Self-love is a revolution

by William Barylo (editor)

While some researchers have started faith- and culture-sensitive therapies in the NHS, much work is still necessary. Being part of a diaspora is living in a complex universe filled with memories, thought processes, etiquettes, where certain traditions and spiritualities are a framework that cannot be dissociated from people, and have to be taken into account to understand personal and intimate issues. There is a duty for mainstream societies to cultivate a sensitivity to cultures and faiths, especially for practitioners who are not familiar with other cultural realms.

The obsession for Eurocentric ‘universal’ therapies, disconnected the health system from the cultural and religious reality of people falls under what professor in Psychology Hussein A. Bulhan criticises. When people from diasporic backgrounds are measured to Eurocentric standards in the hypothetical hope that everyone will conform to dominant norms, this is what he calls ‘metacolonialism’ (2015); A system that leaves no space to local, individual, economic, social and cultural identities or uniqueness. It is a culture of conformity which makes identities redundant.

We live in a wounded society where exploiting vulnerability is common practice. We live in a society which promotes competition in every sphere of life: competition for fame, money, beauty… ‘happiness’ has become defined by ‘financial success’. This environment of competition has been brought by the adoption of neoliberalism: everything has to be turned into numbers. But what about faith, history, love, friendship? With white supremacy, racism, islamophobia added to the equation, it is easy to understand the rise in mental health issues and why (See STATS) diasporic communities are more affected than others.

While racists would say: ‘go home’, modern neoliberal society urges: ‘buy this, buy that, look like this and behave like that so perhaps your presence will be legitimate.’ People are told to change their looks, language, behaviour, dress code, religious practice and their names. How is it possible to live happily when the whole world around tells to people: ‘you’re inadequate, you’re not wanted here’? By presenting its social norms as the only way forward (by the mottoes of success, performance, results and materially-defines happiness), it works by producing pessimism. Metacolonisation wins when people cannot love ourselves as they are, and cannot imagine a hopeful future.

When one, despite these circumstances, manages to go to work, go to university, meet friends, take care of their family or just even wake up in the morning, it shows an incredible amount of strength. This project tells stories of some of the strongest people ever.

Therefore, as bell hooks or Cornell West would say, Optimism is Resistance. Self-Love is Resistance. Being Together, Loving each other is Revolution. Beyond diasporic communities, this project gathers voices of people who had the courage and trust to openly share their experience beyond culture or beliefs for everyone to take part in the conversation. While society becomes intoxicated with hate, destruction and division, this project is an ode to self-love, healing and unity.

[1] Fauzia Ahmad,  British Muslim Perceptions and Opinions on News Coverage of September 11, of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 32, 2006 – Issue 6