Perceptions of the Other in Travelogues 1500-1875 - A Computerized Analysis

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Nejdl
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Data Management, Data-Intensive Systems, Computer Science Methods in Business Informatics
• Term: from 2018 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 398697847

Travelogues are a highly important source for historical research. They provide information about regions, cultures and religions but also enable insights into the authors’ cultural self-conceptions. However, the backgrounds of travelers, the aim of their journeys as well as the intended audiences vary considerably. This makes the source rather difficult to engage with and therefore single texts dominated the scientific interest so far. This project approaches this problem by introducing novel digital techniques. Austrian and German researchers from History, Computer Science and Book History collaborate together to analyze a digitized collection of several thousand travelogues, covering the period from 1500 until 1875. We specifically focus on how otherness was expressed in travelogues about the Orient and how it changed over time. This is not a purely historical issue. Every one of us is constantly confronted with otherness due to processes such as global mass tourism, the internationalization of consumer culture, transnational migration and globalization. By critically engaging with the historic dimension of otherness within travelogues, it is possible to raise more awareness and it will help to generate historic contextual knowledge and orientation for the present and future.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Bernhard Haslhofer; Professor Dr. Arno Strohmeyer
• Co-Investigator: Max Kaiser