as eccentric products but as part of a broader discourse about gender, colonialism, and travel experience. |
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11/05/20
I read the introduction to this when I was writing my assignment on the approach I intend to use in my research. Mills is confident and knowledgeable about how to transpose Foucault's primary ideas around power and historical curiosity into analysis of history. She is looking at this from a post-colonial, feminist perspective, I think her ideas are transferable to my own project.
One to read in full, at a later date, perhaps.
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Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism Sara Mills No preview available - 1991 |
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adopt adventure African analysis assert attempt believed British called century chapter clearly colonial discourse concerned considered constraints constructed context conventions critics cultural David-Neel Denys describes descriptions determined difficult discourses of femininity drawing effect elements example fact female feminist figure Foucault framework gender gives goes Hulme ibid important included India individual interesting journey Kingsley knowledge language literary lives male Mary Mazuchelli means mentioned narrative narrator native nature necessary never notes notion objects Orientalism particularly period portrayed position possible present problems produced published question range reader reason reception reference relation remarks representations represented role says scientific seems seen sexual shows similar simply situation statements status structures suggests texts textual theory things Tibet Tibetan true truth voice West western whilst whole woman women women's travel writing women's writing written
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Page 10 - I would like to show with precise examples that in analysing discourses themselves, one sees the loosening of the embrace, apparently so tight, of words and things, and the emergence of a group of rules proper to discursive practice. These rules define not the dumb existence of a reality, nor the canonical use of a vocabulary, but the ordering of objects.
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Discourses of Difference: An Analysis of Women's Travel Writing and Colonialism Literary theory gender studies |
| Author | Sara Mills |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | Psychology Press, 1993 |
| ISBN | 0415096642, 9780415096645 |
| Length | 232 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |