An Evening with Jeff Rasley at the University of Chicago

The University of Chicago presents An Evening with Jeff Rasley on May 17, 2012 at 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM at the University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago. This event requires registration: http://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/events.

Bringing Progress to Paradise What does it mean to bring progress—schools, electricity, roads,—to “paradise”? Bringing Progress to Paradise offers Rasley’s critical reflection on the tangled relationship between tourists, NGOs and local people in “exotic” locales and the clash of Western values with local traditions in one of the most remote locations on earth.

Jeff Rasley is the author of Bringing Progress to Paradise, the first in the sequence of books about Rasley’s adventures in the Himalayas and his unique relationship with the Edenic village of Basa, Nepal.

In October 2008, climbing expedition leader and attorney, Jeffrey Rasley, led a trek to a village in a remote valley in the Solu region of Nepal named Basa. His group of three adventurers was only the third group of white people ever seen in this village of subsistence farmers. What he found was people thoroughly unaffected by Western consumer-culture values. They had no running water, electricity, or anything that moves on wheels. Each family lived in a beautiful, hand-chiseled stone house with a flower garden. Beyond what they already had, it seemed all they wanted was education for the children. He helped them finish a school building already in progress, and then they asked for help getting electricity to their village.

Bringing Progress to Paradise describes Rasley’s transformation from adventurer to committed philanthropist. We are attracted to the simpler way of life in these communities, and we are changed by our experience of it. They are attracted to us, because we bring economic benefits. Bringing Progress to Paradise offers Rasley’s critical reflection on the tangled relationship between tourists and locals in “exotic” locales and the effect of Western values on some of the most remote locations on earth.

RSVP by 5/14 at alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/events. Questions? Contact Taposhi Bentley at [email protected].

Proceeds will benefit the Dharma Foundation and Basa Village Project.

More information on Bringing Progress to Paradise is available at Amazon.com.

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One thought on “An Evening with Jeff Rasley at the University of Chicago”

  1. Sounds fascinating. I have struggled with the question of how and in what way we ought to 'interfere' with existing cultures. It is a question I think we all will answer differently, depending on our OWN values.

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