I am currently reading a lot of theories about anti oppression in education, and I am trying to understand their connection to contemplative education. My first hunch is that contemplative education can provide a solid grounding for students to approach the difficulties of realizing that there are oppressors and oppressed. If I come into a classroom and identify some people as oppressor and the others as oppressed, I am going to create a dynamic of unresolved tension and alienation. Unless I have some way to temper that with a more fluid understanding of identity, I am bound to lose a lot of people who would identify themselves as members of the oppressor class.
The second observation I have is that doing this kind of work would require a great deal of love and curiosity. Simply "confronting" oppressors with the idea that they are passively benefiting from others is not addressing the actual problem, which is an over attachment to social identities that keep people in places of privilege. If I don't have a means of challenging and potentially moving beyond such identities, then I am bound to feel threatened by critical pedagogy which attempts to dismantle privilege. What would it be like if both oppressor and oppressed could see a little bit beyond their self identifications, while acknowledging the power of identity?
Spiritual education might provide ways for a more flexible dialogue between oppressor and oppressed, by suggesting ways to go beyond self attachment and allow for a more fluid understanding of identity. I would love to explore the connects and disconnects between critical and holistic pedagogy.
No comments:
Post a Comment