academic bio
I was a self-help reader and even wrote a self-help book. But, fortunately, it became a worst-seller for only a few friends of mine bought it! I never forget one of my friends' feedback on the book: "It was like a cotton candy! Its sweetness soon disappeared." Hence, I became interested in examining why many people are passionate seekers of such passing sweetness and how this affects our cultures and communities.
A review of the history of self-help and secularization in Islamic countries will reveal some interesting changing winds and shifting sands. As Jeffrey T. Kenney in Islam in the Modern World (2013) showed, Muslims created a new narrative of modernity that "drew explicitly on Islamic culture and values and eschewed those associated with the secular West". Therefore, self-help gurus' approaches to preaching success and happiness are quite different in Islamic regions. Theoretically, this area of research could be grounded in the phenomenon of 'the sacralization of the self' propounded by Heelas. I'm particilarly interested in these under-explored aspects of self-help which could greatly add to our understanding of it. Currently, I'm working on a paper and a book about self-help religion. Generally, I'm examining how self-help has become a denomination of neoliberal religion. Contact: [email protected] |