Discourses of Difference unravels the complexities of writings by British women travellers of the `high colonial' period. Sara Mills examines the relation of women travellers to colonialism, positioned as they were at the site of conflicting discourses: femininity, feminism, and patriarchal imperialism. Using feminist discourse theory, Sara Mills analyses the writings of three women travellers - Alexandra David-Neel, Mary Kingsley and Nina Mazuchelli. Her examination of agency, identity, and the contemporary social environment, is an important and inspiring step forward in post-colonial cultural and literary theory.
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Sara Mills is a Research Professor at the School of Cultural Studies, Sheffield Hallam University. She has published on feminist linguistic and literary theory and on feminist post-colonial discourse theory.
Excellent analysis of the discourses of Femininity & Colonialism and how they interact and influence texts from this genre. I feel like it's an important read for any of the academically-inclined fans of Victorian-era travel writing.