Decolonizing Travel Narratives: A Feminist Perspective in Cate Kennedy's Sing and Don’t Cry

Abstract

This study examines Cate Kennedy's Sing and Don't Cry (2005) as a postcolonial female travel narrative, with a particular focus on how cross-cultural encounters subvert and reform colonial ideologies. The study uses qualitative, descriptive-analytical approach to examine the influence of direct engagement with Mexican culture on Kennedy’s conception of the Self and Other. The paper draws upon a postcolonial framework, including Orientalism (Said, 2003), Subaltern Theory (Spivak, 1988), and Hybridity (Bhabha, 2004), to explore how cross-cultural encounters contest dominant colonial attitudes. This paper uncovers different themes embedded within the narrative, including respect for the culture and traditions of the Other, the amplification of marginalized voices, and travel as a quest for identity to explore how direct encounters with Mexican culture influences her perspective on her homeland, Australia. Sing and Don't Cry demonstrates how postcolonial female travel narratives can transcend colonial and Eurocentric conventions into a more comprehensive and rich discourse in postcolonial travel literature. This study contributes to a greater appreciation of the female perspective in the travel writing genre.