Editorial: the 2 + <i>n</i>ecosophies

Aiken, Gerald Taylor; Shaw, Robert

doi:10.1080/04353684.2017.1331614

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Connections can also be found empirically, for instance, in the circuitous route of Buddhist-inspired influences on the environmentalist movement, through, for instance, Gary Snyder or Joanna Macy. 82 However, we also note important points of divergence, surrounding their conceptualisation of space, politics, and togetherness. Being-in-common (undergirding geographical understandings of socio-environmental movements for change) asserts that the 'with' of being-with 'is not simply an addition' but rather that which 'constitutes Being' 83 -plurality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Transformative mindfulness: the role of mind-body practices in community-based activism

Schmid

Aiken

2020

cultural geographies

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This article emerges from the simple observation that community-based social and environmental activists often engage with practices of mindfulness, either personally or collectively. It draws on two case studies, a UK-based Transition initiative and a community of social entrepreneurs in Germany. On the surface, social and environmental activists, committed to change in the ‘real world’, outward facing and public, jar with practices of ‘mindfulness’: personal and interior actions –‘private’. We argue that post-foundationalist understandings of community, particularly Nancy’s being-in-common – popularised within geography as ‘community economies’ – and the philosophical and spiritual roots of mindfulness are two lines of thought that provide clues to this co-occurrence. Going beyond understandings of collectivity that build on the coming together of preformed individuals or presuppose a common substance, we set the (Westernised) Buddhist influences on mindfulness, specifically the notion of interbeing, side by side with Nancy’s being-in-common. This article argues that both the political and spiritual aspects of activism are integral parts of social change. It concludes that post-foundational and Buddhist-inspired lines of thought cross-fertilise and chart a course towards transformative mindfulness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%