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Part of my graduation requirement for the MFA writing program at Augsburg University is to do a craft paper, and then a presentation on that paper. Since the entire year is canceled, a unique opportunity to do this craft paper in the form of a podcast was available, and that's how I decided to do so. Podcast friends, meet my classmates. Classmates, podcast friends.

Special thanks to those who contributed their voices to this presentation: Jamie Randall, Steve Shives, Callie Wright, and Don Ford Jr.

“Reclaiming Power and Agency With the Subjective ‘I’ in Travel Writing.” This talk examines the roots of supposed “objectivity” in travel writing and how the idea was utilized as a form of Euro-imperialism, exploiting culture through the lens of the elite and privileged, all the while gatekeeping truth as a form of social science and expression. Reclaiming agency in one’s own work by being willing to put oneself in it is an act of rejecting the idea that removing oneself from it is somehow objective and, therefore, truth. Travel writing specifically has a history of using the lens of privileged, elite-educated, European white men as the objective truth to both control the narrative and justify their actions, and this piece will dismantle that idea and argue for the validity and value in the subjective nature of personal narrative in travel writing.



Works Cited

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Dann, Graham. “Writing Out the Tourist in Space and Time.” Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 26, no. 1, 1999, pp. 159–187.

Daston, Lorraine. “Objectivity and the Escape from Perspective.” Social Studies of Science, vol. 22, no. 4, 1992, pp. 597–618.

Espey, David. Writing the Journey: Essays, Stories, and Poems on Travel. Pearson Education Inc. 2005.

Fussell, Paul. Abroad : British Literary Traveling between the Wars. 1st pbk. ed., 1st pbk. ed., Oxford University Press, 1982.

Griffiths, Morwena, and Gale MacLeod. “Personal Narratives and Policy: Never the Twain?” Journal of Philosophy of Education, vol. 42, Aug. 2008, pp. 121–143.

Grover, Linda LeGarde. Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year. University of Minnesota Press, MN. 2017.

Gutkind, Lee. You Can't Make This Stuff Up : The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction--From Memoir to Literary Journalism and Everything in Between. 1st Da Capo Press ed., Da Capo Press/Lifelong Books, 2012.

Hemley, Robin. A Field Guide for Immersion Writing : Memoir, Journalism, and Travel. University of Georgia Press, 2012.

McCool, Marissa Alexa. The PC Lie: How American Voters Decided I Don’t Matter. Wyrmwood Publishing and Editing, 2016.

Oswalt, Patton. Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From An Addiction to Film. Scribner. New York, NY. 2015.

Pratt, Mary. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London: Routledge. 1992

Rickly-Boyd, Jillian. “The Tourist Narrative.” Tourist Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, 2009, pp. 259-280.

Riessman, Catherine. “Exporting Ethics: A Narrative About Narrative Research in South India.” Health, vol. 9, no. 4, 2005, pp. 473–490.

Rush, Elizabeth. Rising: Dispatches From the New American Shore. Milkweed Publications. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 2018.

Vowell, Sarah. Assassination Vacation. New York. Simon and Schuster. 2005.

“Wow. The Trump Administration just filed a statement of interest in CT to argue that girls who are trans are ‘biological males’ and it violates Title IX to protect trans people. The audacity. This is so cruel.” 2020. Twitter. @chasestrangio.