The Himalayan Mountains as a Transformational Space for British Woman in the Colonial Period

Presenter:

---

Abstract

The paper will explore the Himalayan mountains as a place of exploration for British woman in the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. This period was extremely important for the women’s movement in Europe. As will be emphasised during the paper, one highly significant factor thereof was travel in the Himalayas. For British women, this was a space of transformation on many different levels. The most important was empowerment, which had a massive impact on the history of the woman’s movement, yet remains under-explored in research thus far. During the paper a plethora of sources will be examined, including visual materials in particular, at yet under-studied as they are not considered “high art”. However, as I will argue, such illustrations are extremely relevant as they were created by women explorers themselves and published in their memoirs. The Himalayas often appeared in these sources in many contexts but always as an important factor – the background, a witness, an agent of change, and virtual participant in these transformation and explorations. This paper represents an interdisciplinary approach, mainly focused on post-colonial and feminist perspectives.