... writing, the concept of "human contact" is strongly weighted towards cultural understanding and social acceptance. In this way, it can be argued that the trip from Dakar to Djibouti undertaken in this novel was basically flawed from its outset. The very nature of this journey, undertaken with the grace and financial guidance of the French aristocracy and closely linked to the colonial administration in Africa, could not possibly allow anything more than physical proximity to any visited tribe. Leiris was genuinely beholden "to his nation and class, and the preservation of their interests"1. All was undertaken within a colonial framework. This sense of being indebted to the French upper classes was intensified by the fact Leiris came from such an area of society. It seems for the most part of this book that the group as a whole surveyed their surroundings with a sense of "conquistador" binarism. The idea is ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now