Contemplative Practices and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies for Higher Education: Bridging the Disciplines

This volume explores mindfulness and other contemplative approaches as strategic tools for cultivating anti-oppressive pedagogies in higher education. Research confirms that simply providing students with evidence and narratives of economic, social, and environmental injustices proves insufficient in developing awareness and eliciting responses of empathy, solidarity, and a desire to act for change. From the environmental humanities to the environmental sciences, legal studies, psychology, and counseling, educators from a range of geographical and disciplinary standpoints describe their research-based mindfulness pedagogies. Chapters explore how to interrupt and interrogate oppression through contemplative teaching tools, assignments, and strategies that create greater awareness and facilitate deeper engagement with learning contents, contexts, and communities. Providing a framework that facilitates awareness of the links between historic and current oppression, self-identity, and trauma, and creating a transformative learning experience through mindfulness, this book is a must-read for faculty and educators interested in intersections of mindfulness, contemplative pedagogies, and anti-oppression.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Contemplative Theoretical Frameworks 1. Introduction to Contemplative Practices and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies for Higher Education 2. Pursuing Antiracist and Anticolonial Approaches to Contemplative Practices Part II: Contemplative Pedagogies for Environmental Justice 3. Eco-Grief and Climate Anxiety in the Classroom 4. Contemplative Pedagogies, Environmental Literature, and the Art of "Interbeing" 5. Literary Reading, Mindfulness, and Climate Justice: An Experiment in Contemplative Ecocritical Pedagogy 6. Mindfulness, Writing, and Sustainable Happiness in the Anthropocene Part III: Contemplative Pedagogies Across the Disciplines 7. Inner Tracking: A Reflective Practice for Transformative Learning 8. A Mindful Approach to Teaching Art and Yoga as a Means of Liberation 9. Contemplative Practices for Teaching the Sciences 10. Enhancing Students’ Mindfulness Practice Through Philosophy of Mind 11. Creating Mindful and Self-Aware Counseling Practitioners: Centering Privilege and Oppression Part IV: Contemplative Practices for Community and Institutional Change 12. Reflections on Developing a Campus-Wide Workshop Series on Contemplative Practice and Social Justice 13. Using Neuroscience and Mindfulness to Form New Habits of Mind Around Race 14. Contemplative Learning Communities: Transforming Universities by Embedding Contemplative Practices in the Academic Life

About the Author :
Greta Gaard is Professor of English and Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, USA. Bengü Ergüner-Tekinalp is Professor of Counseling at Drake University, USA.

Review :
"At a time of global crisis and trauma, this important book lifts the scholarship and practice of contemplative pedagogy to a higher level through its emphasis on well-being and social justice. Including previously excluded voices and perspectives, the authors provide a step-by-step approach to infusing contemplative, anti-oppressive approaches throughout the curriculum." —Laura I. Rendón, author of Sentipensante Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice and Liberation (2008) "A collection of articles enhancing awareness of racial, economic, environmental, and gender justice, this valuable book shows how mindfulness practice enhances our abilities to bring ourselves more completely into the classroom as human beings who encourage students to care for themselves, others, and our planet." —Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu, author of From Mindfulness to Heartfulness: Transforming Self and Society with Compassion (2018) "This collection offers engaging and practical insights into the ways contemplative practices transform learning around oppression, equity, sustainability and environmental justice. Addressing critical questions for anti-oppression contemplative pedagogy, while offering rich activities and assessment tools, this anthology will be useful for educators both within and beyond the academy." —Beth Berila, author of Integrating Mindfulness into Anti-Oppression Pedagogy: Social Justice in Higher Education (2016) "Interleaving contemplative and anti-racist pedagogies, this volume offers an invaluable guide for educators working to anchor our praxis in an ethic of liberation and justice." —Kevin Gannon, author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (2020)