Revisiting Travel Writing in Sociology of Culture

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Abstract

The focus of this article is on travelogues as a neglected source in sociological studies in general and in studies of sociology of culture in particular. For understanding the complex and intertwined relationships of today's societies, it is necessary to focus on the historical context of the formation and development of modern societies. By emphasizing the views of the German anthropologist and sociologist, Michael Harbsmeier, this article tries to present travelogues as one of the most important historical sources and also points out the importance and relevance of these texts in understanding the pre-history of modern, contemporary societies. In this paper, it will also be claimed, that, comparing to other historical materials, this literary genre is the most important and relevant source for depicting the series of important sociocultural changes occurred during the eighteenth century. In this point of view, instead of applying travel accounts as a historical source for understanding foreign cultures, this media will be a representation of the traveler’s own culture and society and more precise: social formations. It will also serve as the most proper medium for investigating processes of drawing boundaries and constructing identities during the early modern era. At the end, there will be an excursion about Persian travelogues to Europe in 19th century, and their relevance for sociological studies.

Keywords


رائین، اسماعیل )1317 ،)میرزاابولحسنخان‌ایلچی، تهران: جاویدان.
2 .شیرازی، میرزا صالح )1347 ،)سفرنامه، تصحیح و دوبارهنویسی از سیدمحمدعلی شهرستانی، تهران:
نشر روزن.
3 .معتمد دزفولی، فرامرز )1390 ،)تاریخ‌اندیشة‌جدید‌ایرانی.‌سفرنامههای‌ایرانیان‌به‌فرنگ، تهران:
نشر شیرازه.
4. Agai, Bekim (2013). Religion as a Determining Factor of the Self and the Other in travel
Literature; How Islamic is the Muslim worldview? Evliya Celebi and his successors
reconsidered. in Venturing beyond Borders – Reflections on Genre, Function and
Boundaries in Middle Eastern Travel Writing. Bekim Agai, Olcay Akyildiz, Caspar
Hillebrand (Hrsg.), Würzburg: Ergon Verlag, S. 101–130.
5. Daniel, Elton (2002). The Hajj and Qajar Travel Literature. in Society and Culture in Qajar
Iran. Studies in Honor of Hafez Farmayan. Daniel L. Elton (Ed.). Costa Mesa, California:
Mazda Publishers, pp. 215–238.
6. De Certeau, Michel (1991). Das Schreiben der Geschichte, Frankfurt/New York: Campus
Verlag. S. 137-172.
7. Durkheim, Émile (1981). Die elementaren Formen des religiösen Lebens, Frankfurt am
Main: Verlag der Weltreligionen.
8. Elias, Norbert (1969), Die höfische Gesellschaft. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main
(Gesammelte Schriften Bd. 2).
9. Farman Farmayan, Hafez (1968). The Forces of Modernization in Nineteenth- Century
Iran: A Historical Survey, in Beginnings of Modernization in the Middle East: The
Nineteenth-Century, William R. Plok & Richard L. Cahmbers (Ed.). Chicago IL:
University of Chicago Press. pp. 119–151.
10. Foucault, Michel (1995), Wahnsinn und Gesellschaft. Eine Geschichte des Wahns im
Zeitalter der Vernunft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
11. Fragner, Bert (1979). Persische Memoirenliteratur als Quelle zur neueren Geschichte
Irans, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag.
12. Green, Nile (2008). Paper Modernity? Notes on an Iranian Industrial Tour, 1818, In Iran,
Vol. 46. British Institute of Persian Studies, pp. 277–284.
13. Heilbron, Johan (1995). The Rise of Social Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press.
14. Harbsmeier, Michael (1982). Reisebeschreibungen als mentalitätsgeschichtliche Quellen.
Überlegungen zu einer historisch-anthropologischen Untersuchung frühneuzeitlicher
deutscher Reisebeschreibungen, in Reiseberichte als Quellen europäischer
جامعهشناسی‌هنر‌و‌ادبیات،‌دوره‌11‌،شماره‌دوم،‌پاییز‌و‌زمستان‌1931
91‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
Kulturgeschichte. Aufgaben und Möglichkeiten der Historischen Reiseforschung. Antoni
Maczak & Hans Jürgen Teuteberg (Hrsg.). Wolfenbüttel: Herzog-August Bibliothek, S. 1–
31.
15. Harbsmeier, Michael (1994). Wilde Völkerkunde. Andere Welten in Deutschen
Reiseberichten der Frühen Neuzeit, Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag.
16. Harbsmeier, Michael (1995). Towards a Prehistory of Ethnography: Early Modern
German Travel Writings as Traditions of Knowledge, in Fieldworks and Footnotes; Studies
in the History of European Anthropology. Han F. Vermeulen, Arturo Alvarez Roldán (Ed.).
London and New York: Routledge. P. 19-39.
17. Koselleck, Reinhart (1979). Zur Historischen Semantik Asymmetrischer Gegenbegriffe, in
Vergangene Zukunft. Zur Semantik Geschichtlicher Zeiten, Reinhart Koselleck, Frankfurt:
Suhrkamp.
18. Kriedte, Peter (1980). Spätfeudalismus und Handelskapital. Grundlinien der europäischen
Wirtschaftsgeschichte vom 16. bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts, Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
19. Lamont, Michèle (1992). Money, Morals and Manners: The Culture of the French and
American Upper-Middle Class, Chicago: University Chicago Press.
20. Lamont, Michèle & Molnár, Virág (2002), The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences,
in Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 28, pp. 167–197.
21. Pankoke, Eckart (1993). Soziologie, Gesellschaftswissenschaften, in Geschichtliche
Grundbegriffe. Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland. Otto Brunner/
Werner Conze/ Reinhart Koselleck (Hrsg.), Bd. 6. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. S. 997-1032.
22. Ringer, Monica M. (2002). The Quest for the Secret of Strength in Iranian NinteenthCentury Travel Literature: Rethinking Tradition in the Safarnameh, in Iran and the
Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics. Nikki R. Keddi & Rudi
Matthee (Ed.). Seattle/London: University of Washington Press, pp. 146–161.
23. Schütz, Alfred (1972). Der Fremde. in Gesammelte Aufsätze II; Studien zur soziologischen
Theorie. Arvid Broderson (Hrsg.). Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff. S. 53-69.
24. Simmel, Georg (1983a). Gesamtausgabe, Band 11, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
25. Simmel, Georg (1983b)., Soziologie: Untersuchung über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung., Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, S. 509–512.
26. Sohrabi, Naghmeh (2012). Taken for Wonder. Nineteenth-Century Travel Accounts from
Iran to Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
27. Tavakoli-Taraghi, Mohammad (2001). Refashioning Iran. Orientalism, Occidentalism and
Historiography, Hampshire: Palgrave.
28. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1980). The Modern World System, New York: Academic Press.
29. Weber, Max (2005). Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen; Das antike Judentum:
Schriften und Reden 1911-1929, Eckart Otto (Hrsg.). Tübingen: J.B.C. Mohr (Paul
Siebeck).
30. Wright, Denis (1985). The Persians amongst The English, London: IB Tauris.