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.

Foreword David Forbes Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Contemplative Theoretical Frameworks Introduction to Contemplative Practices and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies for Higher EducationGreta Gaard and Bengü Ergüner-Tekinalp Pursuing Antiracist and Anticolonial Approaches to Contemplative PracticesJanelle Adsit Part II: Contemplative Pedagogies for Environmental Justice 3. Eco-Grief and Climate Anxiety in the ClassroomJennifer Atkinson 4. Contemplative Pedagogies, Environmental Literature, and the Art of "Interbeing" Darin Pradittatsanee 5. Literary Reading, Mindfulness, and Climate Justice: An Experiment in Contemplative Ecocritical Pedagogy Anne Raine 6. Mindfulness, Writing, and Sustainable Happiness in the Anthropocene Greta Gaard Part III: Contemplative Pedagogies Across the Disciplines 7. Inner Tracking: A Reflective Practice for Transformative LearningDavid J. Voelker 8. A Mindful Approach to Teaching Art and Yoga as a Means of LiberationJan Estep 9. Contemplative Practices for Teaching the Sciences Franklin M. Chen 10. Enhancing Students’ Mindfulness Practice Through Philosophy of Mind Sam Cocks 11. Creating Mindful and Self-Aware Counseling Practitioners: Centering Privilege and Oppression Teysha L. Bowser, Renae Swanson, and Amney J. Harper Part IV: Contemplative Practices for Community and Institutional Change 12. Reflections on Developing a Campus-Wide Workshop Series on Contemplative Practice and Social Justice Jennifer Daubenmier, Christopher J. Koenig, Maiya Evans, Lisa Moore, and Michele J. Eliason 13. Using Neuroscience and Mindfulness to Form New Habits of Mind Around Race Renee Owen and Danaé Jones Aicher 14. Contemplative Learning Communities: Transforming Universities by Embedding Contemplative Practices in the Academic Life Bengü Ergüner-Tekinalp Editor Bios Contributor Bios Index

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.