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SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS
University of Virginia, Academic Sponsor
To travel is very useful,it makes the imagination work, the rest is just delusion and pain. Our
journey is entirely imaginary, which is its strength. (Celine's Journey to the End of Night)
Voyage: Fall 2014
Discipline: English Literature
ENLT 2555: Travel Literature
Division: Lower
Faculty Name: Reade W. Dornan
Credit Hours: 3; Contact Hours: 38
Time: 9:25-10:40 on A Days
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Fellow travelers will read extracts from journals, diaries and books by 19th and 20th century
tourists, explorers and adventurers on the countries we're visiting. Throughout the semester, we
will read how these writers have dealt with issues of difference and compare our reactions to
their observations. Selections cover a wide range of readings from accounts by and about 19th
century intrepid lady travelers of Britain to Columbus' first voyage to the New World. A
particular emphasis will also be placed on navigation and mapmaking as crucial to exploration.
Lectures will include information about authors' biographies and their historical contexts.
Discussions cover the authors' perspectives as "outsiders" in "strange lands" and their writing
styles. Some time in the course will also be given to an understanding of additional topics such
as navigating the seas, gender and travel, and imperialistic exploitation. Assigned writings
include weekly responses to the readings, which are personal narratives, and self-reflections
about ourselves as an outsiders looking in, and the Field Lab letter. The final project is a 4-6
page paper on one country that explores the key philosophical questions of the course raised by
Appiah at the beginning and connecting it to their readings and field lab by the end of the
semester.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
To ground the trip in ethical questions about travel
To develop an awareness of Cosmopolitanism
To read a variety of stylistic approaches to travel writing
To give travelers a focused theme for each of our onshore visits
To offer political, geographical, and historical introductions to some countries that
we visit as interpreted through the writings of earlier travelers
To read travel writing relevant to the countries we visit
To write a variety of responses to the readings
To grasp the technological importance of mapmaking
To reflect on the experience of judging and encountering the "Other" in travel
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To complete an I-Search paper on one of the countries using a range of available
sources travel brochures, credible Internet information, personal
experience,
in-country interviews, books and magazines collected incountry, etc.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
AUTHOR: Appiah, Kwame Anthony
TITLE: Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
PUBLISHER: W.W. Norton
ISBN #:978-0-393-32933-9 pbk.
DATE/EDITION: 2006.
AUTHOR: Calvino, Italo
TITLE: Invisible Cities
PUBLISHER: Harcourt
ISBN# 9780-15-645380-6
DATE/EDITION: 1974 (English Translation)
AUTHOR: Cowan, James
TITLE: Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice
PUBLISHER: Shambala
ISBN # 1-57062-196-9
DATE/EDITION: 1996
AUTHOR: Cohen, J.M., editor and translator
TITLE: The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus
PUBLISHER: Penguin
ISBN # 978-0-140-44217-5 pbk.
DATE/EDITION: 1987
AUTHOR: Mernissi, Fatima
TITLE: Beyond the Veil: Male/Female Dynamics in a Muslim Society
PUBLISHER: Indian University Press, revised edition
ISBN-13 #:978-0253204233
DATE/EDITION: 1987
And a coursepack of readings available digitally through the ship's Intranet
TOPICAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE
Travel Literature focuses on clusters of readings from three continents--Europe, Africa, and South
America. The general theme for the course is the question of difference--how can we as outsiders gain a
fair-minded perspective on the inhabitants we're meeting? What do we talk about when we talk about
difference? Is any form or relativism right? When do morals and manners clash? Can culture be
"owned"? What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity?
A1- August 25: Introduction to the course and Introduction to Appiah
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A2-August 27: The Ethics of Travel (St. Petersburg)
Read Chapters 1-5 (before you come to class)
A3- August 29: Read to the end of Appiah
Write a two-page position paper answering any one of the six questions at the top of
p. xxi: How real are values? What do we talk about when we talk about difference?
Is any form or relativism right? When do morals and manners clash? Can culture be
"owned"? What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity?
*A4 -September 3: Read Mark Twain (Germany) Read Chapts. IV, V, VI, VII on student life
in 19th century Heidelberg and dueling from A Tramp Abroad. This book is available for free
at Gutenberg.org, but you must download it before we board the ship.
*A5- September 10: Read "The War" from The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by [Gertrude
Stein], 1914-1918. (Northern Europe/France)
*A6- September 12: Read "The Parisian" by Alden Brooks from The Fighting Men (1917) in
Google books and "Patterns," a poem by Amy Lowell from " Men, Women, and Ghosts (1916).
*A7- September 20: Read Parts 5-6 in Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
*A8-September 22: Read Paul Theroux Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around Great Britain,
Chapters 15-17 (Dublin, Ireland) Discussion: The "troubles" in Northern Ireland
A9: September 28: Read Halliburton (Lisbon and Cadiz) Royal Road to Romance (1925),
Chapters VI-XIl, pp. 55-110. Discussion: Callow Young Men Abroad: Does that life still exist?
*A10- September 30: Read Beyond the Veil by Fatima Mernissi, Part One
A11- October 7: Read Beyond the Veil by Fatima Mernissi (Casablanca), Part Two
October 8: Field Lab: Visit and observe in three public spaces in Casablanca (the
National Mosque, the Souk, and the University)
A12- October 13: Discussion Follow-up to Field Lab: The Uses of Ethnographic Research
*A13- October 15: Read Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, Chapters 12 through 15 on her
ethnological research, "Fetish," available on gutenberg.org but you must download this text
before boarding the ship. Discussion: Old-time Anthropological studies
*A14- October 21: Read Dorothy Middleton's Victorian Lady Travellers, Part 5
Discussion: The gutsy 19th century British lady Abroad
*A15- October 23: Read Teddy Roosevelt's diary, African Game Trails, Chapters I, II, and IV
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(pp. 1-66 and 94-122).
A16- October 29: Read Shackleton's The Endurance, Part VI (Crossing the Atlantic)
A16/A17-October 29 & October 31: Shackleton's The Endurance, Part VII and the Epilogue
In class: See parts of PBS Film Chasing Shackleton Part 3. & The Endurance
A18-November 3: Read Jonathan Cowan's edition of A Mapmaker's Dream, Chapts. 1-11
.
*A19- November 5: Read Jonathan Cowan's A Mapmaker's Dream, Chapt. 12 to end
11 (the paper for Mapmaker's Dream is due today)
*A20- November 15: Read Up de Graf's, Headhunters of the Amazon (Rio de Janeiro and San
Salvador), pp. 3-118 In class: South American Explorers, especially Humboldt First three
pages of your rough draft for the Final Project is due. I'm looking for a correct overall
format for the paper and whether you have constructed strong initial questions for it.
*A21- November 17: Read Mary Louise Pratt's Chapter 6 on Humboldt in Imperial Eyes Travel
Writing and Transculturation, pp. 111-143. In class: More on Humboldt
*A22- November 20: Read a digest of Columbus' Diaries, first voyage to p. 123. (Barbados)
*A23- November 25: Read Humboldt's Observations on Cuban Slavery (Cuba), ): Excerpts
from Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial
Regions of America During the Years 1799-1804, Chapt. 3.1 "Cuba's Slave Trade"
downloaded from Gutenberg.org, but only if you download before boarding the ship.
A24- November 27: Class Presentations on their Final Project
Discussion-- Why do we travel? Where are the "Contact Zones" ? What do we gain from
them?
A25- December 4 (Finals):
FIELD LAB
The Field Lab is mandatory for all students enrolled in this course. Please do not book individual
travel plans or a Semester at Sea sponsored trip on the day of our field lab. Our field lab in
Casablanca, Morocco is on October 8, 2014. Save that date.
FIELD LAB DESCRIPTION
Before arriving in Casablanca, we will read the contested Beyond the Veil by Fatima Mernissi.,
challenged for her depictions of male/female uses of public spaces in Islamic culture. To demonstrate the
complexity of relations in a big Islamic city, we will use ethnographic methodology to observe behaviors
among men and women around the center of Casablanca--in upscale and everyday market places, around
the University of Hassan II, and in the National Mosque, which has baths and rooms for praying set aside
for as many as 5,000 women--and compare our experiences to our impressions of that culture before
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visiting Morocco.
FIELD LAB OBJECTIVES
1. To read Mernissi's text Beyond the Veil about male/female relations in a Muslim society.
2. To visit the Mosque Hassan II, a souk, and the University of Hassan II with an ethnographic
focus
3. To dispel some myths about the treatment of females in a Muslim country as progressive as
Morocco
4. To talk about what we can and cannot know from a brief ethnographic study
5. To write a 3-4 page letter to Mernissi comparing first-hand experiences of public spaces to her
study
6. To ground the paper in Appiah's ethical questions about travel.
FIELD LAB ASSIGNMENTS
1. Read and discuss Mernissi's Beyond the Veil
2. Discuss the goals and methods of ethnographic research
3. Participate in the tour of three public spaces in Casablanca
4. Discuss findings in follow-up class
5. Write a 3-4 page letter to Mernissi
METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC
To earn a passing grade in this class, you must accomplish ALL of the basic assignments:
1) participate fully in the field lab report and write about it in a 3-4 page letter that covers
Beyond the Veil, your experiences, and Appiah's concepts;
2) write a complete 4-5 page" I-Search" paper on one country & present on it in class
3) participate fully in class discussions and maintain regular attendance (only 2 unexcused
absences).
IN ADDITION, YOU MUST COMPLETE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
To earn a D in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 9/14 readings
To earn a C in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 10/14 readings
To earn a B in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 11/14 readings
To earn an A in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 12/14 readings
All papers are graded on a pass/fail basis. To receive a "pass" on the response papers, the final
project and the field report, a writer should engage with the texts in ways that demonstrate a
thoughtful understanding of them. Papers should show real effort (more than meeting the
minimum), be well written and "original" with the author (see statement on plagiarism below).
The final project should likewise be serious and address readings including Appiah's views as well
as offer findings about the country one chooses to cover.
ATTENDANCE: You are permitted TWO absences without question. Please save those days
for emergencies-- heavy study schedule, external activities, long shore time--allow excused
absences ONLY for serious illness accompanied by a doctor's excuse or another equally serious
event. Excess absences reduce your final grade in the course by a half grade (-.5) for each time
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missed beyond the allotted one. An absence for the final presentation could mean a significant
decline in your grade. If you are having problems attending the class or reading the selections,
please discuss new arrangements with me.
The Honor System assumes that you do your own thinking, reading, and writing in this course.
Plagiarism is the use of material that is in part or whole not entirely your own work without
crediting those same portions to the original source. You must credit ALL ideas, sequences of
ideas, wording, facts, opinions and any other intellectual property to the person or group of
people who generated them. This applies to taking material verbatim from the Internet and to
short phrases that you might borrow from another source, as well as to full length sentences or
whole paragraphs. Failure to treat your information sources honestly is a serious breach of
academic protocol and could lead to failure in the whole course. If you have any doubt about
how to treat your sources honestly, please ask me to read your paper before you hand it in for
credit.
LATE PAPERS are accepted only in case of very serious illness or if unmanageable
circumstances, such as the ship's schedule, makes the deadline too difficult to meet. You glean
little benefit from a personal response paper after the class discussion, therefore papers are due at
the BEGINNING of class.
RESERVE LIBRARY LIST
AUTHOR: [Gertrude Stein]
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "War"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
DATE: 1933, copyright renewed in 1961
AUTHOR: Kingsley, Mary.
TITLE: Travels in West Africa
PUBLISHER: National Geographic (Adventure Classic)
ISBN #:0-7922-6638-2
DATE/EDITION: 2002
AUTHOR: Lansing, Alfred.
TITLE: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
DATE/EDITON: Whatever you have in SAS stacks
AUTHOR: Middleton, Dorothy.
TITLE: Victorian Lady Travellers
PUBLISHER: Academy Chicago Publishers
ISBN #: 0-89733-063-3
DATE/EDITION: 1993
ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS - Many of these materials for the Intranet Electronic
Coursepack are available at Gutenberg.org. If you cannot access some of the chapters, I can send
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you photocopies. I know I'll need to get permissions from Alfred Lansing, Gertrude Stein, and
PaulTheroux.
AUTHOR: Brooks, Alden
EDITOR: Edited with an Introduction by Ernest Hemingway
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "The Parisian"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Men at War: The Best War Stories of All Time
DATE: 1955
AUTHOR: Halliburton, Richard.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Spanish Dancing" "New Tales from the Alhambra," "The Sirens
of Seville," "The Jails of Gibraltar," "The Count of Monte Carlo."
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Royal Road to Romance
DATE: 1925
PAGES: Chapts. VII-XI, pp. 55-110.
AUTHOR: Kingsley, Mary
TITLE: Travels in West Africa
JOURNAL/CHAPTER TITLE: All the sections on "Fetish" (chapters 12-16, incl.)
VOLUME: Available copyright free at Gutenberg.org, but download before we sail.
DATE: 1895
AUTHOR: Lansing, Alfred
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Part VI, Chapters 1-6
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
PAGES: pp. 218-282
DATE: 1959
AUTHOR: Middleton, Dorothy.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Mary Kingsley" 1862-1900"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Victorian Lady Travellers
DATE: 1993
PAGES: pp. 149-176
AUTHOR: Pratt, Mary Louise
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapter 6
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation
DATE: 1992
AUTHOR: Roosevelt, Theodore
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters I-II and IV
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: African Game Trails
VOLUME: Scribner's
DATE: 1910 (possibly available on the Internet)
PAGES: 1-66 and 94-122. (I can send photocopies if you do not have this volume).
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AUTHOR: [Gertrude Stein]
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "War"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
DATE: 1933, copyright renewed in 1961 PAGES: pp.143-192
AUTHOR: Theroux, Paul.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters 15-17
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey Around Great Britain
DATE: 1983
PAGES: 259-309
AUTHOR: Up de Graf, F.W.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: XIX-XXIV
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Headhunters of the Amazon
DATE:1923
PAGES:238-298
AUTHOR: von Humboldt, Alexander.
ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Section 3.1 "Cuba's Slave Trade"
JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America
During the Years 1799-1804. Free download from gutenberg.org, but you must download this
section before we sail.
DATE: 1805
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