2022 Mountain Studies Lecture: "Sacred Mountains of the World"
Thursday, September 29, 2022, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
Parkway Ballroom (Room 420), Plemmons Student Union
BOONE, N.C. — The Second Biennial Mountain Studies Lecture Series will feature esteemed author Dr. Edwin Bernbaum, a mountaineer and scholar of comparative religion and mythology whose work focuses on the relationship between nature and culture. The first edition of his book "Sacred Mountains of the World" won the Commonwealth Club of California's gold medal for best work of nonfiction and the Giuseppe Mazzotti Special Jury Award for literature of mountains, exploration, and ecology. Cambridge University Press has recently published an updated second edition.
From the Appalachians to the Himalayas, people look up to the heights for inspiration, renewal, life-giving water, healing, and various other blessings. Drawing on personal experiences, extensive research, and his work with National Parks and World Heritage Sites, Bernbaum takes us on a fascinating journey exploring the key role of mountains in the mythologies, religions, literature, history, and art of cultures around the world. Illustrated with spectacular photography, his lecture also delves into the spiritual dimensions of mountaineering and highlights implications for climate change and environmental conservation. The presentation includes the dramatic account of an avalanche Bernbaum was caught in on Annapurna, one of the highest and most sacred peaks in the Himalayas.
Bernbaum earned his Ph.D. in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Principal of Peak Paradigms: Leadership & Teamwork, giving keynote presentations and seminars using celebrated mountains around the world as paradigms for developing leadership and teambuilding skills. Bernbaum also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Instituto de Montaña and Co-Chair of the IUCN's Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas. A past president of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and instructor at the Colorado Outward Bound School, he has climbed and conducted research in mountains throughout the world.
The Mountain Studies Lecture Series is brought to you by the Appalachian State College of Arts and Sciences. To learn more about the Series, visit cas.appstate.edu/events/mountain-studies-lecture-series.
This event is free and open to the public. For a disability accommodation, visit odr.appstate.edu.
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About the Mountain Studies Lecture Series
This inaugural series in the College, the Mountain Studies Lecture Series, was born out of a previous event hosted by Appalachian Studies, also housed in the college. An International Mountain Studies Symposium was hosted at the university in 2019, that brought together international scholars specializing in mountain studies across the globe to engage with students, faculty and the community for a one day academic event. To learn more about this past event, visit: https://appcenter.appstate.edu/about/past-events/international-mountain-studies-symposium.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and unique location. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,400 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at https://cas.appstate.edu.
About Appalachian State University
As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
By Lauren Andersen
August 29, 2022
BOONE, N.C.
The Appalachian State College of Arts and Sciences invites you to the 2022 Mountain Studies Lecture, entitled "Sacred Mountains of the World," on Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 6-9 PM in the Parkway Ballroom (Room 420), Plemmons Student Union.
The Appalachian State College of Arts and Sciences invites you to the 2022 Mountain Studies Lecture, entitled "Sacred Mountains of the World," on Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 6-9 PM in the Parkway Ballroom (Room 420), Plemmons Student Union.