"The Alps are a light. They teach, and help you capture the solidarity of the globe." - Jules Michelet, La montagne, Paris, 1885, p. 41
The mountain, as Michelet pointed out, is always an initiation, but it is no less a school per se. A mountain teaches, informs and educates those who are ready to listen. The mountain is a teacher inasmuch as it permanently dispenses lessons on nature and on itself to anyone who experiences it. From time immemorial, it has been a space of adjustment if not, perhaps, also a space of innovation. For this reason, the mountain becomes a territory taught in and for its material and human reality.
What sort of societies does the mountain produce through its teachings? What exactly does the mountain teach and in what way does it stand as a sort of school of thought? What role does nature –harsh, wild and laid bare, as it were – play in this teaching? Is it the specific place itself, vertical and mineral, that hones our sensibilities? Is it its hazardous nature that incites the bold and dooms the reckless? Is it its diversity and its variability, exacerbated by the contrast of its altitudinal zonation and highly-defined seasons, which continuously refresh our view? One thing is certain: it is purely through their ability to learn a lesson from the environment that men are able to survive in it, if not to enjoy it, even to thrive in it. But what mountains are taught? What realities of nature and of mountain societies are being communicated? What use is made of this teaching? And what development plans, what educational plans, what values is it expected to convey?
This ISAH Conference aims to bring together knowledge from all possible fields. Thus, it aims to show, over the long period (Middle Ages – 21st century) and from a broader view of the territory (deep-rooted but no less open to the outside, especially through mobility), how and why the mountain, defying the tyranny of the environment, or perhaps driven by it, has always been a training space, as much for body and soul as it for the senses, for the individual as much as for the community. In this respect, through adjustment dynamics bound to be put in place in the various periods, depending on the economic, political, social and cultural contexts, mountain regions may equally become a role model for other regions, influence them and turn into subject matters. The conference shall address issues related to renewals – visible or not visible depending on different temporalities – of forms and modalities stemming from these teachings.
Papers on other mountains of the globe are welcomed, too. Indeed, the Alps can be a privileged laboratory; but not the only one for this approach.
Besides, it is a matter of calling not merely on the scientific knowledge, but more broadly on all fields of knowledge associated with a place or specific educational context.
Day 1: Mountain as teacher: The school-mountain or «the mountain’s my teacher»
During the first day, centred around the mountain as a forge for specific areas of knowledge, a space for innovation and adjustment, we will tackle the various categories of knowledge provided by mountains. Without pretending to be exclusive or exhaustive, let us mention, for example, “indigenous” forms of knowledge, such as risk culture, preservation and thrifty use of resources, military know-how (cartography, battle training, ...), knowledge relating to body-physical sports-performance... or again the mountain as a university of life with youth organisations, or more recently the mountain as post- cancer place of healing. Likewise, we will look at the mountain not only as a supplier of knowledge, but also as a factor in the development of academic institutions ...
Day 2: The mountain as is taught
The second day will centre around another set of topics, including the specific nature of small mountain schools as well as the latest places of education and training, such as sport-studies high schools, the EMHM, the PGHM, or more specialised institutions (e.g., École des Houches, ....). We will also turn our attention to some institutions where the mountain is taught either as an academic subject or in view of development, and/or where the mountain is adopted as a source and means of information and education (nature reserves, conservatories, museums, ...).
To put forward a paper, please submit title and an abstract (2500 characters incl. spaces) by 31 January 2022 to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Image by Eberhard Grossgasteiger
