American Travelers Research Articles

Food Encounters in the Tropics and the Andes: Isaac Holton’s Sensorial Construction of Disgust with Colombian Food in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT This article examines the circulation of travel writing in the formation of white tastes created rhetorically and materially in opposition to the tastes of locals, focusing on food encounters between U.S. writers and Latin Americans in the mid-nineteenth century. It examines the representation of Colombian foodways in the travel accounts of North American botanist Isaac Holton published in 1857. Holton’s rejection of certain foods, especially those that Colombians seemed to enjoy most, is presented as evidence of his sense of moral superiority. Scholarship on American travel and empire shows how discourses in colonial food encounters and narratives about morality and good taste created stereotypes that persisted over time. Food mediated the daily relationship between travelers and locals in contexts of contested social and political power. To address the coloniality of food encounters, this essay focuses on the textual circulation of representations of African-descended and racially mixed Colombians as lazy and dirty. Their food and foodways served as political, racialized, and gendered metaphors that represented subaltern Colombians in a growing global community of readers. Narratives of disgust about people of the tropics and the Andes help readers to understand how early American travelers to Colombia drew on their sensory experiences to construct narratives that interpreted cultural differences as national and moral. This analysis exposes the link between emotions and senses in forming narratives of “otherness” in the Americas.

Mayaro virus, a potential threat for Europe: vector competence of autochthonous vector species

BackgroundMayaro virus (MAYV) is an emerging alphavirus, primarily transmitted by the mosquito Haemagogus janthinomys in Central and South America. However, recent studies have shown that Aedesaegypti, Aedesalbopictus and various Anopheles mosquitoes can also transmit the virus under laboratory conditions. MAYV causes sporadic outbreaks across the South American region, particularly in areas near forests. Recently, cases have been reported in European and North American travelers returning from endemic areas, raising concerns about potential introductions into new regions. This study aims to assess the vector competence of three potential vectors for MAYV present in Europe.MethodsAedesalbopictus from Italy, Anophelesatroparvus from Spain and Culexpipiens biotype molestus from Belgium were exposed to MAYV and maintained under controlled environmental conditions. Saliva was collected through a salivation assay at 7 and 14 days post-infection (dpi), followed by vector dissection. Viral titers were determined using focus forming assays, and infection rates, dissemination rates, and transmission efficiency were calculated.ResultsResults indicate that Ae.albopictus and An.atroparvus from Italy and Spain, respectively, are competent vectors for MAYV, with transmission possible starting from 7 dpi under laboratory conditions. In contrast, Cx.pipiens bioform molestus was unable to support MAYV infection, indicating its inability to contribute to the transmission cycle.ConclusionsIn the event of accidental MAYV introduction in European territories, autochthonous outbreaks could potentially be sustained by two European species: Ae.albopictus and An.atroparvus. Entomological surveillance should also consider certain Anopheles species when monitoring MAYV transmission.Graphical abstract

“I Never Met with a Worse Article in My life”: Disgusting Food and Repellent Food Habits in the Nineteenth-Century Caribbean Colonies

ABSTRACT According to their accounts, British and American travelers in the nineteenth-century Caribbean encountered a wide range of disgusting elements connected with food. Not only did they face unknown and strange foodstuffs, but they also dealt with other repugnant habits such as the filthiness of the people and the places where they ate – or would have eaten had they managed to overcome their revulsion – and the lack of manners of the people with whom they had to share some of their meals. For some visitors, disgust was connected with the realization that the locals ate unusual food, while others were offended by the huge number of dishes eaten by Creoles or by their bad manners and the dirt. In just one case, the sources show a strategy of learning to cope with the emotion of disgust. This essay will discuss how disgust arose from the encounter of different food habits in the colonial spaces of Jamaica, Cuba, and Antigua in order to shed new light on the processes of inclusion and exclusion.

Vaccine Hesitancy Among Us Travelers

Diseases are increasing in prevalence around the world. American travelers are at greater risk of contracting the disease when traveling outside the country to an endemic region. The safety of visitors to mosquito-endemic destinations is more important than ever. Because a vaccine does not exist for prevention or as a prophylactic, tourists are in jeopardy of fatal sicknesses. Thus, if a vaccine existed, it would be important to understand the likelihood of taking such a vaccine. This study sought to identify specific demographic and attitudinal variables that may be the best predictors of the likelihood of getting a Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) vaccine. An online survey of US travelers intending to travel to the Caribbean in the next 3‐5 years was used to gather information related to personal protection motivations, behaviors, and knowledge of CHIKV. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to determine the best predictor of getting a CHIKV vaccine. Results suggested that the best predictor of getting the vaccine was trust. Using scenarios and predicting the use of vaccines in today’s environment are effective ways of determining vaccine support and the likelihood of engaging in this personal protective behavior, should it become commercially available. Such efforts can improve ways to manage, control, and message regarding CHIKV.

Are eco-friendly hotels inconvenient? An Implicit Association Test

In the extant literature, findings about customers' attitudes and intentions to patronize eco-friendly hotels are mixed. Both favorable associations, such as satisfaction, and unfavorable links (for example, barriers such as inconvenience) are evident in the literature. These studies examined the explicit attitudes of consumers, which have been deemed sensitive and potentially generate social desirability bias. Conversely, this study employed the Implicit Association Test, which measured reaction times to extract customers’ implicit stereotypes towards eco-friendly hotels, followed by a questionnaire-based survey to assess their explicit attitudes. With a sample of 297 American travelers, the findings of the implicit and explicit tests show moderate and strong relationships between eco-friendly hotels and the convenience concept, respectively. That is, our findings show that customers do not attribute inconvenience to eco-friendly hotels. The implications of the study are significant given the emphasis on responsible tourism as a domain of study in which customer attitudes arguably play a significant role in a changing environment.

Hacia una historia de las relaciones intelectuales y políticas entre Argelia y Argentina, ¿sólo “orientalismo periférico”?

We show how Hispanic culture was imbued with a privileged relationship with that of the Muslim world. We try to understand the need for the Orient and how Latin American travelers, dependent on their European readings, proposed an outlook that was not very innovative until the political relations of the 1950s. The case of Sarmiento is emblematic of the search for a model of political-military action transferable to Argentina.

The Ethics of Inclusion, Exclusion, and Protection in The Green Book

ABSTRACT This article explores the ethical complexity of inclusion, exclusion, and protection in TPC, drawing upon a historical technical document, The Green Book, which helped Black American travelers in the 1930-60s locate safe leisure spaces in a segregated society. We examine The Green Book through the antiracist thinker Kendi to understand some of the ethical limits of the binary of inclusion/exclusion and identify necessary forms of protection for historically- and multiply-marginalized groups.

Successful failure: American naval engineers at the Imperial Arsenal in Constantinople 1831–1842

The esteemed naval engineer Henry Eckford and later his foreman Foster Rhodes served at the Imperial Arsenal between 1831 and 1839. Although their efforts to construct modernized war vessels, improve the technical infrastructure of the Arsenal, and educate Ottoman youth to become future naval engineers were admirable, due to the international and domestic problems that the Ottoman Empire faced, they could not accomplish naval modernization in the manner that both they and Sultan Mahmud II dreamed of. While they failed at this phase, they succeeded in establishing strong grounds for their countrymen by supporting them financially, mentally, and diplomatically. They extended their help towards American missionaries, who quickly expanded their activities in the educational field to include non-Muslim, as well as Muslim communities. They increased the prestige of American representatives, providing them with a high level of respect, and they supported American travelers who visited these engineers and recorded the honors showered upon them by the Ottomans in their travel narratives. This support successfully helped to construct future cooperation between the United States and the Ottoman Empire, and thus enabled many Americans from different fields to expand their industries and at the same time allowed the Ottoman Empire to benefit in return.

To the Farthest Gulf for the Wealth of India: Firsthand Experiences of American Travelers in India

My essay analyzes the experiences of Americans in India from the colonial period to the emergence of the United States as a nation in the 18th century and further into the nineteenth century when the nation consolidated its identity through commerce, religion and race discourse. I trace these three moments in the joint history of America and India through the life and travel writings of a few key figures. Through the letters of Nathaniel Higginson, the Salem-born man who eventually became Governor of Madras in 1692, we can trace the social and political dealings of a New England based administrator in the colonial era. In the second period, in the aftermath of the American revolution, there is a great interest in India from a newly formed United States, that can be seen in the exploits of American travelers such as Bartholomew Burges. In the nineteenth century there was a further escalation of the ties between India and America that is seen in the story of Calvin Smith, a civil war veteran who traveled to India and worked in the then popular ice trade, sharing his perspectives and experiences of living in India for five years. Finally, in the mid to late 19th century, evangelical America and the Liberal Christian movement spread Christianity to other nations through missions, reaching India.

Multispecies Ethnography: Life Writing of Marine Animals in Cuthbert Collingwood

Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, Formosa (now Taiwan) was little known to European and American travelers. To explore this terra incognita, plenty of Western explorers, navy investigators, merchants, and naturalist scientists visited Formosa after the opening of Ta-kau Port and Keelung Port for trade in 1860. These travellers made observations and documented the unknown landscapes and species in Formosa and its neighbouring islands. Mostly written in the form of travel journals and natural histories, the works of these Western visitors are pioneering multispecies ethnographies that delineate nineteenth-century Formosa’s flora, birds, land animals and marine animals. This essay focuses on the life accounts and natural histories of an English traveller in this period — Cuthbert Collingwood (1826-1908). It explores the ways Collingwood’s Rambles of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China Sea represents Formosan marine animals and their habitats. It addresses the following questions: How did Collingwood introduce his readers to understanding marine animals in mid-nineteenth-century Formosa and how did he report his scientific observations on the lives of Formosa’s oceanic species? Did Collingwood evince his appreciation for marine species or express an environmentalist tone? How might Collingwood’s delineation of Formosa’s marine animals reveal an environmental consciousness and proto-ecological sensibilities?

“The Great Siberian Way” in perception of American travelers of the early 20th century

World’s focus during the beginning 20th century was on completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia. This article is based on the analysis essays and memoirs of travelers at the early 20th century. The article examines how the main problems, topics and aspects of the emergence and functioning of the railway were perceived. The greatest attention is paid to the views of the most famous US political figures, military and businessmen on the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Manchurian railway. The prospects for the practical use of the railway, as well as its strategic importance, were of particular interest to American politicians and the military. Before the war, Senator A. Beveridge traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Russo-Japanese War inspired a deeper interest in the Trans-Siberian Railway. On their way to the seat of war in Manchuria, the American military attaché W. Judson followed the road and the naval attaché N. McCully also passed by rail. The most prominent American political figure who visited the Trans-Siberian after the war was Secretary of War W. H. Taft. The rich artistic images of Siberia are reflected at the work of American photographers W.H. Jackson and B. Holmes, who also visited the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Through studying the sources, the author concludes what kind images of the railway was represented in all its essences. At the beginning of the 20th century, the conviction was firmly entrenched in the United States that the entire railway system of Russia developed due to its strategic purpose, that is, for military purposes.

From Miracle to Montage: The Interpreter Figure in the Narratives of Latin American Travelers to the New China

This article analyses the role of the figure of the language interpreter in Latin American travel writing on the People’s Republic of China during the 1950s and 1960s, early decades of cultural diplomacy efforts between these regions. Through an examination of the crónica China 6 a.m. (1954), by Colombian anthropologist and writer Manuel Zapata Olivella, and the novel Los ojos de bambú (1964), by Chilean novelist Mercedes Valdivieso, this article argues that the interpreter figure, far from an invisible conduit of information, played a significant role in how Latin American travelers experienced the Chinese Revolution and negotiated their ideals of individual and collective transformation. Through the analysis of the interpretation act as an embodied, affective experience, beyond a sole cognitive transfer of meaning, Zapata and Valdivieso’s texts shed light both on the PRC’s mechanisms of soft power in Cold War geopolitical struggles, as well as the travelers’ aesthetic and political pursuits in a global context of revolution.

African American Travelers Encounter Greece, ca. 1850–1900

This essay examines the experiences of three 19th-century African American travelers to Greece—David Dorr (1852), Frederick Douglass (1887), and John Wesley Gilbert (1890–1)—using evidence from their letters, diaries, and published writings. The essay shows that although each traveler's unique personal perspective shaped his response to seeing the ancient sites and monuments of Greece, all three men responded most deeply to a site connected with Greece's Christian heritage: the Areopagus or Mars Hill, where according to 19th-century understanding the Apostle Paul had spoken the words recorded in the Book of Acts.

Review: Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance, by Mia Bay

Review: <i>Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance</i>, by Mia Bay

Explorations in the Icy North: How Travel Narratives Shaped Arctic Science in the Nineteenth Century by Nanna Katrine Lüders Kaalund

Explorations in the Icy North contributes an original transnational and comparative study of Arctic exploration in the nineteenth century. In four chapters, Kaalund draws from archival sources in Britain, Canada, Denmark, and the United States to track changes in Arctic travel narratives between 1818 and 1883. She investigates these changing narratives to spotlight broader shifts in the financial sponsors of expeditions, technologies of travel and field research, and cultural expectations of how explorers ought to present their work in print. Anyone interested in Arctic history, Arctic exploration, travel writing, nineteenth-century imperial history, or field science will find this work valuable. Of particular interest to readers of this journal will be Kaalund’s integrative analysis of primary-source documents across several national contexts.As a vast geographical region carved into more than a half-dozen nation-states and many more Indigenous settlement areas, the Arctic presents serious barriers to comprehensive historical inquiry. Yet, as Kaalund points out, the majority of historical scholarship about Arctic exploration remains constrained to national boundaries, rarely venturing into international or transnational waters. In contrast, the archival research supporting Explorations in the Icy North spans four significant repositories that have rarely been treated together—the U.S. National Archives, the Royal Society Archives in London, the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, and the Statsbiblioteket at Aarhus Universitet in Denmark. Kaalund deliberately mobilizes this collection of sources to scrutinize and de-center British experiences in the Arctic, which historians have sometimes treated as a model or benchmark for imperial ambition in high latitudes. Kaalund finds that American, Canadian, and Danish travelers did not always emphasize heroism, “gentlemanly” behaviors, or mourning for lost expeditions as the British itinerants did. This comparison leads Kaalund to conclude that science in the Arctic is far more contingent than even the British example suggests. Authority, in Kaalund’s view, is dependent upon the physical location of field sites, audience, instrumentation and technology, and the political and economic power of funding organizations.Any comparative study must deal with the inevitable challenges of breadth, depth, and emphasis. Although Kaalund’s transnational approach helps to provide a better explanation of the complexities in Arctic science during the nineteenth century, the reader deserves more information about how and why she selected her particular case studies. In each chapter, Kaalund focuses the analysis on a handful of expeditions that she asserts to be the most revealing about explorers’ relationships, travel accounts, field sites, and intellectual communities. Yet she does not cover or quantify the other expeditions that she opted to leave out of her analysis. Nor does she regularly qualify or substantiate claims with evidence from the extensive existing literature about Arctic exploration in the nineteenth century.The tradeoff in this book should be familiar to practitioners in interdisciplinary history, especially transnational history. On one hand, the book covers a wider range of actors than typically appears in “national” Arctic history—missionaries, fur traders, researchers working at Arctic field stations, and both amateur and professional explorers dashing to the North Pole. Pointing to this diversity, Kaalund concludes that the category of explorer and the nature of Arctic science was highly unstable during the nineteenth century. On the other hand, the book begs the question about the extent to which this conclusion reflects the selection of sources rather than the full record of Arctic expeditions during the period. Moreover, because travel accounts were not always read by the same audiences—even within Kaalund’s own chapter-by-chapter groupings—systematic or consistent comparisons of narrative devices is not possible. How can transnational analysis—notwithstanding the richness in its characterization of agency and historical contingency, especially in this work—defend itself more robustly against charges of selection bias?Even with this lingering question, Exploration in the Icy North gives readers much to consider about the nature of field science, exploration, intellectual authority, travel writing, and transnational history. Kaalund’s book advances our understanding of the Arctic, particularly how and why its nineteenth-century explorers, as well as the imperial powers behind them, recorded their efforts to enter, research, and exploit the region.

Impact of country of origin and national identity on air travel purchase decisions for prospective buyers: The case of American travelers

This study focuses on how the concept of country of origin (COO) and national loyalty affect purchasing decisions of prospective travelers when purchasing airline tickets. The objectives of this study are to understand: (a) the relationship between demographic structures of travelers and their national loyalty status, (b) the relationship between national loyalty and national airline perceptions, (c) the construction and analysis of the measurement of national airline preference scale, and (d) testing the relationship between national loyalty, national airline perception, and preferences of foreign airlines. Data collected from 136 people residing and employed in three districts of Pennsylvania. The study findings denote that the national loyalty status of travelers affects the purchasing behaviors of air travelers. Prospective travelers do not prefer foreign airline service providers, thinking that they may damage the national airline companies and national economy. The effects of national loyalty include overrating the service quality and merit of national airlines and underrating the merits of foreign airline services. The findings of this research propose that foreign airline companies should convince international travelers that preferring their services over other airlines would not result in a disadvantage of national airlines or deteriorate economic conditions in their home countries.

Full Circle: A Half Century of Friendship

I was not Doran Ross's mentor; I was the doorman who cracked open the portal to the seductive world of sub-Saharan African art.It was a half century ago; I was teaching my very first university art history course, which was also the first African art history course offered at California State University, Fresno (CSUF). Into that 1971 room wandered Doran Ross, an English-psychology major still in search of a passion. Doran remained in the class for the semester and stayed with the subject for the rest of his life.After he aced all the exams, writing stand-alone essays in both my African and Andean classes, I suggested he had a natural aptitude for the arts of Africa and should consider devoting some time to it. The next semester he became my reader. The following year, fully committed to African art history, Doran motored off in his maroon Volvo to explore grad schools from coast to coast.Despite that beginning—and given that I was commuting between UCLA and CSUF, teaching four classes, and trying to finish a dissertation—I cannot say that I knew Doran well in those early days. Three years later that changed and I learned something about Doran the man.I was coleading a group of students on a 6,700-mile road trip from Fresno through Mexico (Fig. 1); Doran signed on as a codriver. In central Veracruz some American retiree travelers asked what we were about. I explained the nature of art history and its profound role in learning the ways and worldviews of other cultures. A bizarre diatribe of xenophobic comments followed this from one of the visiting retirees. Bewildered, we at first attempted to engage and reason, to little avail. Doran stood up, calmly stated: “I don't have to listen to this crap,” and strode away. Anticipating Larry McMurtry's Woodrow F. Call, Doran wouldn't “tolerate rudeness or bigotry in a man.”For the next decade, Doran and I traveled together on three continents and did field work together in Peru (Fig. 2) and Ghana. In the latter we worked for two field seasons with a team of carvers from Kumasi (Fig. 3) and I witnessed Doran's relentless attention to detail not only in recording informants’ words with precision, but also in his photography. All who have read his voluminous writings have noted that most are accompanied by his excellent photographs. Unacknowledged is the effort involved in acquiring the images, and I cite a pair of examples. Saltpond, 1980: we are attempting to capture the motifs on both sides of an asafo flag that was at least 100 feet long. It was undulating through the streets accompanied by great crowds and individuals firing ancient muzzle loaders into the air and, occasionally, as close to our ears as they dared. Doran ran on one side, I on the other, frantically trying to adjust focus, depth of field, and shutter speed (remember, this is predigital) while the action surrounded us. Mankessim, 1980: we are documenting a long procession of asafo flags and dancers; Doran is shooting from a crouched position at the edge of the action; I'm photographing from a balcony. A young man is doing “crowd control” with a short whip, keeping audience away from the dancers and, not seeing Doran in his low crouch, smacks Ross across the head with his whip. Doran unfolds to his considerable height, gazes down at the diminutive whip bearer who appears stunned (perhaps sees his life pass before his eyes), Doran smiles broadly, and we carry on. I invite you to gaze at his flag photographs with new appreciation.A crucial part of fieldwork in Ghana involved ritual libations, and I vividly recall accompanying Doran to interviews with Ghanaian chiefs, always carrying the obligatory bottle. Handed to an elder, shown to the chief, the bottle would then make a journey around the seated dignitaries and visitors, each pouring a small “dash” to the ground, an offering to the ancestors, and then imbibing a sip themselves. Research, meeting, and travel days often also ended with a less formal but nevertheless ritual form of unwinding. And so my memories of the Clubs and Stars that helped us navigate the journeys from Accra to Bolgatanga and Takoradi to Keta are crystalline and a reminder of how seriously Doran undertook everything, from his research and writing, to discussions of music and cinema, to celebratory sipping.I am certain that, as we mourn the loss of our generous and dedicated friend, all who were fortunate enough to enjoy a day's end with Doran will find their sorrow tempered by those fond memories and will join me in raising a glass once more. Salud, amigo. By God we had some times!

Travel experience sharing on social media: effects of the importance attached to content sharing and what factors inhibit and facilitate it

PurposeThis study aims to examine the factors influencing tourists to share their travel experiences on social media (SM).Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire was administered to 1,280 American travelers, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe PLS-SEM results indicated that non-participant sharing had a direct and positive effect on tourists’ tendencies to share their travel experiences on SM. Environmental, relational and security concerns had direct and negative effects on actual travel-experience sharing, whereas altruism, personal fulfillment and self-actualization had direct and positive effects on actual travel-experience sharing.Practical implicationsTravelers were found to attach importance to content shared on SM when they believed the content to be objective and reliable and were more likely to share such content on their own SM accounts. This finding suggests that tourist-created content is crucial. Tourism businesses, therefore, should reduce or eliminate inhibitory factors to increase content sharing. This research provides guidance for tourism businesses’ SM initiatives.Originality/valueThe study, first, contributes to an understanding of the factors affecting the sharing of travel experiences on SM. Second, this study develops a holistic approach that integrates the factors that might affect tourists’ SM content-sharing behavior into a single model.

Russian, Soviet and East European Photographs in the Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Columbia University: A Note on Albums

ABSTRACT Many collections held by Columbia’s Rare Books and Manuscript Library contain precious and little explored visual documentation on the turbulent history of late 19th and 20th century Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. These photographs deal with topics ranging from Russian culture in emigration, the late Romanov dynasty and the Russian imperial military to American travelers and philanthropy in revolutionary Russia and Eastern Europe. The Columbia collections in great part complement those held at the Hoover Institution Archives and the nearby NYPL Slavic collections.

Travelers’ Psychological Comfort with Local Food Experiences and Place Attachment

Travelers’ engagement with local food at a foreign destination could be overwhelming and affect their overall travel experience. This study investigates the role travelers’ psychological comfort with local food plays in influencing the development of their place attachment to a destination. The study utilized survey data sampled from Korean and American travelers who had visited China and found that travelers’ place attachment is positively and significantly influenced by their psychological comfort with food, interaction with service providers, and atmospherics. The findings also reveal that Korean and American travelers differ in the degree to which comfort affects their place attachment. These and other findings of the study bring attention to the comfort factor of travelers’ food experience, thus complementing previous research that tended to emphasize the novelty value of local cuisines.