Teaching Travel Writing

The Society for the Study of American Travel Writing seeks abstracts for a session on “Teaching Travel Writing” for the American Literature Association annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts, May 25-28, 2017.

As a genre of Literary and Rhetorical study, Travel Writing generally occupies a marginal status in most curricula. The same might also be said of Travel Writing as a practice. Confronting this, we welcome papers on the specific challenges and rewards of travel-writing pedagogy, either as a study in itself or as a practice.

Proposals might consider the following questions:

• What challenges do faculty face in trying to graft travel writing onto existing curricula or meet established student learning outcomes geared more toward privileged genres of study?
• Are there blindspots that students commonly bring to the study of travel writing that when addressed help them to appreciate its instructive value?
• What educational opportunities are available to faculty who incorporate travel writing assignments into their classes, either in local settings or study abroad?
• What pitfalls are students prone to when tackling actual travel-writing assignments, such as in the context of study abroad, and are there practical recommendations that help to avoid them?

Please email a brief CV and 300-word abstract (and please indicate any audio/visual needs) by 15 December 2016 to Andrew Vogel (vogel@kutztown.edu) or Susan Roberson (susan.roberson@tamuk.edu) using “Teaching Travel” as the subject line.  Scholars and teachers of American travel writing and practicing travel writers are particularly encouraged to submit proposals.