Mindfulness for modern life’
The blending of Orientalism and neoliberal self-care strategies in the branding of Rituals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12599796 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ira Solomatina (0000-0002-8895-0654, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 849-865 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1367-5494 • E-ISSN: 1460-3551 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13675494241284637 |
| OpenAlex | W4403361732 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 43 |
This article interrogates the conflation of neoliberal imperatives to self-care and Orientalist fascination with Eastern spirituality in the branding of Rituals, the Dutch self-care and cosmetics brand. Focusing on the brand’s online presence as well as its self-presentation through its flagship store, the article contextualises the Ritual’s calls for mindfulness, gratitude and positivity within the neoliberal ‘psychological turn’. At the same time, it demonstrates how the brand mobilises Orientalist and neocolonial discourses to incite its consumers to exercise emotional self-control and self-care. Neocolonial and neoliberal narratives in the branding of Rituals serve to portray the brand as the site of pleasure, quiet and calm, disguising its exigency for female labour and depoliticising the issue of global inequalities
Aesthetics · Art · Literature · Mindfulness · Neoliberalism (international relations · Orientalism · Postmodernism · Psychotherapist · Social science · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology
Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age
Gendering the Recession
Regulating Aversion
Distant Suffering
Consuming the Self
Consuming Africa
Awaken your incredible’
The Seers of Menlo Park
Brands
An anatomy of carewashing
Beauty surveillance
The New Spirit of Capitalism
Orientalism and Religion
Virtual Orientalism
The civilizing brand
Get Unstuck
Empowered
Empowerment/Sexism
Victimhood
Positioning and Interpretative Repertoires
Post-postfeminism
Happiness and the Liberal Imagination
An actress compelled to act
Mediating intimacy online
Spark Joy? Compulsory Happiness and the Feminist Politics of Decluttering
Undoing the Demos
Very Bombay
The Amazing Bounce-Backable Woman
Introduction
The Psychic Life of Neoliberalism
Indigenous Medicine as Commodity
India Will Change You Forever
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |