
Travelling while black: Seven travelogues you should readThe travelling while black movement foregrounds racial danger and discrimination around travel, while illuminating distinctive experiences.
by The Conversation
03-02-2023 12:46
in Books
Travelling while black: 7 South African travelogues you should read
Image by pexels
Travel writing in Africa is often associated with colonial ventures of the past or white adventure pursuits of today. But Africans themselves have long produced captivating travel texts in oral and written forms. We need to look beyond narrowly western or white accounts as travel writing is produced across the world by an extensive range of writers. Literary ezines (electronic magazines on the internet) dedicated to diverse travel writing are thriving.
--
That said, the cultures and literatures of travel from Africa have long been under-recognised by mobility studies. Exposing structures and norms that privilege white travel, as well as centering the voices of those on the move who haven't traditionally been counted as travellers, are important aspects of decolonising travel .
ALSO READ: Sho Madjozi released her debut children's book
The travelling while black movement foregrounds racial danger and discrimination around travel, while illuminating distinctive experiences that black travel brings. With this telling phrase as its title, Kenyan writer and analyst Nanjala Nyabola's ground-shifting book explores multiple dimensions of being a mobile African woman.
--
As a literary scholar of these books, I've recently published a research paper that explores how a range of contemporary popular travelogues by black South Africans offer fresh, often provocative, perspectives. The travelogues, mostly focusing on exploring Africa (including South Africa itself), bring to life the places visited and celebrate the acts of travel - while also reflecting deeply on what the travel means.
Travel in South Africa is no straightforward subject. It takes on heightened significance in the light of the country's history of colonialism and apartheid. Apartheid, South Africa's institutionalised system of segregation, attempted to limit or force black mobility and to regulate black travel in intensive ways.
In post-apartheid South Africa, much has been in flux. While race-based mobility laws are no longer in place, questions of black movement, border crossings and belonging are peaking. In many of the travelogues in my research, the writers reflect on how history, race, nationality, gender and other factors affect travel.
--
1. Vagabond by Lerato Mogoatlhe Journalist Lerato Mogoatlhe, loved on social media as Madam Afrika, shares her action-packed experiences of travelling to 21 African countries over five years in her debut book Vagabond: Wandering Through Africa on Faith (2019).
Blackbird Books She dedicates her adventures to those who had gone before , including her grandparents who could only travel in their dreams . What motivates her is the freedom to wander from place to place and the possibility of knowing the world beyond what's around my corner .
She sees travel on the continent as giving her the opportunity to experience being black and African without disguising or denying myself to fit in .
2. Niq Mhlongo's blog Along with tales of book hustles, visa hassles, local brews and astounding sights, novelist Niq Mhlongo reflects on how the past and present connect through journeying in his energetic travel blog.
On his 4,459km trip through Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, he emphasises that African travel enables the retracing of the history of our people that has not been properly documented or told .
3. Hardly Working by Zukiswa Wanner A multi-country African journey with the thrills and spills of public transport is the story of novelist Zukiswa Wanner's Hardly Working: A Travel Memoir of Sorts (2018) - on one level. She is also on the road to teach her son about the continent beyond the realms of a textbook .
Black Letter Media As a child of exiled South African and Zimbabwean parents, she has been transnationally mobile since childhood, but imbues this trip with special importance. It marks her 40th birthday and four decades since the 1976 Soweto uprising.
Through her journeying, she powerfully links up personal and historic milestones to reflect on her own life and a nation that hasn't lived up to its post-apartheid promises.
4. Reclaiming Home by Lesego Malepe Reclaiming Home: Diary of a Journey through Post-Apartheid South Africa (2018) is by author and scholar Lesego Malepe.
She Writes Press She returns from decades in the US to criss-cross the country of her birth over 11 months.
During apartheid the many discriminatory laws made travel for a black person very difficult , so she explores every corner of South Africa for herself and in memory of her brother.
As a political prisoner on Robben Island off Table Bay, Cape Town, for 22 years, her brother was taunted by the view of Table Mountain and all that lay out of reach.
5. Rainbow Nation, My Zulu Arse by Sihle Khumalo Travel writer Sihle Khumalo takes to the road to write his first book about his native South Africa in Rainbow Nation, My Zulu Arse (2019). While he is known for his upbeat approach (his brawny debut was Dark Continent, My Black Arse in 2016), he starts this journey at apartheid's Sharpeville massacre site in contemplative mode.
Umuzi He strikes a note of looking back as part of moving forward and connects his travel to historical sites, among others, to try and grasp where the country's headed.
Khumalo's book is far from solemn though. It rants and raves across the spectacular terrain of nine provinces, bringing to life dusty towns, forgotten communities, bright lights and open horizons.
He accentuates that t
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
17/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
17/07/2026
Production workers at Brooklyn Bowl's Williamsburg location voted 15-1 to join IATSE Local 4. The bargaining unit covers 24 production workers at the venue,...
17/07/2026
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced an exclusive global strategic partners...
17/07/2026
Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a strategic integrati...
17/07/2026
Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a multi-year partnership with E...
17/07/2026
Spectrum Business has announced Spectrum TV Control Pro, a centralized app-based...
17/07/2026
Clark Wire and Cable has announced that Rick Fernandez, Managing Director of Axxion Consulting, will serve as Independent Manufacturers Representative for Centr...
17/07/2026
TikTok, the NBA, and the WNBA have announced a multi-year global content partnership covering highlights distribution, creator access to marquee events, live-ga...
17/07/2026
Company alleges article contained false and misleading claims regarding customer data...
17/07/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
17/07/2026
(L-R) Edward James Olmos, Luis Valdez, Lou Diamond Phillips and Lupe Valdez attend American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez Premiere during the 2026 Sundan...
17/07/2026
Full engine access with reduced soundset
Sonuscore have steadily been introducing a selection of reduced-cost and free versions of their flagship products r...
17/07/2026
Two new special-edition models revealed
Over the past week, Arturia have launched special-edition versions of both their premium MIDI controller and stage p...
17/07/2026
Original founder now back at the helm
In a message posted on his personal social media accounts, Dirk Ulrich has announced that both Plugin Alliance and Bra...
17/07/2026
Legendary presenter Anton Enus to sign off from SBS World News after 27 years wi...
17/07/2026
Millions rise before dawn to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-finals on SBS
17 July, 2026
Media releases
England v Argentina attracted a Total TV reach of a...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
Foundry Releases SmartRoto for Nuke
Brie Clayton July 17, 2026
0 Comments
Spline-based AI powered plugin accelerates time-consuming rotoscoping, helping...
17/07/2026
A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton July 17, 2026
0 Comments
SBIFF jury award winner finished fro...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
Lightware has published its second voluntary Sustainability Report, showing how energy efficiency, product longevity and responsible material use are increasing...
17/07/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced Griptape Enterprise, a new tier of the Griptape AI workflow orchestration platform, extended to meet the str...
17/07/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the availability of SmartRoto, a new AI-powered plugin upgrade for Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio, and Nuke Indie ...
17/07/2026
The Final Release of Blackmagic Fairlight Live is Now Available!
Brie Clayton July 16, 2026
0 Comments
Fairlight Live is a new audio mixer designed fo...
17/07/2026
Leveraging All of Entertainment's IP
Andy Marken July 16, 2026
0 Comments
Nobody ever wins the games. Period. There are survivors. There\s no win...
17/07/2026
From intimate acoustic settings to large-scale festival stages, her focus has remained constant: preserving the true natural voice of the violin in every perfor...
17/07/2026
New and returning series, live festival broadcasts, powerful documentaries and major sporting moments headline RT Radio 1's summer schedule
RT Radio 1 is...
17/07/2026
Think of a professional athlete. What separates elite performers is what happens...
17/07/2026
Up For The Match - Live From Croke Park this Saturday at 8pm on RT One and RT ...
17/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced DiscoverIreland.ie, as sponsor of The Traitor...
16/07/2026
Media organisations with tested plans for new products, services or revenue models can now apply for grants of up to 30,000 through the Business Innovation Syn...
16/07/2026
This recent graduate and Georgia native has turned an early fascination with live production into a growing passion for camera work
In the live-sports-video in...
16/07/2026
TNDV is marking the first anniversary of Aspiration 35, a mobile production truck built around ARRI Alexa 35 Live camera systems. Over its first year, the truck...
16/07/2026
ATSC has completed a major revision to its A/85 Recommended Practice: Techniques...
16/07/2026
FloSports has announced an exclusive global media partnership with CrossFit for the 2026 CrossFit Games, presented by Air National Guard, beginning July 21 in S...
16/07/2026
Sennheiser has released firmware version 1.4 for its Spectera wireless system and announced the Spectera Command Button (Cat. No. 701014). The update adds comma...
16/07/2026
ESPN and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) have announced a multi-year...
16/07/2026
Audio-Technica has announced the 20 Series Control Application, a Stream Deck plug-in for compatible Audio-Technica USB microphones. The application is compatib...
16/07/2026
The fifteenth season of The Voice - La plus belle voix on TF1 used four Solid St...
16/07/2026
Gray Media and the Atlanta Hawks have announced a broadcast partnership that wil...
16/07/2026
Season 3 of Netflix's docuseries, which dropped this week, follows Jayden Da...
16/07/2026
The Texas Rangers and Rangers Sports Network presented by Progressive (RSN) have announced BZZR as the new direct-to-consumer distributor for Rangers game broad...
16/07/2026
With England's FIFA World Cup 2026 team getting ready to fly home after losi...
16/07/2026
In a return to Royal Birkdale, the team enjoys partnering with ETP and Gravity M...
16/07/2026
Along with a new studio at Ball Arena, the Colorado-based RSN is working with XR...