Travel, Humanitarianism, and Becoming American in Africa [Hardcover]

Travel, Humanitarianism, and Becoming American in Africa uses observations of American travelers to southern Africa to ask: why is Africa so important to Americans? These travel stories show how encounters with Africans lead to a problematic desire to save Africa. Kathryn Mathers argues that this is then seen as a way to resolve the tensions between aspirations for a globally responsible America and the current reality of its geopolitical role. This book draws fascinating new conclusions about the connections and disconnections on which contemporary American identity is formed.Introduction Moving Fieldwork: Travelling with Americans to and from Africa Vexed Ties: Africa in an out of America Back to Nature: American's Great African Adventure Through the Glass: Encountering the Unexpected in Africa Disrupting the Hyphen: Identity and Belonging in America 'How do they know I am American?' Travel and the Discovery of Home Suffering Beauty: How to Save Africa without Changing It Conclusion: Saving Africa: Love in the Time of Oprah

In this book Kathryn Mathers tackles head-on the complexities of the tourist experience, affording none of her readers any opportunity to escape from confronting what travels to 'Africa' mean for both those who make the trip, or those who gaze upon the tourist in their midst. Drawing on the richness and density of her multi-sited and multi- dimensional fieldwork with a range of 'Americans' who traveled to South Africa for a wide array of stated purposes, in sophisticated yet lucid writing she demonstrates how the experience unsettled who the travelers imagined themselves to be when faced with the reality of how those in South Africa saw them. The ride was not always comfortable, but it was unquestionably a compelling and powerful encounter. In a nuanced and provocative way, Mathers embroiders actions and commentaries of journalists, travel writers and even American celebrities into the tangled web of how the idea of 'Africa' and travell‰