Africa: Literature of Travel

The article is dedicated to the development of the genre of travelogue in Africa. For centuries, the travel literature was dominated by Europeans. At present, African names appear in the boundaries of the meta-genre, which has absorbed the features of literary, historical, cultural anthropological, geographical traditions. In the XXI century travelogue becomes a genre of social media and personal sites. Persons, for whom journey is entertainment or part of their profession, give advice to potential voyagers, describing all that they themselves saw while traveling in blogs, pinterest, twitter, facebook, instagram. Travel blogs have historically become one of the first, emerging in the mid-1990s. Since then, their number is only multiplying. The digitalization of the dissemination and replication of information changes the perception of Africa. The author of the article focuses on the stories written by Africans about their voyages across Africa and all over the world: travel notes, essays. Famous writers, journalists, freelancers and bloggers of Africa and African Diaspora share their impressions, fears, and observations, relaying their personal experience in their hope of winning an international audience. The genre of travelogue is dynamically developing in Nigeria. Evidence of this is the works of Noo Saro-Viva, Tedju Cole, Pelu Awofeso, etc. Following the pioneer of the genre, Olauda Equiano, they destroy stereotypes, changing the perception of Africa and the Africans of the continent and the Diaspora. On the basis of the principle of objectivity, they create a completely reliable picture of African life with its problems and achievements, sorrows and joys. Traveling Africans are building their own, afrocentric, picture of the world. Acquaintance with it expands the notions of Africa.

Keywords

travelogue, literature, travel, history, identity, Africa, Nigeria

Received

20.12.2018

Publication date

20.12.2018

Cite Download pdf To download PDF you should sign in

GOST	Gavristova T. Africa: Literature of Travel // Asia and Africa Today – 2018. – Issue 12 C. 69-74 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750002576-5-1 (circulation date: 27.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750002576-5
MLA	Gavristova, Tatiana "Africa: Literature of Travel." Asia and Africa Today 12 (2018):69-74. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750002576-5
APA	Gavristova T. (2018). Africa: Literature of Travel. Asia and Africa Today (12), pp.69-74 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750002576-5

Price publication: 0

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 1715

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Stesin A. Vernis' i voz'mi. M., NLO, 2013. 187 c. (Stesin A. 2013. Go Back and Get in. M.) (In Russ.)

2. Livingston D. Dnevniki issledovatelya Afriki / Per. s angl. M., Ehksmo, 2011. 480 s. (Livingston D. 2011. Diaries of a Researcher of Africa / Trans. from English. M.) (In Russ.)

3. Stehnli G.M. V tsarstve chyornykh: Stseny iz zhizni i prirody Srednej Afriki / Per. s angl. M.Granstrem. SPb, tip. M.Stasyulevicha, 1899. 248 s. (Stanley H.M. 1899. In the Realm of Black: Scenes from the life and nature of Central Africa / Trans. from English. St. Petersburg) (In Russ.)

4. Konan Dojl' A. Zhizn', polnaya priklyuchenij. M., Vagrius, 2001. 415 s. (Conan Doyle A. 2001. A Life Full of Adventure. M.) (In Russ.)

5. Waugh E.A.1960. Tourist in Africa. L., Chapman & Hall. 167 p.

6. Konrad Dzh. Serdtse t'my. M., Azbuka, 2011. 352 s. (Conrad J. 2011. Heart of Darkness. ABC) (In Russ.)

7. Tven M. Avtobiografiya. M., AST, 2014. 680 s. (Twain M. 2014. Autobiography. M.) (In Russ.)

8. Gumilev N. Afrikanskij dnevnik. (Gumilev N. African diary) (In Russ.) - https://ru.wikisource.org/ (accessed 26.08.2018)

9. Shachkova V.A. «Puteshestvie» kak zhanr khudozhestvennoj literatury. (Shachkova V.A. «Journey» as a genre of fiction) (In Russ.) - https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/puteshestvie-kak-zhanr-hudozhestvennoy-literatury-voprosy-teorii (accessed 26.08.2018)

10. Majga A.A. Literaturnyj travelog: spetsifika zhanra. (Maiga A.A. Literary travelogue: the specificity of the genre) (In Russ.) - https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/literaturnyy-travelog-spetsifika-zhanra (accessed 26.08.2018)

11. Sokolov A.B. Tekst, obraz, interpretatsiya: vizual'nyj povorot v sovremennoj zapadnoj istoriografii // Ochevidnaya istoriya. Problemy vizual'noj istorii Rossii KhKh stoletiya: sb. statej / redkoll.: I.V.Narskij i dr. Chelyabinsk: Kamennyj poyas, 2008. 476 s. (Sokolov A.B. 2008. Text, image, interpretation: a visual turn in modern Western historiography // Obvious history. Problems of the visual history of Russia of the twentieth century: a collection of articles. Chelyabinsk) (In Russ.)

12. Bakhtin M. Slovo v romane // Bakhtin M.M. Voprosy literatury i ehstetiki. Issledovaniya raznykh let. M., Khudozh. lit-ra, 1975. 504 s. (Bakhtin M. The word in the novel // Bakhtin M.M. 1975. Questions of literature and aesthetics. Studies of different years. M.) (In Russ.) - http://www.studmed.ru/bahtin-m-slovo-v-romane_f6c11da4c0f.html (accessed 05.05.2017)

13. Kristeva Yu. Bakhtin, slovo, dialog, roman // Frantsuzskaya semiotika: ot strukturalizma k poststrukturalizmu. S. 427-457. (Kristeva Yu. Bakhtin, word, dialogue, novel // French semiotics: from structuralism to poststructuralism) (In Russ.) - http://www.philology.ru/literature1/kristeva-00.htm (accessed 05.07.2018)

14. Let’s get more travel stories on Africa by Africans - https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jul/22/africa-travelwriting-beyond-cliches (accessed 17.07.2018)

15. Linton L. 2016. In Congo’s Shadow. Create Space: Independent Publishing Platform. 290 p. (accessed 17.07.2018)

16. Said Eh.V. Orientalizm. Sankt-Peterburg: Russkij mir', 2006. 637 s. (Said E.V. 2006. Orientalism. St. Petersburg) (In Russ.)

17. Equiano O. 1969. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olauda Equiano. L., Heinemann. XIX, 198 p.

18. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. 1988. N.-Y., Oxford Univ. Press. Pp. 167-189.

19. Nkrumah K. 2001. Ghana: Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah. N.-Y. 256 p.

20. Azikiwe N. 1971. My Odyssey: An Autobiography. N.-Y., Praeger. 452 p.

21. Appiah J. 1990. Joe Appiah: The Autobiography of African Patriot. N.-Y., Praeger. 164 p.

22. Soyinka W. 2008. You Must Set Forth at Dawn. A Memoirs. N.-Y., Randsom House. XX, 411 (408) p.

23. Soyinka W. 2012. Of Africa. L., Yale Univ. Press & New Heaven. 199 p.

24. Tété-Michel Kpomassie. 2001. An African in Greenland. N.-Y., NYRB Classics. 300 p.

25. Saro-Wiwa N. 2012. Looking for Trans Wonderland: Travels in Nigeria. Soft Skull Press. 272 p.

26. Cole T. Water-Has-No-Enemy - http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Water-Has-No-Enemy (accessed 27.07.2018)

27. Cole T. 2012. Open City. N.-Y., Random House. 259 p.

28. Awofeso P. 2010. Tour of Duty: Journeys around Nigeria and Sketches of Everyday Life. 178 p.

29. Rebecca Jones. Q&A: Travel writer, journalist and publisher Pelu Awofeso - https://africainwords.com/2013/07/15/qa-travel-writer-journalist-and-publisher-pelu-awofeso/ (accessed 17.07.2018)

30. Route 234. Ed. P. Awofeso. Homestead Publishing, 2016. 224 p.

31. Awofeso P. Nigerian Festivals: The famous and not so famous. Lagos, 2013 - https://wakaabout.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/nigerian-festivals-the-famous-and-not-so-famous/ (accessed 17.08.2018)

32. Travelogues of an African Girl. One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things - https://africanahgirl.com/ (accessed 27.07.2018)

33. A few of my favourite African influencers that you should know - https://africanahgirl.com/2017/12/22/a-few-of-myfavourite-african-influencers-that-you-should-know/ (accessed 17.07.2018)

34. Adichi Ch.N. Opasnost' odnoj edinstvennoj istorii // Istoriya Afriki: lyudi i sud'by. Sb. dokumentov i materialov / otv. red. T.M.Gavristova. Yaroslavl', YarGU, 2016. S. 12-21. (Adichi Ch.N. 2016. The Danger of a Single History // The History of Africa: People and Fates: A Collection of Documents and Materials / Ed. T.M.Gavristova. Yaroslavl) (In Russ.)

35. Nora P. Problematika mest pamyati // Frantsiya-pamyat' / P.Nora, M.Ozuf, Zh. de Pyuimezh, M.Vinok. SPb, Izd-vo S.-Peterb. un-ta, 1999, s. 17-50. (Nora P. 1999. Problems of places of memory // France-memory / P.Nora, M.Ozouf, J. de Puimege, M.Winok. St. Petersburg) (In Russ.) - http://ec-dejavu.ru/m-2/Memory-Nora.html (accessed 21.11.2017)

36. Lola A. Åkerström - Writer + Photographer - Stockholm, Sweden - akinmade.com (accessed 27.07.2018)