A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Self-help as a glocalised therapeutic assemblage




AuthorsTiaynen-Qadir T, Salmenniemi S

PublisherSAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

Publication year2017

JournalEuropean Journal of Cultural Studies

Journal name in sourceEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CULTURAL STUDIES

Journal acronymEUR J CULT STUD

Volume20

Issue4

First page 381

Last page396

Number of pages16

ISSN1367-5494

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417718205(external)


Abstract
This article analyses how therapeutic self-help discourse, as a global form, has been domesticated in contemporary Russia. It proposes the concept of a glocalised therapeutic assemblage to capture the dynamics through which a range of transnational and historical elements are pulled together in self-help. Drawing on analysis of bestselling self-help books and interviews with their readers, the article addresses the domestication and transformation of two paradigmatic features of the self-help genre: the bullet-point' narrative form and the idea of positive thinking. The article identifies three domestication strategies. First, the bullet-point form is domesticated by articulating it with the Russian discourse of culturedness', transforming it into a multilayered intertextual narrative. The second domestication strategy places positive thinking in dialogue with Russian discourses of suffering, while the third fuses positive thinking with historical discourses of spirituality and consciousness, thus subverting the idea of the transformative power of the rational mind. The article concludes by suggesting that the concept of assemblage is helpful in highlighting the situated and variegated forms of self-help and therapeutic culture.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 10:54