Travel Writing and Social Justice: Dismantling the Inner Colonizer with Bani Amor (via Zoom)

Whether in memoir, guides, or fiction, travel literature has long preserved colonialist attitudes toward people and place. As contemporary writers and world storytellers who have inherited this tradition, we carry a responsibility to challenge the colonizer within in order to present our work in more just ways. In this four-hour course, travel writer and lecturer Bani Amor will lead the class through identifying subtle and not-so-subtle terminology and tropes, unequal and unchallenged power dynamics between the writer and their subjects, and delve into narration, setting, and scene as sites ripe for renewal. Participants will each get a chance to read their work and have it workshopped by the class with a specific eye toward applying what they learned during the presentation portion. They will also engage in group exercises and leave the course with specific tools and a syllabus to guide them in their writing journeys beyond our time together.

Bani Amor is a gender/queer travel writer who explores the relationships between race, place, and power. Their work has appeared in CNN Travel, Fodor’s, Teen Vogue, and Lonely Planet, among other outlets, and in the anthology Outside the XY: Queer Black and Brown Masculinity. Bani is a four-time VONA/Voices Fellow who leads workshops and delivers lectures on decolonization and travel culture. Follow them on Instagram at @baniamor and Twitter @bani_amor.