Africa Unbound: Redemption and Representation in the New South African Travelogue

Abstract

South Africa’s new relationship with the rest of Africa has afforded South Africans novel opportunities for ‘exploration’ of the continent. A stream of travel writing by South Africans has begun to emerge. This paper examines the genealogy of the new South African travelogue and situates it within a longstanding colonial and post‐colonial tradition of travel writing. The ideas and images of Africa that emerge are critically examined. The central question in this paper is whether the ‘new explorers’ are in any meaningful sense able to transcend the tropes and traditions of the colonial past.