Postcolonial travel accounts and ethnic subjectivity: travelling through Southern Africa

Abstract

This article deals with three recent South African travelogues, to wit Sihle Khumalo’s “Dark continent: my black arse” (2007) and “Heart of Africa: centre of my gravity” (2009), and Steven Otter’s “Khayelitsha: umlungu in a township” (2007). It argues that the authors are engaged in a postcolonial quest to find out what makes them African: the one, a black corporate employee, by following the footsteps of white nineteenth century explorers; the other, a white journalism student, by living in one of South Africa’s largest black townships.