"Roda el món i torna al Born" : geografies imaginàries dels viatgers catalans al Caire (1889-1934)

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, an emerging Catalan bourgeoisie started to emulate the cultural behavior of other European elites in all those elements that increasingly became a sign of class distinctiveness like traveling to exotics places. Egypt and more concretely Cairo became one the most privileged destinations. The main purpose of this paper is to present the images of Cairo that appeared in the travel narratives of some of those Catalan travelers and analyze the relationship between the process of group identity construction in the context of colonial expansion and the beginning of tourist activities and businesses.