1. Eileen Power (1925) Pekin, Time and Tide, 2 January 1925, p. 15. Power's poem was twice reprinted in the feminist weekly. It appeared in Time and Tide, 8 June 1928, on the occasion of the fall of Beijing to ‘nationalist’ forces during the Civil War with an accompanying editorial note, “In view of the evacuation of Pekin by Marshall Chang Tso-lin, this poem … seems to us of sufficient topical interest to warrant re-publication”. The poem was reprinted again, 17 August 1940, upon the occasion of Power's death. I would like to thank the women's History Review referees for their helpful comments and suggestions
2. The line of inquiry and interpretation of this article differs significantly from the approach of two recent studies of Power's journey. In her recent biography of Power, economic historian [1996]MaxineBerg A Woman in History Cambridge University PressCambridge1996traces the significant persons, events and milieux in Power's life and career as a woman in the historical profession. Emphasising Power's contribution to the shaping of a particular mode of economic history in the inter-war period, Berg's discussion of Power in her chapter, ‘Travelling east’, repeats Power's narrative as it appears in her diary and in correspondence to friends in Britain without critical consideration of the nature of auto/biographical constructions of ‘self’ and the divergent representations of self offered by Power in her travel writings. In contrast to Berg's empiricist reading of Power's work, this article explores the ways in which Power's travel in Asia, particularly within empire, disrupts identity and subjectivity – breaking the narrative of self and history. In addition, this article positions Power's writing in relation to recent critiques of gender, travel writing and imperialism in order to understand better Power's contribution to the construction of historical (and imperial) knowledge in the first half of the twentieth century. Billie Melman's article (1996) Under the Western historian's eyes: Eileen Power and the early feminist encounter with colonialism, History Workshop Journal, 42, pp. 147-168 invokes Power's journey in Asia as a case study instrumental to her argument for a feminist ‘alternative narrative’ and ‘supplementary’ history of colonialism. Melman offers an unmediated reading of Power's Diary and Report, representing them as a unified whole and repeating Power's narrative as given, undermining the epistemological foundation of her own argument. This article differs from both Berg's conventional biographical reading and Melman's instrumentalist argument by focusing upon issues of subjectivity, identity, history and narrativity
3. PowerEileen Report to the Trustees of the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship Privately printedLondon1922 ‘Tour du Monde, 1920-1921’, four private diary notebooks of her journey (henceforth referred to as Diary). I am grateful to Lady Cynthia Postan, executor of the estate for allowing me to consult and to quote from Power's Diary; correspondence Eileen Power to G. G. Coulton, 1920-21; Eileen Power papers, Archives, Girton College Library
4. The metaphor of the kaleidoscope is suggested byIsraelKaliWriting inside the kaleidoscope: re-representing Victorian women public figures Gender and History 199024048
5. Carolyn Heilbrun offers a brilliant summary of the multiplicity of viewpoints. See HeilbrunCarolyn Writing a Woman's Life NortonNew York1988Liz Stanley (1990) Moments of writing: is there a feminist auto/biography? Gender and History, 2, pp. 58-67; andStanleyLiz The Auto/Biographical I: theory and practice of feminist auto/biography Manchester University PressManchester1992Kali Israel, ibid. Recent works which inform this argument includeSpivakChakravortyGayatriWho claims alterity Remaking History KrugerBarbaraMarianiPhilBay PressSeattle1989Kathleen Barry (1989) Biography and the search for women's subjectivity, women's Studies International Forum, 12, pp. 75-106; Lines: theorizing women's autobiography BrodzkiBellaSchenckCelesteCornell University Press1988 De/Colonizing the Subject: the politics of gender in women's autobiography SmithSidonieWatsonJulia1992Politics of gender in women's autobiography Telling women's Lives Wagner-MartinLindaRutgers University PressNew Brunswick1994HidalgoPilarAre you writing fact or fiction? In (: All Sides of the Subject IlesTheresaTeachers College Press, Athene Press SeriesNew York1992 Essays on Life Writing: from genre to critical practice KadarMarleneUniversity of Toronto PressToronto1992 Autobiography and Anthropology OkelyJudithCallawayHelenRoutledgeLondon1992