Black Travel Writing : : Contemporary Narratives of Travel to Africa by African American and Black British Authors / / Isabel Kalous.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus PP Package 2021 Part 2
• VerfasserIn: Kalous, Isabel,
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld : : transcript Verlag, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: American Culture Studies ; 35
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (274 p.)

How did writers portray their journeys to Africa? What meanings were attached to the continent? And what was the role of travel writing as a means of self-exploration? To answer all these questions Isabel Kalous examines autobiographical travel narratives by African American and Black British authors published between the 1990s and 2010s. To provide a framework for the analyses of contemporary texts, she outlines the emergence, development, and key characteristics of the multifaceted genre of transnational Black travel writing. Authors discussed include, among others, Saidiya Hartman, Barack Obama, and Caryl Phillips.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- I Introduction -- 1. Points of Departure: Tracing Roots/Routes to Africa -- 2. On the Current State of Research -- 3. Route Map: Theoretical Premises, Methods, and Objectives of this Study -- II Traveling Black—Traveling Back -- 1. Black Im/Mobilities Past and Present -- 2. Diasporic Return and the Significance of Africa in the Black Imagination -- III An Invisible/Kaleidoscopic Genre: Black Travel Writing -- 1. Defining the Terms: Genre and Genealogy -- 2. The Transnational Slave Narrative and the Roots of Black Travel Writing -- 3. Developments and Trajectories -- IV Contemporary Black Travel Narratives -- 1. (Re)Writing Roots -- 2. Disenchanting Africa -- 3. Searching for Home -- 4. Tracing Routes -- V Conclusion: Ambiguous Arrivals -- Introduction -- Bibliography