Monthly Archives: April 2016

Week 14

The detailed account by Said defines orientalism as India and the Biblical lands of the Middle East. The term, “Oriental”, was used to describe the Middle East and it’s near and far surroundings. Said shows the point of view that the West held about the East, including the political, historical, and cultural views. The Orient is…

Orient and Postcolonialism – Week 14

Reading Response for week 14 Bryant Lymburn This weeks reading focused upon the chapter provided on orientalism and an article discussing the postcolonialism in the climbing culture. Both ideas provide issues and points of interest based on the context in which they are both used. In the first article on orientalism there is very overly…

Post Colonialism

Although Climbing Mount Everest: Post Colonialism in the culture of ascent, may be considered informative to some, at this point in the class there was little that Slemon wrote that this class has not already discussed at length. The subject of the ownership of Mount Everest is not so cut and dry. At the expense of…

Postcolonialism and Orientalism

The ideas put forth in both of the readings for this week are a lot to bite off. Though there are some difficult concepts in these writings, I believe there are a couple of key ideas to take away and consider in mountaineering. The first idea I want to discuss is one that Slemon writes…

Week 14

There is a lot to sift through this week from the readings. Orientalism and post colonialism thoughts are some pretty heavy matters to digest in one week. However there are elements of both are found in the other. Orientalism is a very odd thing when I think about it. It is basically the breakdown of…

Beyond the Edge (Film Review)

In 1953, bankrupt and decimated post war Britain was in ruins with its empire crumbling. Yet, the Empire would bind together one last time and achieve an incredible feet that may have been thought to be impossible. Britain allowed two men to ascend into the heavens themselves and stand on the highest place in the…

(Not) another Jon Krakauer

While I may be alone in this sentiment, tones of this book’s introduction reminded me of Into Thin Air, namely the dramatic buildup to the “but that’s not really how it happened” blow. This may not be coincidence, as David Roberts was for some time a close mentor and teacher of Jon Krakauer at Hampshire College.…

True Summit: What REALLY Happened

The entire time I was reading this book, all I kept thinking was…mic drop. In True Summit, David Roberts reveals the truth of what really happened when Maurice Herzog summited Annapurna on June 3, 1950. Robert’s does a great job starting off the book by re-introducing the summit events the way it was told by…

True Summit

So it would seem that Herzog’s account of his famed 1950’s expedition was malarky positing him as the hero and complete leader of this tight well-oiled climbing machine. Naturally his exploits were that of heroic lore which would forever cement him within French climbing history and secure him in a nice cushy political job for…