The Representation of Yemeni Culture in Early 20^th Century British Travel Writings

¹ A doctoral Student at Faculty of Languages, letters and Arts, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra - Morocco
² A Professor at faculty of languages, letters, and Arts, Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra - Morocco

Abstract

The present article seeks to analyze the representation of Yemeni culture in early 20th century British travel writings. It questions the British travel writings as merely stereotypical texts or regard them as vital historical documents. This article also tries to locate different themes that have been deploying by British writers in the respective period. The chosen works are by Harold Ingrams (1937) and Freya Stark (1948), which have shown different features about the relationship between Yemeni culture and the British attitude. I used the postcolonial theory and Orientalism as approaches to analyze the works under examination. In the analysis, I argued that a writer’s choice for language and content entails a lot of differences, which reflects the location of Yemeni culture in the eyes of the Western encounters, particularly British travelers’ accounts. Finally, I revealed how two writers have portrayed Yemeni culture, its land, people, and presented diverse images of Yemen to emphasize my assumption that British travel writings on Yemen are both diverse and complex in their representation.