Discursive Practices Used for Managing Conflict in Travel Memoirs

Travel writing about intercultural interactions sheds light on the conflict faced by the author in a foreign environment. The conflict caused by differences of cultures and unfamiliar ways of living is a recurring issue which the authors who produced works on travel writing deal with, experience and reflect on. In narratives, the use of specific discursive practices appear to function for especially managing such kinds of conflict. This paper focuses on using subversive humour and pathos in the travel memoir extracts of four Turkish women authors published in the memoir collection titled Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women (Lambert-Hurley et al, 2022). An evaluation of the intercultural encounters reflected by the four Turkish authors reveals that humour and pathos are often used together not only as literary devices but also as discursive practices for managing conflict. These practices of managing conflict are both used in challenging communication incidents with members of a foreign culture and as a criticism device in reflections on certain social occasions. The paper presents examples of the use of humour and pathos for managing conflict under the themes of reflections on female identity, facing disappointment and appreciation of experiencing a new culture.