James Hoesterey

Jim Hoesterey is a cultural anthropologist whose research explores the burgeoning industry of Islamic self-help in contemporary Indonesia. He recently completed his Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he also received a M.A. in Anthropology. Hoesterey also holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina and a B.A. in Psychology from Marquette University.

During two years of ethnographic fieldwork (2005-07) at the Islamic school and “Heart Management” training complex of television preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar, Hoesterey sought to understand how a new generation of popular preachers and Muslim “trainers” has garnered novel forms of psycho-religious authority within the market niche of Islamic self-help.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Hoesterey worked on his book manuscript, "Sufis and Self-help Gurus: Religious Authority and the Cultural Politics of Morality in Indonesia."