The Representation of Yemeni Culture in Early 20th Century British Travel Writings

The present article seeks to analyze the representation of Yemeni culture in early 20th century British travel writings. It questions the British travel writings as merely stereotypical texts or regard them as vital historical documents. This article also tries to locate different themes that have been deploying by British writers in the respective period. The chosen works are by Harold Ingrams (1937) and Freya Stark (1948), which have shown different features about the relationship between Yemeni culture and the British attitude. I used the postcolonial theory and Orientalism as approaches to analyze the works under examination. In the analysis, I argued that a writer’s choice for language and content entails a lot of differences, which reflects the location of Yemeni culture in the eyes of the Western encounters, particularly British travelers’ accounts. Finally, I revealed how two writers have portrayed Yemeni culture, its land, people, and presented diverse images of Yemen to emphasize my assumption that British travel writings on Yemen are both diverse and complex in their representation.

Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell, C.B.E., R.D.I. 4 June 1910 — 1 June 1999

Christopher Sydney Cockerell was born in Cambridge on 4 June 1910. His father, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, was at that time Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, a position he was to hold for nearly 30 years. He had formerly been secretary to William Morris and the Kelmscott Press. His mother was a talented artist known for her superb illuminated manuscripts. Christopher was an only son, with two sisters. His distinguished father's very strong personality made early relationships with him rather difficult. Fortunately he adored his mother, who had a profound influence on him. The Cockerell household entertained many distinguished visitors such as George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Freya Stark and Siegfried Sassoon. Sir Sydney was very disappointed when Christopher showed very little interest in literature, public affairs and other aesthetic pursuits of such visitors. It was only when T.E. Lawrence stayed at their home that he showed an interest—this was in Lawrence's 1000 cc Brough Superior motorcycle, which caused his father to remark that Christopher was ‘no better than a garage hand’ (Blunt 1964).