Introduction

Abstract

The idea of travel as a means of gathering and recording information is commonly found in societies that exercise a high degree of political power. The traveller begins his journey with the strength of a nation or an empire sustaining him (albeit from a distance) militarily, economically, intellectually and, as is often the case, spiritually. He feels compelled to note down his observations in the awareness of a particular audience: his fellow-countrymen in general, his professional colleagues, his patron or his monarch. Awareness of this audience affects his perception, and influences him to select certain kinds of information, or to stress aspects of a country that find resonances in the culture of his own nation. His social position also colours his vision, and (since he often belongs to a leisured class, which enables him to embark on voyages which are both expensive and prestigious) he usually represents the interests and systems of thought in which he was schooled.

I can never romanticize language again never deny its power for disguise for mystification but the same could be said for music or any form created painted ceilings beaten gold worm-worn Pietàs reorganizing victimization frescoes translating violence into patterns so powerful and pure we continually fail to ask are they true for us.

Adrienne Rich, A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far