When Whiteness Clouds Mindfulness: Using Critical Theories to Examine Mindfulness Trainings for Educators in Urban Schools

Davis, Camea; BehmCross, Stephanie

doi:10.1080/10665684.2020.1791769

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The data depicts respondents appeared distracted with day-to-day happenings; however, their spiritual focus relates to themselves and their material environment. The findings reference a more westernized understanding of mindfulness and spirituality, and recent research has suggested that removing the more spiritual components of a contemplative practice could reinforce self-centered values where individuals privilege their personal identity and their day-to-day existence (Davis & BehmCross, 2020;Tan, 2020) which was seen in participants' responses of their understanding and awareness of their own self. However, even with a more secular understanding of both mindfulness and spirituality applied, research suggests the endogenous relationship between the aforementioned constructs may facilitate greater transcendence and awareness of the self (Landau & Jones, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Often in the west, traditional eastern practices have been positioned through the lens of emotional or cognitive understanding, which tends to limit the resounding benefits of the practice. When foundational aspects of contemplation are removed, mindfulness may reinforce self-centered values where individuals privilege their personal identity over the care and compassion for others in their community (Davis & BehmCross, 2020;Tan, 2020). In addition, mindfulness has been recognized as a spiritual act perro (Marlatt & Kristeller, 2000).…”

Section: Mindfulness In Teacher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spirituality and Mindfulness Practices of Early Childhood and Elementary Preservice Teachers: A Snapshot

Evans-Amalu

Lucey

Lin

2021

JCSR

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This paper describes the results of a research survey that interpreted the patterns of mindfulness and spirituality within a convenience sample of preservice teachers at a Midwest teacher education institution. Mindfulness and spiritualty represent topics of developing interest in teacher education that serve to increase candidate focus and revision of practice. Respondents completed a survey as part of a semester’s project that interpreted the results of a semester-long mindfulness intervention on student mindfulness and spiritual attitudes and practices. The findings determined that participants had senses of mindfulness and self the emphasized themselves, and their external worlds, let weak connection with a higher spiritual entity. Significant differences were observed between early childhood and elementary majors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Mindfulness In Teacher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spirituality and Mindfulness Practices of Early Childhood and Elementary Preservice Teachers: A Snapshot

Evans-Amalu

Lucey

Lin

2021

JCSR

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“…Indeed, in an empirical research using critical ethnography and Critical Race Theory addressing racism within a Mindfulness training for educators, Davis and BehmCross (2020) identified three main caveat: race neutral curricula and facilitation, primacy of individualization over systemic explanations, and protection of White fragility. “When educators focus on individual/micro level work void of critical self‐reflection on internalized oppression and privilege, actively ignore systems‐level conversations” (Davis & BehmCross, 2020, p. 590), Mindfulness curriculum and discourses adopt a race‐neutral perspective. Built upon the unquestioned notion of common humanity, Mindfulness' color‐blind ideology systematically downplays the hardships faced by Black communities and diminishes the role of race in the construction of one's identity.…”

Section: A Critical Approach To (Non‐critical) Social Psychology Of M...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mindfulness research and applications in the context of neoliberalism: A narrative and critical review

Chachignon,

Le Barbenchon,

Dany

2024

Social & Personality Psych

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This narrative and critical review outlines the implications of scientific production on Mindfulness and the widespread diffusion of the practice under neoliberal capitalism. This scientific, therapeutic and economic high‐value object is a fruitful research field in medical and social sciences. Since exiting the confines of mental and somatic health it has also flourished as a self‐care and self‐improvement technique. Drawing on a psychosocial perspective where Mindfulness is considered both a psychological and a social phenomenon, we explore the reasons why institutions and corporations have regularly considered Mindfulness as the universal panacea to address mental health, social and environmental problems, and how this contributed to transferring the consequences of structural and systemic issues from the State to the realms of individual management and responsibilization, and fostering social inequalities. We expose the role of Buddhist Modernism, psychology and social psychology into the consolidation of Mindfulness as a product of knowledge and a form of governmentality. The effects on Mindfulness users and researchers of a mainstream neoliberal psychological science, including social psychology, are discussed. Avenues for mindful resistance, such as theoretical and methodological perspectives for a critical social psychology of Mindfulness, are developed.

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“…While there have been many reported benefits of wellness programs for reducing stress and increased productivity [95,96], some interventions have actually worsened conditions such as burnout [97][98][99]. More insidious harms associated with inner transformations that only consider best practices have been associated with reinforcing inequities, reducing prosocial reparation, strengthening hegemony, and causing various forms of traumatization as seen in mindfulness practices [100][101][102][103].…”

Section: Best and Wise Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many "best practice" interventions for inner development and transformation in the West are advocated and taught by wealthy, well-educated, and white practitioners [100,[128][129][130]. Since these interventions are designed to help people cope with irritants in their life including stress, anxiety, and meaninglessness, they rarely address the systemic factors that create these adverse conditions [112,131,132].…”

Section: Monoculture Farmed Pearls Versus Polyculture Wild Pearlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivating Pearls of Wisdom: Creating Protected Niche Spaces for Inner Transformations amidst the Metacrisis

Cooper,

McIntyre,

McCarthy

2024

Challenges

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The impetus for this paper emerges from the growing interest in leveraging inner transformations to support a global shift in ways of seeing and being. We caution that without sufficient individual and systemic maturity, inner transformations will be unable to hold the whole story and that attempts to drive paradigmatic shifts in ill-prepared systems will lead to insidious harms. As such, interventions for inner change will not have sufficient protected niche space to move beyond the boundaries of best practices towards wise practices. Drawing on Indigenous trans-systemics, we offer the metaphor of pearls as an invitation to recontextualize how inner transformations are conceived and approached in the metacrisis. To further develop this notion, we share a story of Wendigo and Moloch as a precautionary tale for the blind pursuit of inner and outer development. Weaving together metaphor, story, and scientific inquiry, we bring together Anishinaabe and Western knowledge systems for the purposes of healing and transformation. We hope that this paper will create space for wise practices—gifts from Creator to help sustain both Self and the World—to emerge, establish, and flourish. We invite readers on an exploration into the whole system of systems that are endemic to Anishinaabe cosmology, and a journey of reimagining new stories for collective flourishing amidst the metacrisis.

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When Whiteness Clouds Mindfulness: Using Critical Theories to Examine Mindfulness Trainings for Educators in Urban Schools

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Spirituality and Mindfulness Practices of Early Childhood and Elementary Preservice Teachers: A Snapshot

Spirituality and Mindfulness Practices of Early Childhood and Elementary Preservice Teachers: A Snapshot

Mindfulness research and applications in the context of neoliberalism: A narrative and critical review

Cultivating Pearls of Wisdom: Creating Protected Niche Spaces for Inner Transformations amidst the Metacrisis

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