Suggestions of Power: Searching for Efficacy in Indonesia's Hypnosis Boom
Nicholas J. Long
Ethos March 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1111/etho.12190 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 8 |
| Key points | Argues that Indonesia's hypnotherapy boom was propelled by a "30% theory, 70% practice" seminar format that let consumers feel hypnotically efficacious, and that when this efficacy proved unsustainable outside seminars, Indonesians developed alternative conceptions of "hypnosis" to continue practicing as effective hypnotherapists. Contends that such material supports incorporating a theory of interactional affordances into anthropological models of cultural transmission and globalization. |
Abstract
Abstract From relative obscurity in the 1990s, hypnotherapy has become a major industry in contemporary Indonesia. This article examines its tremendous surge in popularity, and the subsequent trajectories of its vernacularization. It shows the hypnosis boom to have been underpinned by the introduction of a distinctive “30% theory, 70% practice” seminar format, structured in such a way as to allow mass‐market consumers to experience themselves as hypnotically efficacious. With such efficacy proving unsustainable outside the seminar context, Indonesians reached for and developed alternative conceptions of “hypnosis” that allowed them to continue as effective hypnotherapists. Such material demonstrates the value of incorporating a theory of interactional affordances into anthropological models of cultural transmission and globalization. [efficacy, hypnosis, globalization, Indonesia, interaction, psychotherapy]