Vagabonding audio companion: Why (and how) travel souvenirs matter

Deviate with Rolf Potts

“A souvenir can be anything from a travel experience that honors a certain moment in your life, certifies the journey that took you there, and celebrates the confluence of people and places and actions that made it possible.” – Rolf Potts

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Suzanne talk about the ways souvenirs help narrate our travel experiences (2:00); the five different historical categories of travel souvenirs (7:30); the old trend of collecting hair and bones from famous people (15:00); what kinds of souvenirs are popular with travelers (20:00); which souvenirs Rolf sought when he visited Australia, and how some souvenirs make less sense when you get them home (24:30); then Rolf and Gina talk about childhood travel souvenirs (30:00); how photographs are a kind of souvenir, and how they create different memories than objects (36:00); and how the notion of “authenticity” in regard to souvenirs can be complicated (40:00).

Suzanne Hill is the presenter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Weekend Nightlife.”

Gina Kaufmann is an essayist and radio journalist, most recently at KCUR, the NPR affiliate in Kansas City.

Notable Links:

• Souvenir, by Rolf Potts (book)
• One Month on the Mekong, by Rolf Potts (essay)
• Grand Tour (17th- to 19th-century European travel rite)
• British Museum (public museum in London)
• Elgin Marbles (ancient Greek sculptures)
• Boxer Rebellion (anti-colonial uprising in China)
• Henry Crabb Robinson (19th century English diarist)
• John Keats (English Romantic poet)
• John Milton (English poet and intellectual)
• On Seeing a Lock of Milton’s Hair (Keats poem)
• Rue Mouffetard (street in Paris)
• Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show (convention)
• World’s Columbian Exposition (world’s fair in Chicago)
• Omiyage (Japanese souvenir rite)
• Día de los Muertos (Mexican holiday)
• Père Lachaise (cemetery in Paris)
• Neil Armstrong (astronaut)
• Auschwitz (Nazi concentration camp in Poland)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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