Anna Iskra

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I am an anthropologist interested in the intersections between the state power, psy-sciences, and selfhood. I have conducted research in different field sites across China, where I explored the emerging pop psychology and New Age spirituality networks. In 2020, I defended my PhD dissertation “Healing the Nation through Self-Discovery: The Chinese New Age Milieu and the Politics of Emotion” at the University of Hong Kong (2020), where I later worked as a postdoc researching the proliferation of Indian new religious movements and spiritual tourism among the Chinese middle class. In 2022, I joined ENGEROM as a Postdoctoral Fellow. I critically examine the cross-fertilization of Chinese official and grassroot discourses on the impact of the pandemic on mental health, as part of a larger project “Covid-19 and Global Mental Health: The Importance of Cultural Contexts.”