Abstract
During the decades before and immediately after the Civil War, American tourists flocked to Italy. Unlike earlier, educated, wealthy travelers broadened and polished from their year-long immersion in the Italian art, culture, and history of the Eternal City, many later travelers (creatives aside) were smugly content to rush through Roman culture, art galleries, and historical spaces, in what Margaret Fuller satirically called a “nine-days wonder.” Unlike most Americans, however, Fuller’s feminist, radical vision of democracy was shaped by her three-year Italian (largely Roman) residence. This paper attends closely to Fuller’s use of contrasting travel tropes, as a means of reflecting on mid-nineteenth-century cultural insularity and American democratic shortcomings. It explores how Fuller’s awakening in Rome shaped ideas about mindful travel and education that resonate in contemporary conversations about preservation and global citizenship.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Traveling Concepts: The Transfer and Translation of Ideas in the Humanities
KEYWORDS
Globalization, Citizenship, Interdisciplinary humanities, Cultural Preservation
