Arielle Zibrak: Can-Do Feminism and the Not-So-Positive History of Nineteenth-Century Positive Thinking

Dr. Arielle Zibrak (University of Wyoming) will share her archival research toward her new book, Wishing Ourselves Well: Positive Thinking and Women’s Healing from New Thought to Can-Do Feminism (Liveright, 2028). New Thought was a secular spiritual practice that emerged in the late nineteenth century, offering women across the country financial independence, sexual liberation, and a pathway to the realization of their desires. The most basic principle of New Thought is that the mind has the power to change outcomes in the physical world; they called this "the law of attraction," a term still used today to refer to the "science" behind the practice of "manifestation." When we set an intention in a yoga practice, when we make a vision board, "energize" a crystal, or tell everyone we know that we’re going to lose twenty pounds to speak it into reality, we’re buying into the belief system New Thought pioneered. In this lecture, Dr., Zibrak will share how New Thought emerged as well as how it has shaped American Culture and thought today. Weniger lesen