Narratives of Plague in Arab Societies through the Lens of Select Western Travelers

To examine the narratives of plagues in Arab societies, paper, along with postcolonial perspectives, uses concepts like ‘empathy’ or ‘detached concern’ to bring fresh and new understanding travel texts. It selected John Antes’ Observations on Manners Customs Egyptians, Overflowing Nile its Effects (1800) Richard F. Burton’s Personal Narrative a Pilgrimage El-Medinah Meccah (1857) for study. The paper analyses their understand approaches describing ‘native’ societies. key findings show that while Burton tends construct people culture as ‘the Other’ although his mode presentation follow concern’, Antes is, other hand, more objective but stood by plague-infected empathy. these Western travellers considered concept predestination, lack quarantine, sanitation, mass gatherings during plague, unscientific local treatments root causes spread among ‘natives’.