MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.84, ss.130-138, 2009 (AHCI)
Georg Forster (1754-1794) joined the second voyage of Captain Cook (1772-1775) when he was only eighteen. Upon his return from this three-year expedition, Forster compiled his impressions and thoughts in a two-volume book, Reise um die Welt, (1777). Forster's extensive study contributed to the Enlightenment travel literature in terms of both form and content. Another important point is that because such travel literature coincided with the discovery and exploration of the entire world, literary works can be considered as the primary sources indicating (interaction and) exchange among different cultures*. Forster, in his book, touches upon many cultural problems that are discussed today in relation to globalization, introduces new perspectives into the concept of culture, and criticizes the Western-centred attitude and discourse of the Europeans, who regarded the other non-western cultures as (barbarian and) inferior to theirs