Contemplative Praxis and Politics by Rowe, James K.; Mariotti, Shannon L.; Godrej, Farah;

Short description:

This book systematically maps the political implications of contemplative practices, with an explicit focus on the political. Each chapter includes a literature review that maps existing research and commentary at the intersection of contemplative praxis and applicable terrain of political struggle.

Long description:

Mindfulness is now a zeitgeist. The mainstreaming of mindfulness – what Time Magazine calls the “mindful revolution” – is being powered by research documenting the physical and mental health benefits of meditation. Like most revolutions, the mindful revolution is composed of multiple, competing forces. While corporate “McMindfulness” has received considerable and appropriate critical attention, less work has been done on the generative political potential of contemplative practices, particularly on how they might support the liberation goals of progressive social movements.

This book is the first collection to systematically map the political implications of contemplative practices of all kinds – Buddhist meditation, yoga, and Indigenous ritual to name a few – with an explicit focus on the political, with an interdisciplinary approach, and from practitioners with first-hand experience. In addition to making a novel argument about the author’s own area of expertise, each chapter includes a literature review that maps the existing research and commentary at the intersection of contemplative praxis and applicable terrain of political struggle being covered in the chapter. Readers will come away with both a broad and deep understanding of emerging themes, new areas of research, and future directions.

Contemplative Praxis and Politics brings together some of the most experienced and creative scholars and scholar-practitioners interweaving contemplative practice and radical politics to embody and envision better ways of being. Building on but going far beyond critiques of the individualistic commodification of mindfulness, contributors offer ways to engage in contemplative praxis—from meditation to indigenous prayer, yoga to ritual—in communal and life sustaining ways. Contemplative Praxis and Politics reminds us that transformative politics must be rooted in human depth and human depth must be expressed in justice. Living during a time in which, to quote James Baldwin, we cannot afford despair, this collection and the collective contemplation that forms it brings the hope that we always need. Essential reading.

Ann Gleig, Professor of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Central Florida

Social and political analysis of the mindfulness movement has generally been critical of the potential of mindfulness to reinforce tacit norms, the political status quo, and regimes of self-care that uphold neoliberalism and corporate capitalism. But are there potentials for mindfulness—and the concepts and ethics surrounding it—to challenge norms and support more progressive political projects? Contemplative Praxis and Politics answers that question affirmatively with a diverse array of essays addressing the relationship between contemplative practices and education, activism, disability, colonialism, gender, and other issues. This volume expands the territory of humanistic research on contemplative practices and opens up new, provocative, and productive realms of inquiry.  

David L. McMahan, Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall College

This book is a call to radical wakefulness, showing how contemplative practices become political tools capable of disrupting colonial and neoliberal forces shaping our bodies, minds, and collective possibilities. Revealing how domination embeds itself in the nervous system, the contributors offer a roadmap of responsibility, liberation, and decolonial resurgence through collective, embodied contemplative praxis. These teachings remind us that contemplative work is not passive; it is active, relational, and necessary for building the collective freedom our ancestors envisioned—and our descendants deserve.

Michael Yellow Bird, Lee Wu Kee Ming Chair in Indigenous Social Work, University of Toronto

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: Contemplative Praxis and Politics  2. Contemplative Praxis and the Political Economy of Capitalism  3. Contemplative Praxis, Parliamentary Culture, and the Inner Capacities of Politicians  4. Disability Politics and Mindfulness Praxis  5. Contemplative Practice and Black Politics  6. Relational Contemplative Praxis and the Politics of Indigenous Grief  7. Trauma-Informed Praxis and Metabolic Identity: From Traumacracy to Public Cultures of Care and Repair  8. Contemplative Praxis and Queer Politics  9. Contemplative Praxis and International Politics  10. Contemplative Praxis: Activism, Organizing and Contemplation  11. Forming an International Bhikkhunī Sangha through Contemplative Praxis  12. The End of “the World”: Contemplation and the Decolonization of the Self  13. Contemplative Praxis for a Healthier and More Holistic Human Rights Practice  14. Coda: Contemplative Praxis, through Cascading Crises and a Circus of Chaos and Cruelty