International Mountaineering while Talking about Emotions
By looking at the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA, or International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), an international organization created in 1932 “to promote mountaineering and climbing worldwide,” this chapter explores the “moral economy” of internationalism, or the dynamics through which internationalist groups used feelings to attribute moral values to specific beliefs and behaviors. It demonstrates that the UIAA used emotions to promote both its image and its mission. It presented alpinism as a means to engender “friendship” among nations, mimicking the League of Nations’ rhetoric and activities in this period. It also employed emotions as a tool to manage its relationships and as an essential ingredient to stage its events (e.g. international congresses and exhibitions). As such, it inaugurated a set of ideas and practices which would become normative in the subsequent decades.