A Woman's Place in the World : An Anthology of Victorian Travel Narratives

The six authors anthologized in this volume explore the world with different intentions, expectations, and political views. These women travelers and writers chipped away at stereotypes by not only traversing lands previously considered inaccessible to them, but documenting their journeys in their own voices. Readers must acknowledge both the progress they made for women’s rights and the ways in which they reinforced white supremacy, the effects of which remain relevant today in discussions of intersectionality in feminism. In traveling as part of a marginalized group and interacting with other marginalized groups, their connections are inextricably wound together in common struggles that they face with varying degrees of privilege. 

Works included are Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa; Isabella Bird, Among the Tibetans; Lady Florence Dixie, Across Patagonia; Gertrude Bell, Safar Nameh, Persian Pictures; Helen Caddick, A White Woman in Central Africa; Harriet Martineau, Eastern Life, Present and Past.