Sunday, April 1, 2012

Why All the Men?


The other day in class, Luis mentioned that there is a lack of women and minority travel writers chronicling their experiences transAmerica. This struck a chord with me, and it made me question what is means that white men are primarily the only ones in search of America. They seem to not only be in possession of this genre, but also hold authorship over the act of traditional east to west (or east to west and back east) travel that so many find necessary to discovering the heart of this country. I even looked up names for “American travel writers,” and the list with which Wikipedia presented me reflects the dominance of male, Anglo names in this American tradition (See for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_travel_writers).

So why are women and minorities not writing American travelogues? Why, when in the twenty-first century our America is more multicultural than ever and art tends to embrace this diversity, do white American men continue to hold power in the travel genre?  

Provided the underrepresentation of women and minorities in travel writing, it seems that America—as a nation to be traversed and explored—is a space occupied by Anglo-American males. However, if you consider America not solely as an exclusive nation, but a force within globalization, Anglo-American men find their voices in the minority and writers from marginalized cultures come into prominence. Writing about America in the era of globalization seems as outdated as the men who have participated in this tradition, perhaps thus inspiring female and minority writers to enter into a genre relevant to the interconnectedness of the twenty-first century. To this day white men remain in possession of the American construct; at its core, it remains white man’s land. It makes sense, then, that women and minority writers tap into the global reserve that welcomes their voices and publish within a market open to their cultural distinctions.

I know this argument faces a lot of opposition, particularly in its claim that globalization is marked by multiculturalism (i.e. critics who say that globalization is Americanization). However, I think there is something to be said for the differences in people who write travel narratives about America and those write travel narratives within a globalized world. I do recognize that my knowledge in this field is limited, but it certainly brought up questions I find worthy of consideration.

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