This course considers the significance of travel in different periods and across various geographical spaces. It will explore the ways in which writers represent the encounter with the Other and the foreign as well as the notion of travel itself. The following issues among others will be of particular significance: the relationship between travel and imperialism, the production and performance of the self in travel, travel as education, and the impact of travel on racial and gendered identities. Travel for pleasure and adventure will be considered together with other forms of travel like the pilgrimage and forced migration. Writers to be considered include Olaudah Equiano, Mary Kingsley, V.S. Naipaul, Jamaica Kincaid, Pico Iyer, Vikram Seth and Bruce Chatwin.
