Gender Roles in the Construction of Aspen

Abstract ID: 3.9060 | Not reviewed | Requested as: Talk | TBA | TBA

Maurizio Raselli (1)

(1) University of Fribourg, Avenue de l'Europe 20, 1700 Fribourg, CH

Categories: Economy, Gender
Keywords: gender, development, Social, economical

Categories: Economy, Gender
Keywords: gender, development, Social, economical

Abstract

History remembers how a handful of men started turning the mining town of Aspen into the international modern-day ski resort highly oriented towards tourism. Yet, to remember them is to remember only partially, because many other people contributed the success of this enterprise. Important to my work, is that different groups of people tended to play different roles; in this sense, men and women both contributed, but with the tendency of occupying other positions. During this presentation we will have a deeper look into this topic trying to find out who did what and what kind of visibility each role became. In other words, we will try to understand the social dynamics that contributed to the development of the town. Secondly, we will try to have a quick look at certain elements that may help explaining why the division of roles was such and not otherwise. This will serve the purpose to better understand how Aspen transitioned from being a small rather isolated town, into being an international touristic hub.