Unravelling Civilisation

Download or read book Unravelling Civilisation written by Hagen Schulz-Forberg and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2005 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of contributions about the history and practice of travel and travel writing from a variety of academic disciplines including anthropology, history, linguistics and literary criticism. It brings together scholars from over ten different countries and reflects on what travel is and how travel writings function. It traces the history of travel and travel writing and the notion or idea of a European civilisation that permeates performances and perceptions. The notion of Europe appears as a set of quality standards as well as guidelines for experiences against which civilisations are measured. This set of standards and guidelines, however, is far from stable. It is a floating foundation carrying different versions of Europe throughout time. The authors tackle the problem from different angles: travels from Europe across the seven oceans transported the idea of European civilisation just as travels to Europe or within Europe. The volume explores the different meanings attached to the term 'Europe' and 'civilisation' throughout history and shows how different political or cultural contexts affect the notion of what Europe is or should be.