Departure from Orientalist Norms in Arminius Vambery’s Travels in Central Asia

Ahmad  Gholi; Masoud Ahmadi  Mosaabad

doi:10.35516/hum.v51i2.3199

Authors

Ahmad Gholi Department of Foreign Languages, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2283-1134
Masoud Ahmadi Mosaabad Department of Foreign Languages, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-7667

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35516/hum.v51i2.3199

Keywords:

Travel writing, orientalism, deviation, disguise, harem, cuisine

Abstract

Objectives: This article critiques Edward Said's Orientalism through a detailed examination of Arminius Vambery's "Travels in Central Asia" as a departure from traditional Western travel writing. By analyzing Vambery's work, the aim is to highlight instances where he deviates from the established principles of Orientalism.

Methods: Drawing on Behdad's insights, this study explores the dynamic and flexible nature of Orientalist discourse. It investigates how travel writers like Vambery can deviate from the norms and conventions of Orientalism in their encounters with Eastern cultures and people.

Results: The findings of this study demonstrate three notable instances where Vambery showcases his departure from Orientalism. Firstly, he recounts an encounter with two Afghans who discover his disguise during their shared journey. Secondly, Vambery refrains from depicting the harem of local Emirs in Turkistan as a place of hedonism, in contrast to prevailing Victorian travel writers. Lastly, he appreciates and celebrates the local cuisine, in contrast to the dismissive attitudes prevalent among his contemporaries.

Conclusions: It is a mistaken assumption that Victorian travel writers exclusively followed Orientalist tropes when exploring the Islamic Orient. The study emphasizes the importance of recognizing these counter-Orientalist moments in travel literature to present a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the works.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alder, L. & Dalby, R. (1979). The Dervish of Windsor Castle. London: Bachman & Turner Ltd.

Amjad, H. (2007). Elixir of Life: Meditations Over a Cup of Tea. New York: Lulu.

Beckford, W. (2013). Vathek. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Behdad, A. (1999). Belated Travelers: Orientalism in the Age of Colonial Dissolution. Durham: Duke University Press.

---. (1990). Orientalist Desire, Desire for the Orient. French Forum, 15.1,37-51. https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40024012.

Burton, R. F. (1874). Personal Narrative of Pilgrimmage to Mecca and Medina. (Vol. I). Leipzig: Bernahard Tauchnlts, n.d.

Caner, J. (2003). The Crescent and the Cradle: The Mother and Child in Islam. In The World of Islam through the Eyes of Women: Voices behind Veil, (pp. 157-171). The U.S.: Kregel Publications.

Foster, S. (2004). Colonialism and Gender in the East: Representations of Harem in the Writings of

Women Travelers. The Year Book of English Studies, 34,6-17, https://doi.org/10.1080/09518968908569575.

Forman, R. G. (2007). Eating out East: Representing Chinese Food in Victorian Travel Literature and

Journalism. In A Century of Travels in China: Critical Essays on Travel Writing from the 1840s to

the 1940s, (pp. 63-73). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Forsdick, C. (2019). Taste. In Keywords for Travel for Travel Studies, (pp.244-246). London & New York: Anthem Press.

Foster, S., & Mills, S. (2002). Introduction. In An Anthology of Women's Travel Writing, (pp.1-12). Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Frembgen, J.W. (2017). A Thousand Cups of Tea. Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Huggan, G. (2014). A Beginning, Two Ends, and a Thickened Middle Journeys in Afghanistan from

Byron to Hosseini. Journeys, 15.1, 72-89. https://doi.org/10.3167/jys.2014.150104.

Kinglake, A. W. (1982). Eothen or Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East. London: Century Publishing Company.

Ghose, I. (1998). Women Travelers in Colonial India: The Power of the Female Gaze. New Delhi:

Oxford University Press.

The Glorious Quran. (2003). (Tran. Pickthall, M. M.). New York: Tahrike Trsile Quran.

MacGahan, J.A. (1874). Campaigning on the Oxus, and the Fall of Khiva. New York: Harper & Bros.

Mandler, D. (2016). Arminius Vambéry and the British Empire: Between East and West. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Book

--. (2007). Introduction to Arminius Vambery. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of

Jewish Studies, 25.3,1-15. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214150/pdf.

--- . (2011). Vambery, Victorian Culture, and Stoker's Dracula. In Comparative Hungarian Cultural

Studies, (pp. 47-58). West Lafayette: Purdue University Press.

Mathee, Rudi. (2005). The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History 1500-1900.

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Mavlyanova, R.F., Eisenman, S.W., & Zaurov, D.E. (2021). Melons of Central Asia. In Natural Products of

Silk Road Plants, (pp.133-151). Borca Rotan: CRC Press.

Melman, B. (1989). Desexualizing the Orient: The Harem in English Writing by Women,

-1914. Mediterranean Historical Review, 4.2,301-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518968908569575.

Naipaul, V.S. (1982). Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey. New York: Vintage Books.

Nyman.J. (2009). Home, Identity, and Mobility in Contemporary Diasporic Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Pratt, M. (2008). Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London &New York. Routledge.

Saad, B. & Said, O. (2011). Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: Traditional System, Ethics, Safety, Efficacy, and Regulatory Issues. New Jersey: Wiley.

Spurr, D. (1993). The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing, and

Imperial Administration. Durham: Duke University Press.

Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.

Trotter, J.M. (1882). Western Turkestan: An Account of the Statistics, Topography, and Tribes of the Russian Territory and the Independent Native States in Western Turkestan. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government of India.

Vambery, A. (1874). Central Asia and the Anglo-Russian Frontier Question: A Series of Political Papers. London: Smith, Elder &Co.

---. (1868). Sketches of Central Asia. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.

---. (1864). Travels in Central Asia. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.

---. (1904). The Story of my Struggles: The Memoir of Arminius Vambery. New York: E.P. Dutton Company.

Withers, C. W.J. (2021). Disguise-Trust and Truth in Travel Writing. Terrae Incognitae, 53.1,

-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/00822884.2021.1891369.