Subjects in the making: Technologies of the self and aspirations for a good life in contemporary Denmark

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  • Anne Margit Petersen
  • Aja Smith
  • Dorthe Brogård Kristensen
  • Hoeyer, Klaus
Coping with crisis is fundamental for human life, but so is the pursuit of everything good and fruitful. We revisit Foucault’s technologies of the self as an analytical lens for what people do when pursuing a good life in contemporary Denmark. Comparing three emerging self-improvement domains; psychedelic micro-dosing, meditation and mindfulness, and fitness selftracking, we explore processes though which individuals become subjects of their own actions. We argue that engaging in these transformational practices produces and reflects different notions of self, yet all involve attempts at managing vulnerabilities by accepting, controlling and balancing
tensions between self-making and relation-making.
Original languageEnglish
JournalMedical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
Volume21
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)431-445
Number of pages16
ISSN0145-9740
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

ID: 303035242