The Alps and Asia / Asia and the Alps. Interconnected mountain regions?

An international congress in Bern and Fribourg.

In the year 1960, the expedition of a dozen of Swiss mountaineers onto the Dhaulagiri, a Himalayan Mountain that peaks at 8167 meters, becomes a sensation among the public well beyond the Swiss borders. The expedition combines scientific exploration and sporting performance and makes the most out of the means available at the time to get to the foothills of the Himalayan peaks as quickly as possible, such as the "Yeti" aircraft, used to transport equipment to expedition camps 1 and 2.

This venture -which remains unique to our days- uncovers the human effort of conquest directed at various mountain ranges. Quite emblematically, the use of helicopter or airplanes, which were previously tested in the Alps, demonstrates the transnational circulation of modern technologies onto mountainous terrains. For this reason, such highly mediatized events reveal that mountains have, within just a few decades, become extremely interconnected spaces: if the 1950s represent a milestone for the big and carefully organized expeditions aiming at Himalayan peaks, the European presence, as well as the Asian one (of people coming from other regions of this vast continent), dates back to the 19th century. Other traces of this interconnections are semantic: the spread of words such as “Alps” (with, notably, the presence of “Alps” in Japan and in New Zealand) or “Alpinism” (whose meaning has been reclaimed in South Korea designating a philosophy turning around mountaineering activities) confirm these exchanges and transfers brought by the ascensionist circles, which have internationalized their activities on a massive scale. 

Having established this, the international colloquium “The Alps and Asia / Asia and the Alps. Interconnected mountain regions?” wants to dig deeper into these exchange processes, focusing onto the environmental, scientific, sporting and touristic stakes involved. Touching different mountainous geographical areas of the Asian continent (particularly the Japanese Alps, the Himalayas, the Ladakh Range, and the Pamir Mountains), the aim is to shed light onto the circulation of people, ideas, knowledge, goods and symbolic objects that have occurred during the 19th and 20th century between the Alpine regions and Asian mountains. More precisely, our aim is to study the different kinds of transfer that have taken place between these eastern or far-eastern mountainous regions and the Alpine ones, on a symmetric or asymmetric way. 

There are two main objectives: 

• Firstly, to interrogate the chronology and the networks of actors involved in these exchange processes (expeditions and/or other activities), more closely analyzing their reciprocal benefits, the hierarchies that were formed between them and the power-dynamics (or domination-dynamics) that are revealed through the evolution of the representation of the other. 
• Secondly, to analyse the concrete effects that these exchanges have had onto the conception and representation of mountain spaces, their depiction spanning between being spaces to conquer, to exploit or environments to protect. 

It will be given particular attention, taking a historical approach, to place these sport, socio-economic or political exchanges into their specific context, be it the Cold War or the unfolding process of decolonization. 

This international colloquium is part of the project “The Globalization of the Alps. From the Landscape to the Environment (« La mondialisation des Alpes. Du paysage à l’environnement »)” which is currently being carried on at the University of Fribourg (CH) for the period 2022-2026. This project especially aims at historically evaluating how, at what pace, by whom and with which goals the globalization process of the Alps during the 20th century has unfolded. The main focus will be on studying the tensions existing between the construction of an identity of the mountainous regions and the ever-stronger interconnections between them. 

Inspired by Global (or connected) history works, we want to invite colleagues coming from various regions of the World to come and share their point of view and exchange their knowledge, expertise, and current research. The aim here is to take advantage of Switzerland’s favorable position as a crossroads for a history of transnational circulations, conceived in a mountain environment open beyond the Alpine arc alone, conducive to exchanges and outside views. In this sense the program of these scientific days has been built to favor the multiplication of contacts, points of view and collaborations between contributions coming from specialists of extra-European history, and research linked to scientific institutions based in Switzerland: 

• Alpine Museum Bern (Alpines Museum),
• Interdisciplinary Mountain Research Center of the University of Lausanne
• The Sport Sciences Institute of the University of Lausanne.
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Discover the congress programme : here

The colloquium will take place at the Alpine Museum (10th of June) and at the University of Fribourg (11th of June). The goal is to assemble the highest possible number of participants that can attend in person. In case of issues of any sort, a system of distant meeting using Zoom will be organized. 

On the margin of the conferences, a “Japanese Evening” will take place on the 10th of June, which will allow the participants to continue the exchanges started during the panels in another form but still in the frame of a public event. More info

The working language of the colloquium will be English.

Registrations should be sent by e-mail to philippe.vonnard@unil.ch by 1 June, with a copy to: maurizio.raselli@unifr.ch. 

• Conférence

• Congress programme