Expedition into Empire: Exploratory Journeys and the Making of the Modern World: 31 (Routledge Studies in Cultural History) - Hardcover

"Expedition into Empire succeeds in encouraging scholars both to look more critically at its forms and to recognise that, quite often, the performance of expedition rarely went according to rehearsal."-Ryan T. Jones, Univeristy of Auckland

"Expedition into Empire succeeds in its aim to open a critical dialogue around the phenomenon of the expedition. This collection serves as a ‘stepping-stone’ for future scholarship by setting a course for reapproaching the historiography of crosscultural encounter, exploration, and empire-making." -Natalie Cox, University of Warwick, UK

Expeditionary journeys have shaped our world, but the expedition as a cultural form is rarely scrutinized. This book is the first major investigation of the conventions and social practices embedded in team-based exploration. In probing the politics of expedition making, this volume is itself a pioneering journey through the cultures of empire. With contributions from established and emerging scholars, Expedition into Empire plots the rise and transformation of expeditionary journeys from the eighteenth century until the present. Conceived as a series of spotlights on imperial travel and colonial expansion, it roves widely: from the metropolitan centers to the ends of the earth. This collection is both rigorous and accessible, containing lively case studies from writers long immersed in exploration, travel literature, and the dynamics of cross-cultural encounter.