KARACHI: A block-buster guest speaker session was held at Iqra University’s Main Campus here featuring Lucie Azema, a renowned French traveller and author.
She shared insights into her journey and experiences as a traveller, particularly highlighting the challenges faced by women in this field.
The profundity of the brain-storming session was further enhanced by the presence of Dr. Iffet Sultana and Dr. Huzaifa Sarfraz, who contributed to the discussion with their perspectives.
Lucie engaged the audience with her inspiring narratives, shedding light on the societal barriers and personal obstacles women travellers encounter.
The event concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session, where students actively participated, demonstrating their keen interest in the topic.
This event provided a valuable platform for dialogue on gender dynamics in travel and encouraged students to explore the world beyond conventional boundaries.
Azema’s debut book, Les Femmes aussi sont du voyage: L’emancipation par le depart (2021), challenges the traditionally male-dominated narrative of travel literature. She emphasizes that while men have historically been predicted as explorers. Women were often portrayed as passive figures awaiting their return.
Azema advocates for travel as a means of emancipation for women, highlighting that statistically, the home poses more dangers to women than the open road. She brings to light the stories of overlooked female explorers, such as Alexandra David-Néel, Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and Isabelle Eberhardt, who defied societal norms to embark on their own journeys.
In 2022, she published her second book, L’usage du thé: Une histoire sensible du bout du monde, which delves into the cultural and historical significance of tea. Azema traces the journey of tea from its origins in China to its global dissemination, exploring its dual symbolism as a representation of both travel and domesticity. The title pays homage to Nicolas Bouvier’s L’Usage du Monde.
Born in 1989, Lucie Azema is known for her feminist perspectives on travel and adventure narratives. From a young age, she was captivated by the works of Jules Verne and Alexandra David-Neal, which ignited her passion for exploration. In 2011, Azema moved to Beirut, Lebanon, to pursue her studies. She later resided in India, where she contributed to Courrier International’s expat blog, and subsequently lived in Turkey and Iran. As of 2023, she divides her time between France and Turkey. Throughout her career, Lucie Azema has been a vocal advocate for redefining the concept of travel through a feminist lens, encouraging women to embark on their own adventures and reshape the narratives surrounding exploration.
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At Alishba’s:
Newspakistan.tv
