History 467: Foreign Travelers in “Exotic” Lands
A. Course Description
1. Catalog Description
This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to study select British and American
travelers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who visited and wrote about “Exotic” places such as
South America, Mexico, Africa, or the South Sea Islands. The course explores what happens to these
writers at the “point of contact” and will critique their subsequent evaluations of the different cultures
that they visited.
2. Course Outline
I.
The Idea of Orientalism
A. The Works of Edward Said
B. Orientalist Theory as Applied to Latin America
C. Orientalism in Africa and other parts of the World
D. Mary Louise Pratt and Other Theoretical Literature
II.
Early Nineteenth Century Latin America
A. Von Humboldt and the new Age of Exploration
B. Naturalists of the Eighteenth Century: The Issues of Classification
C. Survivalist Literature: The Legacy of Robinson Crusoe
D. The New Systems
III.
Early Nineteenth Century Scientific Expeditions
A. Von Humboldt and Volcanoes
B. Expeditions up the Amazon
C. Charles Darwin and the Beagle in Ecuador
IV.
Exploring the Heavens
A. Von Humboldt and the Examination of Heavenly bodies
B. The French Expedition to Ecuador
C. Von Humboldt and others as Social Commentators
V.
Views of Slavery
A. Dimock and the Condition of Slaves in Cuba
B. The Comparative Slavery Debate
C. Abolitionists and their Views on Race as seen through Dimock
D. Can Slaveholders Have a Just and Moral Society?
VI.
Women Travelers as Witnesses
A. Class and Race in Brazil
B. Flora Tristan as Observer: A Life of Privilege
C. The Life of Women in Lima, Peru
D. The Situation of Indian Women: Mrs. Gomarra
VII.
VIII.
Women Travelers in Mexico
A. The Ambassador’s Wife: A Picture of Society
B. Life in a Convent
C. Women and Observations about Sex in Latin America
The Sentimental and Romantic Author: Are Women Alone in this Genre?
A. Descriptions of Plantation Life
B. The Wife of a Botanist
History 467: Foreign Travelers in “Exotic” Lands
C. Family as a Subject for Traveler’s Interest
IX.
The Traveler as Educator
A. On a Mission to Brazil
B. Winona State graduates in Argentina
C. How does Courtship work according to observers?
X.
Survival Literature in Africa
A. Park’s Classic Saga
B. Views of Muslim Culture in West Africa
C. Food and Magic in Africa
XI.
Africa as a Source of Exploitation
A. The Rich Prospects of the Interior
B. The Human Cargo
C. Sources of Food and Customs in Africa
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
Africa and Nature
A. Is this a rich land for exploitation?
B. Observations about People and the Land
C. Customs and Diseases in Africa
The Observer in the South Seas
A. Australia as a land of Survival
B. Colonist Tales of the Sydney Colony
C. Colonist and the people of the Outback
Visiting the South Sea Islands
A. Captain Cook and the Original Adventurers
B. The Bounty Mutineers
C. Gauguin and other Observers of Tahiti
3. Basic Instructional Plan and Methods
The course will be conducted primarily through discussion with some occasional lecturing. Students will
take regular quizzes on the readings as an impetus for better discussion. Most importantly, students will
write a 15 to 20 page analysis of a travel writer and at least one of the books that he/she authored
based on the theoretical structure that we will be developing in the class. This will enable History
students to meet one of their Writing Flags.
4. Course requirements
Each student will complete a series of quizzes, a midterm examination and a final. Much of the grade
will be determined by a student’s participation in daily discussions, and by their performance on the
long paper.
5. Course Materials – Textbooks:
Von Humboldt, Alexander. Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New
Continent. 1995.
Perez, Louis. (ed.) Impressions of Cuba in the Nineteenth Century: The Travel Diary of Joseph Dimock
1998.
Hahner, June. Women Through Women’s Eyes: Latin American Women in the Nineteenth Century . 1998
Park, Mungo. Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa. 2001
History 467: Foreign Travelers in “Exotic” Lands
Graham, Maria. A French Woman in Brazil. 2000
6. References
Africanus, Leo. A Geographical History of Africa. 1600
Barrow, John. An Account of Travels into the Interior of South Africa. 1802
Basterot, Florimond. De Quebec a Lima. 1860
Brinch, Boyrereau. The Blind African Slave. 2001
Burton, Richard. The Source of the Nile. 1860
Cameron, Verney. Across Africa. 1877
Churchill, Winston. My African Journey. 1908
Cooke, Edward. A Voyage to the South Sea. 1712
Crowther, Samuel. The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger. 1859
Curtis, William. The Capitals of Spanish America. 1888
Dampier, William. Dampier’s Voyages. 1906
Enock, C. Reginald. The Republics of Central and South America. 1922
Gunther, John. Inside Latin America. 1941
Gage, Thomas. Thomas Gage’s Travels in the New World. 1648
Graham, Scott. Adventure Travel in Latin America. 1990
Guevara, Ernesto. Back on the Road. 2000
Hammond, Dorothy. The Africa that Never Was: 4 Centuries of Writing. 1970
Harmsworth, Geoffrey. Abyssinian Adventure. 1935
Harvey, Robert. Fire Down Below. 1988
Jackson, Frederick. Early Days in East Africa. 1969
Jeffers, H. Paul. Roosevelt the Explorer. 2002
Jephson, Arthur. Emin Pasha and the Rebellion of Equator. 1890
Joubart, Derek. The Africa Diaries. 2000
Levine, Robert. Images of History: Photographs of 19th Century. 1989
Leonard, Irving. Colonial Travelers in Latin America. 1972
Lindberg, Charles. To Bogata and Back by Air. 1928
Livingstone, David. Africa Journal, 1853-1856. 1963
__________. Missionary Travels and Research in South Africa. 1855
Lugard, Frederick. The Diaries of Lord Lugard. 1959
MacShane, Frank. Impressions of Latin America: Five Centuries of Writing. 1963
Martindale, Cyril. Africa Angelus. 1932
Maugham. R.C.F. Africa as I have Known It. 1929.
Migeod, Frederick. Across Equatorial Africa. 1923
Niles, Blair. Journeys in Time. 1946
Pratt, Mary Louise. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. 1992
Rodgers, Woodes. A Cruising Voyage Round the World. 1712
Roosevelt, Theodore. African Game Trails. 1910
Ross, Mel. The Long Road South. 1968
Said. Edward. Orientalism. 1974
Sheldon, Mary. Adventures in East Africa. 1892
Sigfried, Andre. Impressions of South America. 1933
Sitwell, Sacherell. Golden Wall and Mirador. 1961
Speke, John H. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. 1863
Stanley, Henry M. The Exploration Diaries of H.M. Stanley. 196l
___________. How I Found Livingstone. 1872
Syme, Donald. African Travelers, Story of Mary Kingsley. 1962
Theroux, Paul. Dark Star Safari: Cairo to Capetown. 2003
Thomas, Charles. Adventure and Observation on the West Coast. 1860
Torres, Maruja. Amor America. 1996
Toynbee, Arnold. Between Maule and the Amazon. 1967
Tschiffeley, A.F. Southern Cross to Pole Star. 1933
History 467: Foreign Travelers in “Exotic” Lands
Tyler, Randall. The Algerine Captive. 1797
Van Orman, Richard. The Explorers: 19th Century Expeditions. 1984
Vasquez de Espinosa, Antonio. Compendium and Description of Indies. 1968
Walloy, Victoria. A Young Traveler’s Journal. 1852
Waugh, Evelyn. A Tourist in Africa. 1986.
Wilgus, A. Curtis. Latin America in the 19th Century: Bibliography. 1973
Yogerst, Joseph. Long Road South: The Pan-American Highway. 1999.
B. Rationale
1. Statement of major focus and objectives of the course:
This course will focus on the experience of British and American travelers who meet a different culture
at a “point of contact” and who then return to their home countries to write about the experience. In
the nineteenth century, this genre of literature was probably the most popular form of literature. Today,
historians use these primary accounts of foreign travelers as a source to explain cultural differences that
struck travelers as odd or unique, and in particular, whether these observations were primarily
scientific, Romantic or sentimental, survivalist, or exploitative. As a result, students will be able to
determine precisely what views of foreign societies American and British citizens held in the nineteenth
century, and whether these views have changed over time.
2. How this course contributes to the departmental curriculum:
The department is proposing this course to broaden the upper-level electives for History and Social
Science/History majors. In addition, the course will be one of the courses that meet the Writing Flag for
the History major.
As a practical matter, History majors and minors will be interested in this course because it will be one
of the offerings that meet the Writing Flag in the department. The course will also serve as an elective
for History majors and Social Science/History majors in the “Advanced Sequence in Histories of
Developing Societies and Different Cultures.”
3. Course which may be dropped if this course is approved:
None
C. Impact of this course on other departments, programs, majors or minors:
Approval of this course will not change the number of credits required by any program.
D. University Studies Course Proposals
The department is proposing this course as a Writing Flag for University Studies.