Contemplative Pedagogy

Contemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression PedagogyContemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression Pedagogy

Anti-Oppression Pedagogy teaches how to structurally analyze systems of oppression, while contemplative practices cultivate an embodied self-awareness. Mindful anti-oppression pedagogy merges the two to cultivate an embodied social justice. This website offers a collection of contemplative practices that have been used in social justice classrooms.

How to Help Diverse Students Find Common Ground By Dr. Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu — Contemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression PedagogyContemplative Practices for Anti-Oppression Pedagogy

Professor Laura Rendón’s book, Sentipensante (Sensing/Thinking) Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice, and Liberation (Stylus Publishing 2014), offers important insights into integrating contemplative practice into social justice courses. Sentipensante pedagogy, according to Dr. Rendón, works with three goals:

1. “ $a = b$ Disrupt and transform entrenched beliefs…about teaching and wholeness…that act against wholeness and appreciation of truth in all forms” (135).

2. Cultivate “personas educadas, well-rounded individuals who possess knowledge and wisdom” (136).

3. “Instill learners with a commitment to sustain life” (136).