The Emotions of Internationalism

Book excerpt: "By examining a broad range of individuals and institutions engaged in international cooperation in the Alps in the 1920s and 1930s, this book explains how internationalists constructed and used emotions to attain their goals. It undertakes a journey through the most diverse terrains and venues, from the international art exhibitions and congresses organized by the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (also known as UIAA, or the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), to the summer camps and schools run by transnational bodies such as the League for Open-Air Education, to the international sanatoria for students, workers, and soldiers healing from tuberculosis in the Swiss village of Leysin. Along the way, this study encounters a broad spectrum of state and non-state actors involved a variety of cross-border endeavors, from large-scale infrastructure projects akin to the tunnel under the Mont Cenis, to the League of Nations and its propaganda efforts, to the plethora of smaller international organizations emulating the League's work in fields as diverse as leisure, health, and education. Through this metaphorical travel, this book thus argues that starting from the nineteenth century and accelerating in the interwar years emotions became a fundamental feature of internationalism, shaped its development, and constitute an essential dimension of international history to this day"--