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Far Out charts the history of Western countercultural longing for Nepal that made the country, and Kathmandu in particular, a premier tourist destination in the twentieth century. Anthropologist and historian Mark Liechty describes three distinct phases: the immediate post-war era when the country provided a Raj-like throwback experience for rich foreigners (mainly Americans), Nepal s emergence as the most exotic outpost of hippie counterculture in the 1960s and early 70s, and, finally, the Nepali state s rebranding of itself as an adventure destination from the 1970s on. Liechty is attuned to how the dynamics of mid-twentieth century globalizationthe Cold War and shifting international relations, modernization and development ideologies, the rise of consumerist middle classes, increased mobility and the birth of mass tourism, and emerging global youth counterculturesdrew Nepal into the web of geopolitical, economic, and sociocultural transformations that shaped the modern world. But Liechty doesn't want to tell the story of tourism as something that just happened to Nepalis. He shows how Western projections of Nepal as an isolated place inspired creative Nepali enterprises and paradoxically gave locals the opportunity to participate in the highly coveted global economy. The result is a readable cultural history of a place that has been in many ways defined by a (sometimes bizarre) cultural encounter. The author s lifelong interest in Nepal and his almost twenty-five years of research make his account both sophisticated and empathic but not without a touch of humor."
Far Out: Countercultural Seekers and the Tourist Encounter in Nepal, Mark Liechty, The University of Chicago Press, Paperback, 387 pp, $50.00
Mark Liechty is a cultural anthropologist with a joint appointment in History and Anthropology. He is a South Asianist whose research focuses on Nepali history and society.
His research and teaching interests include class theory and social organization, mass media, consumer culture, cultural history, social and cultural theory, tourism, youth culture, globalization, and South Asian history. Recent publications include: Far Out: Countercultural Seekers and the Tourist Encounter in Nepal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), The Global Middle Classes: Theorizing Through Ethnography (Santa Fe: SAR Press, 2012), Out Here in Kathmandu: Modernity on the Global Periphery (Kathmandu: Martin Chautari Press, 2010), and Suitably Modern: Making Middle Class Culture in a New Consumer Society (Princeton University Press, 2003).
Liechty is currently working on a history of hydropower development in Nepal.
He also serves as co-editor of the Nepal Studies journal Studies in Nepali History and Society.
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