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World Museum of Mountains: |
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Herbert Arlt (Wien) [Bio]
Email: arlt@inst.at
The research project „World Project of the Mountains“ was started in the year 1998 with a international cultural seminar. Today it is both a regional and a transnational project and is based on a contract dated 15.7.2009 between the Kabardino-Balkarian State University (KBSU) (1) and the INST (2). The following took part on the platform at the presentation before the scientific council of the KBSU: the current prime minister of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), Mr. Murat T. Tchasaplishev, the current minister of education and science of the KBR, Prof.Dr.habil. Safarbi Ch. Shchapsoev, the rector of the KBSU, Prof.Dr. Barasbi S. Karamursow, as well as the Scientific Director of the INST, Dr. Herbert Arlt.
The research project „World Museum of the Mountains“ is regionally connected with the Elbrus, the Elbrus-Region, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), the Caucasus and transnationally, not only with a new relationship of the Caucasus to Europe and to a globalization with a humane face. It is transnational in particular with the social developments, which are called „knowledge societies” by UNESCO. The project is not at all limited to a building with a permanent exhibition, which is actualized by further exhibitions, seminars, conferences, research projects, a series of books, films and a platform on the world wide web, but is constituted as a global network of knowledge, which includes the entire region with its nature and culture, as well as research networks and publicities globally. (3)
An essential characteristic of the project is that it is supported by a university - the Kabardino-Balkarian State University (KBSU) - and a research institute - the INST - which are conscious of the importance of science and research for social developments, which concentrate on basic research, but reflect at the same time, what benefit societies will derive from their insights. (4)
Some of the elements of the project, which are part of the basic research, are at present questions about languages, literatures, arts, but also about water, eating, drinking, architecture, the health implications of mountain tours above 4000 m (medicine of heights), the kind of mountain tours (training of mountain guides), cosmic rays, the stars – or in general culture in the sense of a transformation of the world by human beings. These are some of the questions, which were raised at the beginning of the project in a process which is meant to continue for many years, and which will not end with the opening of the world museum as a regional institution in the framework of the Olympics, in February 2014, but which is envisaged as a sustainable process. Its constitution has started with the cultural expedition of the INST and the conference in the Elbrus-region from the 3. to the 20.7.2009 and especially with the signing of the contract which has put the work of many years into a new context.
The term basic research is understood within the context of our research project „World Museum of the Mountains“ as the question „what is the case?“. On the other hand it is obvious that this research will also produce results which are useful. But against the trend of today’s (especially industrial and state) research organizations we take our departure from the insight, that the way to ask for an immediate usefulness is the wrong one, even if the intention is to achieve a high benefit at low cost. How can anything be useful, if it does not correspond to reality? Is the current crisis not precisely the expression of such a mis-orientation of acquiring knowledge for which a result has to be already formulated in the research proposal? Is the steering of research by particular interests precisely that which is unproductive for the reasons which have been elaborated for thousands of years? And did the productivity of research not develop precisely because its fight for freedom was successful? Doesn’t the expense of administration, whose rules more and more become the concern of researchers, everything about this misguided development?
Admittedly there are scientific discoveries about that which is useful. But their application is part of a process which changes the scientific discoveries themselves. (Therefore they are not useful for administrative prescriptions, as administrations always take the past as the basis of their prescriptions.) The project, on the contrary, in the sense of permanent innovation in the framework of processes based on scientific discoveries, has an immediate material meaning for the university, the region, the republic, the Northern Caucasus, as well as the non-profit-making INST. And this immediate importance for the Elbrus region is related to the concept of “cultural tourism” (5), while we are dealing in the relation of the region and research with a new social weighting of research, which also has to be put on a new material basis. For the profit from these discoveries will flow to agriculture, the economy (cable railway, hotels, airlines etc.) and the state. Therefore the costs of the work done by not for profit organizations, like the KBSU and the INST have to be covered by them –as well as by international financing (as is customary).
Differing from mass tourism which destroys nature, the looks, the traditional infrastructure of a region, and thus undermines its usefulness or even puts it totally at risk, cultural tourism can open up a new way of relating to nature, give regional culture the means to present itself, to develop, to open up new markets to agriculture and the food industry (6), as they undertake a transformation and generally create work for the people of the region in many ways. Cultural tourism is therefore not conceived as the tourism of few, who explore the world as they did in the 18th century, when tourism became a new way of find out about the world and the word “tourist” was invented. Rather “pioneers of tourism” such as Lermontov, Pushkin or today Reinhold Messner have shown new ways with their descriptions (even if they did not plan it that way and the consequences only became visible later). Amongst those descriptions we find the ascents to Elbrus, which did not only value the Elbrus as a mountain, but created a new understanding of Europe, where the cultural relationships were of fundamental importance. (7)
The constitution and the development of cultural tourism is only possible by another choice of words, rhetoric and design. It presupposes knowledge, formation of conceptions, action strategies, which are based on basic discoveries of nature and society and an interaction between human beings, which includes diverse things (above all ability to communicate with others on the basis of the knowledge of languages and cultures). In this context it is important that the Kabardino-Balkarian State University (KBSU) has the potential in many respects to contribute essentially to the development of the region and to become a centre of new European relations.
It seems important, as far as its history is concerned that it wanted to develop from a tertiary institution for pedagogies towards a university and today basic research is its essential goal. (8) The university is related immediately to the region: with its people, with a hotel (which also serves as a conference centre), an observatory, a great number of institutes, which are concerned with the Balkarian language and history, Kaberdinian traditions, ecology, architecture, (endangered) animals, mountain climbing, hiking trails, but also with many languages, literatures, arts, sciences and researches of the world. Its researchers have hiked through the region and contributed in many ways with most modern research (e.g. nano-research since the fifties) to collect new insights, which are of far-reaching importance. And it is their basic concern to enter into a more intensive exchange with the world at large. It thus fulfils the central social function of a university – though very much younger than the University of Cairo – which Barack Obama spoke about in his address „Remarks by the President on a new Beginning“: „you represent the harmony between tradition and progress“. A social function of the university which Barack Obama emphasized in the first paragraph of his address which was noted all over the world, and which seems to be true for all institutions of knowledge production, if they meet their obligations.
But it is not so much the institutions as such which are essential, but the people who do research and who involve themselves heavily in research. The longtime rector of the university, the professor of physics, Prof. Dr. Habil. Barasbi S. Karamursow, is such a personality, who through their vision and their involvement can bring about innovations not only for the KBSU but also for the region. He was re-elected for a further five years as rector in June 2009 and is therefore available as a partner until the World-museum of the Mountains is opened as a regional institution in 2014, and without whom the project could not have been started. He is at the same time chairman of the Russian Universities and as such fills an important social function. However, Prof. Dr. Raschid Alikajew, who is not only an excellent Germanist, but also knowledgeable about the everyday life of people in the region (food, customs), their languages, literatures and arts, was the one who has initiated and built upon the contact. His many fold interests in the cultural sciences and his linguistic abilities made it possible to create a broad transdisciplinary program of cooperation between the INST and the KBSU, which has been generally accepted in the region, as the reactions of the scientific council of the KBSU on 15.7.2009, but also the excursion in the frame of the INST cultural expedition have shown.
It will be essential for the region in which way the use the opportunities which arise because of the Olympics 2014 as an event potentially uniting people from across the world, which will take place in part in the Elbrus-region. Much of that which essentially is necessary in the region seems to be in preparation and the changes are visible. Among others, an airport was modernized, the regional infrastructure was improved, but there are also questions, what this development will mean for the nature of the region, for the cultural traditions, and whether it will be of a lasting nature. In this context there are suggestions to get to know nature and culture in a new way. This has been made clear by various contributions to the conference “Mountains and Cultural Tourism” from 11. to 13.7.2009 in the Baksan-Valley. And that corresponds to the necessity not only to develop the material infrastructures of developing societies, but above all the virtual infrastructures. Because the virtual infrastructures become more and more the most important elements of development, while the reproductions are losing their importance.
In this connection it is interesting to compare the Kilimanjaro (9) and the Elbrus as tourism-regions. The Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain of Africa, the Elbrus that of Europe. The Kilimanjaro does not find itself in a region without conflict – exactly like the Elbrus (even if not for the same reasons). In contrast to the Kilimanjaro, who provides up to about 60.000 people with work and income, the Elbrus-region is only at the very beginning of a (culture)tourist development, although the traditions of travelling to the region are old. The Elbrus is technically developed – and this technical development of cable cars, chair lifts will be modernized and extended in preparation for the Olympics. In contrast the path to the Kilimanjaro has to be done on foot, there are no roads, cable cars or helicopter flights. Climbing to the summit is a hike through nature.
Important for the Kilimanjaro-Tourism was not only the building of the airport at Arusha 1953, but also the development on the basis of a national park, the enforcement of ecological elements, new forms of ascents to the mountain and a new form of mountain guiding, but above all by aligning it with a cultural strategy. The success of Hollywood became the success of Africa, not only because of the film after the novel of Ernest Hemingway with the title „The Snows of Kilimanjaro“. The Kilimanjaro is also the symbol of the African freedom struggle. It is not by chance that the highest point in Africa is called Uhuru Peak – freedom summit. While the film „The Snows of Kilimanjaro“ is characterized by touristic aspects in the negative (which the film itself partially reflects upon), many literary texts, images, films are characterized by totally different aspects, although the image, which characterizes the reception of the Kilimanjaro is the white peak without human beings, which has been produced by Hollywood. (10)
The Elbrus on the other hand is, in many of its portrayals, a region of bannings, of war. Literature, the arts, film makers did engage with this monumental massive in a remarkable manner. Not least because of its symbolic importance as the highest peak of Europe it was the place of bloody fights in the struggle against Hitler’s fascists. Mostly unknown until today mainly in Western Europe and other continents is its ancient history (e.g. its relation to the Prometheus mythology) (11) The knowledge of the poetry about the Elbrus (Michail Lermontov, Aleksandr Pushkin u.a.) has remained essentially limited to Russian speakers as well as the works of the fine arts, of science and research (in spite of the importance of the KBSU not only in Southern Russia, but far beyond, and in spite of the international relations of the KBSU, its UNESCO-chair (12) and its orientation towards the Bologna-Process(13)).
Is it necessary that Hollywood first produces a box office success about the Elbrus, so that the Elbrus can become a Caucasian success? Or is there another way in the knowledge societies which are developing?
In the context of this question the INST proposed to the KBSU the project „World Museum of the Mountains“ – but also in the context of its own research programmes about the methodology of transnational and transdisciplinary cultural research, the research into a multilingual cultural science, the creation of a new public space for science and research (world publishing, world TV) and not last the research project „world project of mountains”, the concept of which – to research the cultural dimension of mountains – has been supported by a resolution of the general assembly of the UNESCO.
Some of the questions which interest both the KBSU as well as the INST were and are amongst others the following:
How is the Elbrus portrayed in languages, literatures, arts, science and research as well as other forms of knowledge production? Which are the common elements with other portrayals of mountains? In how far are the specifics which differ? (partial results are published at: www.inst.at/berge).
Which are the languages of the mountain climbing? (We currently work on a dictionary in German, Balkaric, Kaberdinic, Russian, which will be extented to other languages of the region, as well as other world languages like English).
Which are visualizations of the Elbrus (images, films, works of art, maps etc.)? Which contribution can the institutes of the KBSU, the universities and research institutes of the Caucasus and the international research networks make?
Who lives in the Elbrus-region? What importance do traditions have in view of current developments? (This is related to INST-research in the context of a world cookbook, the importance of animals living with human beings, artisans, agriculture. One of the goals is to combine existing knowledge with new knowledge. This is of central importance in relation to water, the preparation of food, the organization of hiking and mountain climbing.)
How can the regional be related to modern mass communication via the internet? In which way is it possible to organize the knowledge transfer, the knowledge communication, which is not limited to a few centers, but is opened up to mutual benefit. - Especially the mountains which cover about a third of the surface of the earth, are an object of uniting interest (as has been shown by the UN-Year of the Mountains 2002)
To what degree does virtuality (the formation of imagination) change in developing knowledge societies? Which function do languages, literatures, arts, sciences, research and other forms of knowledge production have in this context?
The question which role an institution like the KBSU can play in Europe is therefore of central interest. – Personal encounters in the frame of the INST-network play a part as well as conferences, seminars etc. which will take place in the Elbrus-region.
It is a reality that the social importance of the mountains has changed under the influence of scientific researches since the 18th century. From the „warts of the earth” – as they were called in medieval times – mountains became the beauties of the world (without changing in themselves). What did change, were the people, who moved into the mountains, while this form of mass tourism did not change much about the clichés. The immediate vision did not bring about changes, since the actions were and are predetermined. Just as the change of place in the film „The Snows of Kilimanjaro“ did bring about a change in the people. It is only a new form of interaction of the people which opens up a new way of looking on mountains, which are beyond either the ugliness (middle ages) or the idealization (18th- 20th century) and which allows their dimensions to become visible.
Cultural tourism does not mean to idealize a mountain, but to open up a new access to it in the sense of the Enlightenment. These new discoveries of the self (especially while climbing) but also of the cultural surroundings can amount to a great appeal. There is no use in creating infrastructures, if there is no long lasting usage or if the mountain loses its attraction precisely because of the infrastructure. The open access, the common interest – as in the case of the Olympics – the connection between Prometheus as a central figure of the European Enlightenment and the Caucasus as the place of this myth, the connection between old, regional knowledge with the most recent insights are some of the elements, which could facilitate a different form of tourism through science and research.
It was and is essential in this context which public space can be created. Is it the space of a single traveler, which has remained actual until today? (14) Is it the reproduction of a known world in another world as in the film “The Snows of Kilimanjaro“? Or is there an audience of millions for science and research, which increasingly gain social importance ? – The coming years will show which results are produced by research and which (interactive) public space they will reach. The development so far was encouraging.
* A detailed presentation of the project „world mu xyseum of the mountains“ will follow in the framework of the publications about „cultural tourism“ (see index page) and the book „World Museum of the Mountains“ which will be presented in the framework of the Mountain Film Festival in Salzburg on 28.11.2009. There we will document, analyze and explain detailed views of the Elbrus, maps, images, films, exhibition etc. as well as more on the KBSU, the region, the research programme etc.
(1) Official information
about the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic: http://www.circassianworld.com/Kabardino-Balkaria.html There
one finds the official page of the university: http://www.kbsu.ru/ (All
queries for this essay are on 12.8.2009.)
(2) The seven language home page of the INST: www.inst.at
(3) About the concept „knowledge society” see: http://www.inst.at/trans/17Nr/arlt.htm
(4) Booklet: Kabardino-Balkarian State University
on the way to dynamic development. Naltchik o.J. | Barasby S. Karamurzov:
How can the leadership of the universities promote intercultural dialogue?
Im WWW: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/highereducation/moscow%202-3%20june%202009/B%20S%20%20Karamurzov%20-%20paper.pdf |
INST-conference: Knowledge, Creativity and Transformation of Societies.
(7.000 participants from 100 countries.) Keynote speakers: EU-commissar
Figel’ and Federal Chancellor Dr. Gusenbauer. The program in WWW: http://www.inst.at/kctos/index.htm Part
of the plenary program was the presentation of the INST-world project
of the mountains: http://www.inst.at/kctos/programm/berge.htm
(5) cf.: Kurt Luger/ Franz Rest (Hg.): Der Alpentourismus.
Entwicklungspotenziale im Spannungsfeld von Kultur, Ökonomie und Ökologie. Studien Verlag:
Innsbruck 2002. Amongst the „future projects“ one finds there
a sketch of the new possibilities of the cultural sciences, insofar as
they are given the social preconditions.
(6) The development of the high proportion of
bio-agriculture in Austria is directly linked to tourism. As an example
of the success story of a food production facility which used tourism for
itself, one may mention the firm Darbo: http://www.darbo.at/en/home.html The
importance of “tourism” is emphasized in their presentation: http://www.darbo.at/uebersicht/erfolgsstory.html
(7) Reinhold Messner has not only climbed the
Elbrus, but has contributed importantly to the discussion about the Seven Summits. As always
in the case of his projects his ascent of the Elbrus was a specialty, which
is reflected in extensive literature. An introduction to the Seven
Summit discussion can be found at: http://www.cohp.org/personal/Seven_Summits_essay/seven_summits_essay.html
(8) Cf. The address of the rector, Prof. Dr.
Barasbi S. Karamursow, in the video on the page „About the project“ in
the framework of the WWW-pages about the world project of the mountains..
(9) Cf. the publication about the INST-Kilimanjaro-Project: http://www.inst.at/burei/CBand2.htm
(10) Generally there is an image of the Kilimanjaro
as a mountain without human beings. In reality more than a million people
live in this region. An example of a different portrayal: Christof Hamann,
who took part in the 2004 INST-Kilimanjaro-Expedition, did not only write a contribution
for the documentation of the project (see note 9) but also a novel: Usambara.
Steidl Verlag: Göttingen 2007. He has studied mountaineering both
from a cultural studies aspect as well as in literature with mountaineering
as a colonialist act, the consequences of speed at great heights and other
aspects. In his writing the mountains do not stand in isolation, but they
come into being in their relation to human being in their cultural dimension.
(11) Cf.: http://www.inst.at/berge/kaukasus/arlt.htm
(12) See: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/files/2805/1024497001386(99).rtf/386(99).rtf
(13) Realization of the Bologna Process Principles
in the Russian Federation higher Education Institutions. Kabardino-Balkarian
State University: Nalchik 2008. Editorial Board: Azamat Shebzukhov (Chief
Editor), Svetlana Bashieva, Alexei Savintsev, Antonia Yazeva, Elmiea Kodzokova.
(14) Controversial travel reports of this
nature were published in recent years by V.S. Naipaul (Eine islamische
Reise. Kiepenheuer & Witsch:
Köln 1982) and Peter Handke (Abschied von Jugoslawien. Eine winterliche
Reise zu den Flüssen Donau, Save, Morawa und Drina oder Gerechtigkeit
für Serbien. Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am Main 2007). They
show that a world can remain unknown, even if one can observe the region
via satellite via internet, if news are transmitted live. The globalization
of communication, of the public sphere, is connected at the same time with
the fact that nearly a third of humanity is excluded from these social
processes on the basis of a functional illiteracy. But also for others
it is true especially in the context of mountains: there is still a long
way to perceive the mountains in their complexity.
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