Persons of Colour and the Travel: 12 Years a Slave as the Travel of Blacks

Abstract

Every travel is a search for the exploration of the self. And black travels are no different. The paper is an attempt to explore the agonizing and tormenting journey of the blacks from Africa to the American mainland, where the effect of the travel on the blacks are given an extra emphasis. The historical taintedness of travel writing genre along with the intensity and the challenges of the black travel are deliberated here. The much celebrated slave narrative 12 Years a Slave cannot be just limited as slave narrative. There is a catalyzed orientation and disorientation of the body and the self in these travel writings. It is in fact the life journey of every black in America. More than the struggles the book opens up a strong cultural and political discourse, which defines and re-defines the self and identity of the blacks.