The topic of Post colonialism is a very hefty topic which no surprise came with a slightly hefty reading.  In the sense that it is a stretching topic that has roots, most obviously, in earlier themes such as, no surprise, colonialism.  The readings from these week highlighted this very well and showed a range of differing ideas on the topic of post colonialism.

The first idea that I found very intriguing was the idea of naming places and locations.  While a name can seem harmless and innocent enough through the article by Slemon one can see that naming held a lot of weight and that it was used more often than not as a means of taking away a significant cultural location such as Everest and naming it in a western way in order to lay claim to the mountain.  Indeed, one can see through the text by Slemon that the naming of mountains and subsequent climbing of the mountain was a very colonial action and this is shown in both articles through the idea of nationally funded climbing expeditions.  I found it extremely interesting in the Slemon article as well that when Hilary finally climbed the worlds tallest mountain there is very little mention of Tenzig who was his loyal climbing companion.

In addition to this thought many Europeans it would seem, the French and British especially as we have discussed, used ownership of areas whether economically or literally as way of exerting colonial might.  If one could climb the highest mountain or claim that their nation has climbed this exotic mountain or that oriental mountain it would seem, as both texts suggest, that they were ordained by a higher force to be a great nation. It is interesting as well that the original definition of Orientalism was not the same as it is today, but rather was used to describe Europe’s closer Asian neighbors and to a greater extent those in the greater Asian area that were not Christian and it is once again that idea of naming that holds so much power.  It gave the greater Asian people an identity in the eyes of the European cultures that allowed for them to generalize many different cultures and move forward with their mountaineering and colonial efforts.  It seems that were it not for this name that they would have not had power, however, this also begs the question of did the name hold the power or the context in which it was used and stated which for Said it would seem that the latter was crucial to defining Asian cultures and to mountaineering.  It seems that many of the events, the major ones at least, within the sport of mountaineering coincide with a major event of colonial conquest or a significant occurrence when it comes to mountaineering.  Indeed, without many colonial expeditions it would seem that Said would suggest that many of the mountaineering “conquests” that occurred in the greater Asian area would have not occurred because they were spared on by colonial thought and actions.  It is through these examples that one can see the significance of post colonialism in mountaineering.