Cultivating well-being, community cohesion and sense of purpose through African contemplative practices

Draper-Clarke, Lucy Jane; Green, C. Shawn

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3119401/v1

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…We think that the only way to know is to work with the very diverse local communities in the African continent and listen to the specific local needs. There is some emerging work in this direction (Draper-Clarke & Green, 2023). Communities often already have their own local contemplative practicesis it wise to impose mindfulness (adapted or not) to them?…”

Section: If You Want To Help Them Ask Them What They Needmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the Echo Chamber: Mindfulness as a Contemplative Practice That can Contribute to Public Health

Galante,

Van Dam

2024

Mindfulness

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We offer an invited commentary on the article entitled “Mindfulness for Global Public Health: Critical Analysis and Agenda” by Doug Oman. First, we question his proposal that it would be advantageous to include a more diverse set of contemplative practices under the mindfulness umbrella term, and instead we argue for the opposite. We propose that academics move the term mindfulness away from the spotlight, acknowledging the role of popular culture in its constant reshaping, while studying the mechanisms and outcomes of contemplative practices such as mindfulness using better delineated terms from relevant academic disciplines. Second, we argue that a head-to-head comparison between the fields of mindfulness and public health incurs a category error. While mindfulness is often defined by a limited set of specific processes and practices, public health is a field defined by its application, irrespective of the practices or interventions used. Instead, thinking of mindfulness as an aid to public health can bring more clarity and increase the scope and impact of the contributions that the mindfulness field can make to public health. We illustrate how this reframing helps see mindfulness training as a potential individual-level component of multi-level public health interventions to tackle social determinants of health, rather than expect mindfulness training to address this singlehandedly. For this potential to realize fully, we argue that the mindfulness field will need to work “with” rather than “as” public health, moving away from the practitioner-researcher model to a collaborative one, whereby mindfulness intervention developers partner with independent public health researchers for intervention evaluation and implementation purposes. In such a model, using participatory research methods, the public health team should first seek to understand the local community health needs, and assess whether and how mindfulness practitioners may be able to address some of those needs. We are delighted that the field is having these conversations, and hope to advance understanding of the potential of contemplative practices to contribute to public health research and implementation efforts.

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Section: If You Want To Help Them Ask Them What They Needmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mind the Echo Chamber: Mindfulness as a Contemplative Practice That can Contribute to Public Health

Galante,

Van Dam

2024

Mindfulness

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Relational Conservation: Undisciplining Community-Based Fieldwork in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Beaudette

2024

Religions

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In many southern African protected areas, religion and culture strongly influence how people initiate, adopt, or oppose conservation initiatives. If conservationists are unable to effectively engage with local communities, the result is often poor participation and failed conservation programs, particularly those operating under Western colonial paradigms. Contemplative inquiry has recently emerged as a promising relational, embodied, and dialogical approach to community engagement that also supports decolonial processes. This paper explores decolonial, relational and contemplative approaches to community-based fieldwork in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Included are reflections on ethnographic interviews with Batswana conservation practitioners whose research lies at the intersection of Euro-Western environmentalism and an African relational ontology. This humanities-science transdisciplinary exploration challenges normative boundaries between intellectual territories and engages civil society beyond academia. It aims to “undiscipline” religion and conservation science, make a measurable contribution to conservation practice, and connect diverse knowledges in academia and civil society to address real-world ecological challenges.

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Understanding Neurodiversity and Mindfulness

Singha,

Singha

2023

Autism, Neurodiversity, and Equity in Professional Preparation Programs

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This chapter explores the interplay between neurodiversity, mindfulness, and addiction, emphasizing their incorporation into professional preparation programmes. Neurodiverse individuals, who exhibit various neurological characteristics, may encounter unique obstacles that make them more prone to addiction. The chapter begins by examining the unique challenges and requirements of neurodiverse individuals who may be at increased risk for addiction. The chapter advocates for incorporating mindfulness practises into programmes of professional preparation. It discusses how neurodiverse individuals can be introduced to mindfulness practises centred on present-moment awareness and the non-judgmental observation of thoughts and emotions as a valuable tool for addiction recovery. This chapter concludes by highlighting the importance of addressing the unique requirements of neurodiverse individuals in addiction recovery by incorporating mindfulness into professional preparation programmes.

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Cultivating well-being, community cohesion and sense of purpose through African contemplative practices

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

Mind the Echo Chamber: Mindfulness as a Contemplative Practice That can Contribute to Public Health

Mind the Echo Chamber: Mindfulness as a Contemplative Practice That can Contribute to Public Health

Relational Conservation: Undisciplining Community-Based Fieldwork in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Understanding Neurodiversity and Mindfulness

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