Climbing beyond the summit - Social and global aspects of women's expeditions in the Himalayas
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Englisch
Original Tagungtitel:
ISHPES Congress 2014
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
A global aspect of the history of mountaineering is the fact that mountaineering has always been, and to a certain extent still is a gender biased sport. Since the beginnings of mountaineering the ideal climber was constructed along stereotyped masculine values and linked to heroic and nationalised discourses. In countries like Great Britain the new founded alpine clubs in the second half of the 19th century were considered as man-only associations. Even if women were not clearly excluded from membership as in many of the other national alpine clubs their places and roles remained marginalised until the end of the 20th century.
This paper discusses gender issues of high-altitude mountaineering from the 1950s to the present under global perspectives. As a starting point the present time is chosen to consequently look back to the past. Since February 2014 three Nepalese female climber promote their project of the ?first Nepalese women?s expedition to Mt K2 of Pakistan 2014? on Facebook. In July 1954 the second highest mountain of the world K2 in the Karakorum was reached for the first time by an Italian team. In July 2014 the 60th anniversary of this event is celebrated. In order to look closer on historical development of women-only teams in the Himalaya the social and global implications and self-presentations of the endeavour shall be reflected. How did the strategy of women?s only-teams change within the last 60 years? How did the impact of mountaineering tourism influence politics of gender in areas of ?thin air??