Letters from brazil: travel writing and the female gaze Letters from brazil: travel writing and the female gaze

Abstract

Travel writers in the previous centuries narrated their experiences abroad not only to understand the new world, but rather to legitimize the colonial project, very often telling more about the Europeans and the Metropolis than about the Other. In this context, the position of women writers who wrote travel texts was often ambiguous in the sense that they had to negotiate between the imperatives of colonial discourse and those of the discourses of femininity. Travel writers in the previous centuries narrated their experiences abroad not only to understand the new world, but rather to legitimize the colonial project, very often telling more about the Europeans and the Metropolis than about the Other. In this context, the position of women writers who wrote travel texts was often ambiguous in the sense that they had to negotiate between the imperatives of colonial discourse and those of the discourses of femininity.

Keywords

• travel writing – women travelers – female gaze