ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two early 19th-century travelogues authored by Mary Holderness that came after her travels in the Russian empire and four-year residence in a Crimean Tatar village. An attempt is made to show how her publications contributed to the contemporary knowledge collection on the Crimean Tatars and added to the mapping of Crimea marked so distinctly by its Oriental ‘otherness’. The chapter demonstrates the ethnographic focus of Holderness’s narrative and its strong colonial rhetoric. It is argued that her publications present a narrative of contradictory nature. By employing colonial rhetoric, Holderness supported Russia’s colonial project in Crimea and added to its justification. On the other hand, the narrative served as a medium through which the author undermined Russia’s colonial presence on the Crimean peninsula.
