Writing in the Masculine: Gertrude Lowthian Bell, Gender, and Empire

Succeeding as a woman in the male-dominated fields of archaeology, geography, and statecraft in the early twentieth century was an unusual achievement for Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), and her life seems at odds with stereotypes about the marginalization of and restrictions placed on women in this period. As a woman, Bell occupies one of the sandy margins of history, but as a white, aristocratic, educated, professional, British woman, her feet also rested on the firm foundations of the British Empire. Rather than rebel against gender convention, Bell employed masculine and imperialist strategies in her writing and career to place herself within communities of knowledge and power. Her travel narratives, government works, diaries, and letters reveal the careful navigation of gender and class expectations necessary to gain a unique position in the intellectual and imperial establishments of her time.