The Italian Mountain: 60 years of change, challenges and gaze at K2

October 23, 4:30pm - 6:30pm
Mānoa Campus, Crawford 105

Before mountaineering became technologized and commodification made it profane, mountaineering was a “sacred” act. This seminar explores the nature of pilgrimage(s) to and gaze at K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth. Explorers Club Fellow Guido Carlo Pigliasco will begin looking back at his late great-uncle Professor Ardito Desio whose perseverance led to the conquest of the “savage mountain” on July 31, 1954. A particular attention will be given to the climate of post-war Italy torn between the “geographical mania” of Europe’s recent past and a need for national and international cultural and scientific resurrection. Sixty years later in a post-explorer era, Explorers Club Fellow Suzanne Finney will discuss the role of the Explorers Club today, and its field awards to provide seed money to inspire larger funding sources to young explorers. Kathryn Besio will address how mountaineering once the feat of great adventurers has become a remnant of history, as postmodern adventurers distance themselves from their own civilization subverting the politics of representation. Juxtaposing these moments, Joy Logan will explore how similarly to K2 the experience and adrenaline rush in contemporary andinismo on Aconcagua (Argentina) commodifies climbing’s odd symbiosis of pilgrimage and ritual in the post-adventure tourism industry. The seminar will conclude with the K2 travelogues and photography of Hawaii based freelance travel photographer and mountaineer Guy Sibilla.

o Kathryn Besio, Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Hilo
o Guido Carlo Pigliasco, Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
o Joy Logan, Department of Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas, University of Hawaii at Manoa
o Suzanne Finney, Department of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii, West Oahu
o Guy Sibilla, freelance travel photographer

~ Co-Sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Critical Tourism Studies Asia-Pacific Consortium and the Explorers Club~


Event Sponsor
Geography , Mānoa Campus

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