Visualizing Africa in Nineteenth-Century British Travel Accounts

by Leila Koivunen

Overview

This study examines and explains how British explorers visualized the African interior in the latter part of the nineteenth century, providing the first sustained analysis of the process by which this visual material was transformed into the illustrations in popular travel books. At that time, central Africa was, effectively, a blank canvas for Europeans, unknown and devoid of visual representations.

While previous works have concentrated on exploring the stereotyped nature of printed imagery of Africa, this study examines the actual production process of images and the books in which they were published in order to demonstrate how, why, and by whom the images were manipulated. Thus, the main focus of the work is not on the aesthetic value of pictures, but in the activities, interaction, and situations that gave birth to them in both Africa and Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135856113
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/19/2008
Series:	Routledge Research in Travel Writing
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Leila Koivunen is a Finnish historian and an Adjunct Professor in the School of History at the University of Turku.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations. List of Abbreviations. Acknowledgements. Introduction Part 1: Exploration and the Production of Travel Pictures 1. The Framed View of Africa 2. The Ideal of Visual Documentation 3. Problematic Picturing 4. Africa Captured in Pictures Part 2: Illustrations of Africa Take Shape in Europe 5. Shared Eye-Witnessing 6. Selection of Imagery 7. The Inevitable Transformation 8. Coping with the Unknown Continent. Conclusion: Africa through Western Eyes. Appendices. Notes. Bibliography. Index

Editorial Reviews

"Leila Koivunen's study makes an impressive contribution to the growing body of critical work on Victorian travel writing."
- Adrian S. Wisnicki, Birkbeck, University of London and Fordham University

From the Publisher