Women on the move: self encounters in select travel narratives by malayali women

Abstract

Travel has always been part of the developmental process of human history. When human beings began to settle down in particular geographical spaces, the nature and purpose of travels started to shift from a survival strategy to those based on other requirements. While both men and women of primitive ages undertook on long journeys together, at some point of time in history it became a male venture and the travel experiences recorded were mostly from the male perspective. While this study delves deep into the socio- cultural and theoretical aspects of travels and travel writings, it also enquires into the reasons behind the dearth of women’s travel and travel narratives. In addition, this study seeks to establish that women too possess a travel history of their own. Considering the fact that travel writing in one way or the other defines the self of the travelling person, the self- encounters that Malayali women make in their narratives of travel actually become a redefinition of their selves as well. This study focuses on the travel narratives that have been published from 1930s to 2022 by a select group of Malayali women. With the help of travel theories and various other sociocultural and literary theories this study attempts to find answers to questions regarding how certain factors like gender, caste, religion, sociocultural and political affiliations by and large formulate Malayali women’s travels and the subsequent narratives. This research is done mainly through the method of textual analysis. This thesis is divided into six chapters and focusses on select themes like ecology, religion, marginality, caste, narration, gender and sexuality. First chapter is the “Introduction” of the thesis. This chapter tries to ground the idea of travel andtravel writing within the larger context of mobility with the help of relevant sociocultural, literary and travel theories. Focusing on select travel narratives the second chapter titled “Travel and Ecology: Questions on Gender and Narration” analyses how Malayali women make meaningful critical interventions in systems which are blind towards ecological degradation. The third chapter is titled as “Pilgrim Travels: Rendezvous with Gods, Spaces and Memories”. Problematising activities like worship and pilgrimage the chapter critically analyses travels which are based on one’s religious and ideological beliefs. This chapter also analyses travels and the subsequent narratives which reflect upon the gratification of one’s innate desires connected with one’s interests, fears and fascinations. The fourth chapter titled as “Marginal Travels: Perspectives on Caste, Gender and Narration” examines marginality with regard to caste, religion and gender experienced by Malayali women in their travels. The Concluding chapter sums up the findings of the previous chapters. The final chapter “Recommendations” throws light into future studies which are to be done on the topic.