Tryst with Travel: Historical and Literary Perspectives
New Delhi
Organization: Gargi College, University of Delhi
Call For Papers
Travel is perhaps the most enduring and evocative leitmotif of life, both in a very real and metaphoric sense. Essentially spinning from that chequered gamut, Travel Literature records human interactions and experiences within the diverse landscapes and cultures of the world. Its significance lies in its ability to document encounters with differences, recording their observations of previously unknown lands and articulating evolving perceptions of space, place, and identity. One of the earliest examples of this is found in the works of Herodotus. His Histories blend accounts of his journeys with observations on cultures, customs, and geographies of the ancient world. More than just chronicling events, Herodotus used travel to ask questions, compare worldviews, and construct meaning.
The recognition that travel constructs identities, meaning and perceptions has prompted the production of a mass of literature that allows for critical interrogation, especially regarding its historical role. For instance, the construction of the “Orient” as a set of stereotypes that justified western domination and colonial mastery could be brought under an academic lens because travel literature of the colonial period spawned this category. More recently and increasingly, it has been argued that travel narratives also contest and complicate these earlier colonial framings by decentering Eurocentric authority. Such a development makes travel literature discoverable as a more inclusive and multi voiced genre.
This reconceptualization has widened the scope of this nascent canon to take cognizance of non-western, indigenous, local and oral traditions of travel writing. In fact the annals of history and the production of literature echo the timelessness of travel and address the ways in which it bespeaks the human condition. Pilgrimages and Epics for instance have travel as a vital kernel of the narrative. Many such pre imperialist travel narratives may not fit neatly into the postcolonial paradigm and require a recalibration of our critical frameworks around travel writing especially when the interest in such precolonial stories and accounts of travel has multiplied. The experiences of women as travellers and the recovery of their travel stories of the yore have added to the already rich tapestry.
Where the precolonial with its differential ethos and rooted cosmologies, has contributed to rethinking the scope of travel literature, the contemporary and popular expressions such as Travel blogs, vlogs, digital storytelling and tourism narratives continue to shape the genre's multiplicity.. Tourism is often criticised for encouraging a superficial engagement with a place raising the question: Can travel and tourism meaningfully intersect? Yet emerging trends like slow travel, ecotourism, heritage tourism have inspired forms of writing that prioritize ethical reflection as much as leisure offering a more nuanced and conscious mode of engagement with the world. Ecologically sustainable travel is a growing breed that harks back to not just travel as an Instagram statement but a way of being and rediscovery. Yet, questions of narrative authority i.e. who gets to tell the story and what is omitted continue to shape the genre, especially when considering the often unquestioned link between able-bodiedness and mobility, or the reality of travel undertaken not by choice but by necessity in our increasingly precarious and globalized world.
Understandably then, in today's increasingly interconnected yet polarized world, knowledge is produced through the act of journeying, and its narration becomes crucial for bridging cross-cultural distances, challenging ethnocentric biases, and appreciating diverse interactions worldwide. The traveller’s spirit makes us all kindred in subtle ways and while home and hearth give us the local rootedness, it is travel that turns the world around and makes us global citizens. Moving beyond its conventional role as mere descriptive or experiential accounts, we aim to analyse travel literature as a sophisticated locus where diverse forms of knowledge be they cultural, geographical, anthropological, and historical are not only recorded but actively constructed, negotiated, and disseminated.
The two day national seminar on the many tales of travel being hosted by the Departments of English and History, Gargi College, will try to foreground and understand better the interconnections and nuances that travel makes possible through a historical and literary lens, and posit a 21st century appreciation of its myriad dimensions.
Possible topics could include but are not limited to:
Women who Wander: Travel and Gender/Women
Edible Itineraries: Travel and Food
Streets and Stories: Travel and the city
Lands of Belonging and Landscapes of Control - Travel and Power
Cartographies of Travel/ Travel and Mapping
Routes of Rule: Travel as colonial enterprise
Wordscapes: Framing Flora, Fauna and Place
Across Dying Lands: Travel Writing in an Age of Climate Change
Precarious Mobilities: Migration, Displacement, and Travel Literature
Crip Encounters: Disabled Travellers and Cross-Cultural Exchange
Important Dates
For Paper Presentations
Submission of Abstracts: 7th November, 2025
Intimation of Accepted Abstracts: 14th November, 2025
Submission of Full-Length Papers: 4th January, 2026
For Photo-Essays
Submission of Photo Essay Proposals: 7th November, 2025
Intimation of Accepted Proposals: 14th November, 2025
Submission of Final Photo-Essay: 4th January, 2026
Guidelines for Abstract and Paper Submission
We invite abstracts of about 300 words along with a short bio-note of 100 words to be sent via email to travelconferencegargi@gmail.com on or before 7th November, 2025. Full-length papers of accepted abstracts, of 4500-6000 words, in citation style MLA 9th Edition, should reach the same on or before 4th January, 2026.
Guidelines for Photo-Essay Submission
We invite original photo-essays that engage with the seminar’s themes through visual storytelling. Proposals should include a concept note (200-300 words), a bio-note
(100 words), and 2-3 sample low-resolution images to be emailed to travelconferencegargi@gmail.com by 7th November 2025.
Selected contributors will be asked to submit the complete photo-essay comprising 8-12 high-resolution images (JPEG/PNG format) with captions, and a narrative text of 800-1000 words, by 4th January 2026.
travelconferencegargi@gmail.com
Departments of History and English