German Travelers in Peru of the Second Half of 19th and Early 20th Centuries: Development and Environment Construction

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of Peruvian travelogues of German-speaking travelers in the second half of 19th — early 20th centuries. Until now, this material has not attracted the attention of americanists. In the present analysis the author sets the following tasks: identifying the place of Peru in the German social and cultural discourse of the corresponding period; describing the social portrait of the German traveler in Peru; highlighting the main patterns underlying the image of Peru created by travelers; analyzing factors that influenced the creation of these patterns. The analysis shows the following results. First, the place of Peru in German discourse can be described as insignificant. Secondly, the typical German traveler to Peru was an educated middle-class person with a certain background concerning the Peruvian theme. Third, the author identifies the following patterns — stable sets of ideas about Peru: exoticism, mostly negative image of local habitants, dichotomy of the Peruvian past and present, in which the past acts as an era of glory, and the present — as the time of decline; view of the landscape as a reflection of the political and economic state of the country. The author also characterizes the main descriptive model of Peru for German travelers as “realistic”. Finally, the author identifies some factors that influenced the formation of the image of this country, in particular, the colonial discourse and the racial theory, as well as the political sympathies of the travelers themselves.