Bodies in networks: steamship mobilities and travel between Europe and Asia, 1869–1891

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to analyse experiences associated with steamship mobilities in the years 1869–1891, with focus on voyages to and from Asia via the Suez Canal. The source base includes lesser-known texts written by Polish, Russian, Serbian, and Indian authors that are examined using a twofold approach. The first is focused on the macroscale, scrutinising the networks in which travellers functioned, including other communication technologies and imperial webs. The second is focused on the microscale, on bodily experiences of travellers: how did they characterize their bodily position on board of the ship and factors which influenced it, as well as how did they describe their sensuous impressions.

Keywords:

• Bodies
• mobility
• networks
• steamship
• transit
• travel writing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All translations into English are my own, unless stated otherwise.

2 The history of those ships shows how globalized and networked was steamship economy. Nizhnyy Novgorod first belonged to a German company Hamburg-Amerikanischen Packetfahrt AG (then it was called Saxonia), it was bought for Volunteer Fleet in 1878. In 1879 it was adapted for a function of a prison ship in France at started serving on the route from Odessa to Vladivostok (Yuvachev 2016, 481–482).

3 In the 19th century steamships were still equipped with sails in order to increase the speed and save coal.

4 For the application of Schivelbusch’s concept of panoramic perception to steamships, see Stafford (2017); Wall (1992).