After over two decades spent studying and representing North African and Middle Eastern cultures, in 2011 EmmaLucy decided to sell everything she owned in order to spend six weeks with a Bedouin tribe in Sinai, learning Arabic and researching local culture. Two years later she finally left, not only having gained a ginger Bedouin cat (called Bryan) and a myriad of stories, but also witnessing first-hand some of the ways in which marginalised groups can be misrepresented.
With this habit of visiting places and forgetting to leave, she has developed the concept of
Downward Exploration: rather than travelling long distances and seeing many places superficially, this type of exploration allows us to focus in-depth on communities and local environments, learning about the cultures, habits, food and history – and forming connections which allow for deeper understanding and more ethical representations.
In 2018 EmmaLucy attended the
Adventure Travel Film Festival in London and decided that motorcycles could be a powerful tool for connecting with people in marginalised cultures; crossing gender divides and enabling mobility and independence whilst on the road researching. She passed her test within a few months, bought a Triumph, and began exploring. She has presented talks at events such as the
Overland Event UK about the joys and challenges of being a solo woman researcher, explorer and biker.
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Show notes
- Who is EmmaLucy and what does she do
- Her early life growing up and spending time in the outdoors
- Not being sporty
- Doing a degree in Fine Art and a Masters in English Literature
- Being interested in Nomadic Groups
- Being inspired by the English Patient book
- Being invited to spend time in Egypt
- Bedouin culture
- Her passion for learning languages
- Learning Arabic for the past 12 years
- Going for 6 weeks and ending up staying for 2 years
- Not being able to earn money in 2008 in the UK
- Selling everything she owned and doing some basic teaching to earn money
- Living in Sinai and what day to day life was like
- Living in a hut by the edge of the red sea
- Wifi
- Deciding to move back to the UK
- Studying for her PhD at the University of Bristol
- The concept of downward exploration
- Wanting to learn more by going back to the same places
- Writing (reflective and observational) while travelling
- Film and photography
- What adventure means to EmmaLucy
- Learning how to ride a motorbike before her 40th birthday
- Handling challenging situations
- Vicarious Festival - Celebrating cultural diversity through travel literature and photography.
- Getting into sports, health and fitness
- Figuring out what she enjoyed and what felt good
- Food and culture
- Becoming a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS)
- Coping during Covid and not being able to travel
- Funding this lifestyle
- Final words of advice and learning how to say no
- Refine and create your own story
- Don’t judge yourself
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